GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE LOCALITY:
 

The fulgurites from the Cacapon River District are of the type known as ROCK FULGURITES.  They are markedly different in their method of formation, from the SAND FULGURITES available from Egypt, Oregon, and other localities featured on our web site.  Rock fulgurites are formed when lightning strikes the bare surface of rocks.  These fulgurites were actually formed by lightning striking the sandstone rock found in the district.  They had to be liberated from the sandstone with great care using small mining techniques, rather than by digging them from the loose sand.  Rock fulgurites are considerably rarer than sand fulgurites.

OUTSIDE SURFACE:
 

Form:

Some specimens have the expected cylindrical form.  Others consist of “frothy” masses of fused Silica with open tubes running through, and/or with many irregularly shaped holes, as if the sandstone was instantly superheated and transformed into a boiling, bubbly to frothy mass when struck by the lightning bolt.  Other specimens are sections of the interiors of very large fulgurites, where the superheated Silica flowed and bubbled like melted glass.

Color:

Where present, the exterior color of the fulgurites is pale gray, fine-grained, i.e., sandstone.

Texture:

The unfused, fine-grained sandstone is very smooth.  Specimens with no sandstone matrix have rough surfaces, i.e., they consist of irregularly shaped masses of fused Silica.

Sand Granules:

Where present, the sand granules are microscopic, very fine-grained, i.e., unaltered sandstone.

GLASSY INTERIOR:
 

Color:

The fused Silica in specimens from this find exhibits variations in color from black, to brown, to charcoal gray, to light beeswax yellow.

Texture:

Texture varies from smooth and glassy, to porous and less shiny on some specimens.  The variation in texture depends upon the amount of heating / boiling of the Silica.

Bubbles (Gas Pockets) Present:

Varied -- microscopic, up to 2 – 3 mm in diameter on some specimens.  The specimens exhibiting the highest degree of obvious melting of the Silica are the ones with the largest gas bubbles present.