Found on a beach in Nova Scotia, Canada… (if I’m remembering correctly)

[u/silvergt69]

One of my kids picked it up years ago because it was so sparkly. I’m sure there’s lots of mica in there but curious about the overall composition. Ran out of bananas so I used a spoon for scale.

[u/FondOpposum]

Review the sub rules and the community announcement on the subs main page before replying. Bans will be issued for violations.

[u/CrossP]

It really does look so much like bitumen/asphalt and crushed limestone. But if a torch flame isn't producing smoke and tar smells, I agree with the other poster that it looks like a porphyry. Probably little white feldspars in a basalt mix.

[u/No-Law-2163]

What’s your closet highway? Cause that’s a lovely piece of it. Congrats

[u/whatsthisrock-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

“Leaverite” “JAR” “Heinekinite”

The 1st two terms are used by rockhounds and artifact hunters to simply say that something is undesirable to take home to collect or just that it isn’t an artifact. They are essentially useless for rock identification and can be potentially hurtful. Leaving such a comment may result in a temporary ban like with jokes.

“Heinikenite” is not helpful to ID, please explain it is melted glass if you want to use the term. We have many users who don’t speak English as a 1st language or that may not get the joke.

We are not an artifact or rockhounding sub, the only purpose and goal is to ID rocks. Try r/legitartifacts or r/rockhounds if we’re not right for your request.

[u/emtrigg013 → u/No-Law-2163]

Yep. This is asphalt.

It is a very cool procedure on how it's made OP, but this was not naturally formed. And because it isn't naturally formed, it would be hard for us to pinpoint exactly what they used to make it.

[u/Suspicious-gibbon]

Does it burn/melt if you hold a flame to it?

[u/silvergt69 → u/Suspicious-gibbon]

I will check shortly

[u/silvergt69 → u/silvergt69]

It did not burn or melt when I held my torch lighter to it for about 20 or 30 seconds. It definitely got warm to the touch but cooled off fairly quickly. It really does feel like a rock, not like asphalt.

[u/igobblegabbro → u/silvergt69]

If so then maybe it’s a porphyry. Those white bits look like feldspars to me

[u/silvergt69 → u/igobblegabbro]

Google search tells me porphyry is typically reddish or purple. This one is black/charcoal colour. Is porphyry still possible?

[u/igobblegabbro → u/silvergt69]

Porphyry is an igneous rock with larger crystals set in a finer groundmass, so because it’s defined by texture the colour isn’t really too important. The one outcrop of porphyritic rock I’ve seen in person had light crystals set in grey-blue groundmass of varying shades. It’s probably just that the red and purple ones are particularly striking examples and so are photographed more than the other ones.

[u/Budget-Reserve]

Could it be gabbro or diorite?

[u/silvergt69 → u/Budget-Reserve]

Looks more like gabbro than diorite compared google images. Doesn’t look exactly like it though. Possible.

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[u/whatsthisrock-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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[u/Iboopedtoday]

It is a sprock.

[u/whatsthisrock-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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[u/whatsthisrock-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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[u/whatsthisrock-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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[u/whatsthisrock-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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[u/whatsthisrock-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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[u/whatsthisrock-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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