Lake Superior Rocks & Minerals Field Guide

by Dan R. Lynch, Bob Lynch

Overview

This must-have guide for Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Ontario features full-color photographs and information to help readers identify rocks and minerals.

Get the perfect guide to rocks and minerals of the Lake Superior region! With the new edition of this famous guide by Bob Lynch and Dan R. Lynch, field identification is simple and informative. This book features comprehensive entries for 75 rocks and minerals, from common rocks to rare finds. That means you’re more likely to identify what you’ve found. The authors know rocks and took their own full-color photographs to depict the detail needed for identification—no more guessing from line drawings. The entries are organized by area, so you can find rocks unique to each state or common to all three. The field guide’s easy-to-use format helps you to quickly find what you need to know and where to look.

Inside you’ll find:

• 75 specimens of the Lake Superior region
• Quick Identification Guide: Identify rocks and minerals by color and common characteristics
• Range/occurrence maps to show where each specimen is commonly found
• Professional photos: Crisp, stunning images

This second edition includes updated photographs, expanded information, and even more of the authors’ expert insights. With this book in hand, identifying and collecting is fun and informative.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781647550585
Publisher:	Adventure Publications, Incorporated
Publication date:	11/16/2021
Series:	Rocks & Minerals Identification Guides
Edition description:	2nd Revised ed.
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	315,267
Product dimensions:	4.40(w) x 6.00(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Dan R. Lynch has a degree in graphic design with emphasis on photography from the University of Minnesota Duluth. But before his love of art and writing came a passion for rocks and minerals, developed during his lifetime growing up in his parents’ rock shop in Two Harbors, Minnesota. Combining the two aspects of his life seemed a natural choice, and he enjoys researching, writing about, and taking photographs of rocks and minerals. Working with his father, Bob Lynch, a respected veteran of Lake Superior’s agate-collecting community, Dan spearheads their series of rock and mineral field guides—definitive guidebooks that help amateurs “decode” the complexities of geology and mineralogy. He also takes special care to ensure that his photographs complement the text and always represent each rock or mineral exactly as it appears in person. He currently lives in Madison, Wisconsin, with his wife, Julie, where he works as a writer and photographer. Bob Lynch is a lapidary and jeweler living and working in Two Harbors, Minnesota. He has been cutting and polishing rocks and minerals since 1973, when he desired more variation in gemstones for his work with jewelry. When he moved from Douglas, Arizona, to Two Harbors in 1982, his eyes were opened to Lake Superior’s entirely new world of minerals. In 1992, Bob and his wife Nancy, whom he taught the art of jewelry-making, acquired Agate City Rock Shop, a family business founded by Nancy’s grandfather, Art Rafn, in 1962. Since the shop’s revitalization, Bob has made a name for himself as a highly acclaimed agate polisher and as an expert resource for curious collectors seeking advice. Now, the two jewelers keep Agate City Rocks and Gifts open year-round and are the leading source for Lake Superior agates, with more on display and for sale than any other shop in the country.

Read an Excerpt

Quartz

Hardness: 7 Streak: White

Area: Extremely prevalent in all three states

Environment: Lakeshore, riverbeds, gravel pits, and mine dumps—virtually everywhere

What to look for: White crystals or masses that often fill in the holes or gaps in other rock, or as white, rounded beach pebbles on the lakeshore

Size: Quartz is very common and can be found in a wide range of sizes, but most commonly, it is walnut-sized or smaller when found on the beach.

Color: Quartz is generally white or clear but can be stained or tinted to a different color, including gray, yellow, purple, pink or red.

Occurrence: Very common

Notes: Quartz is one of the most common minerals in the world and can be found in almost every geological environment. It plays a very large role in forming many rocks and minerals. In the Lake Superior region, it is easily found as white, rounded beach pebbles, or within vesicles (cavities formed by gas bubbles) with a thin lining of crystal points. You can commonly find it filling cracks in large basalt flows.

Quartz is responsible for many of Lake Superior’s collectible stones, such as agate and jasper. In fact, these stones are almost made up entirely of hard, dense quartz.

Where to Look: Quartz is very common around the lake, and it is particularly easy to find where there is exposed rock, especially near the lakeshore.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Hardness and Streak

The Mohs Hardness Scale

Quick Identification Guide

Sample Page

Tri-State Rocks

Minnesota Rocks

Wisconsin Rocks

Michigan Rocks

Ontario Rocks

Minerals

Glossary

Lake Superior Rock Shops and Museums

Bibliography and Recommended Reading

Index

About the Authors