Description
Pyrite, or Iron Pyrite, is an Iron sulfide with isometric Crystals that usually appear as cubes. It is brittle and can break or powder easily. Its metallic luster and brass yellow hue have earned it the nickname of “fool’s gold” due to many miners mistaken it for the real thing. Ironically, small quantities of actual gold are sometimes found in Pyrite. It is the most common of the sulfide minerals and is usually found with other sulfides or oxides in Quartz veins, sedimentary or metamorphic rocks.
Concretions are found in sedimentary rock or soil, often ovid or spherical in shape. They generally form around some type of nucleus, usually early on in the burial history of the sediment. This makes them harder than the surrounding host sediment. Record of these geological curiosities dates back to the 18th century. They were often confused with fossils of dinosaurs, plants, humans and extraterrestrials. The name concretion is derived from Latin; con (together), crescere (grow).