Types of Rocks Found In Georgia: 18 Common Collectible Rocks You Can Find

If you are a rock enthusiast or have some other special interest in rocks, then you will find a treasure trove in the state of Georgia.

The geological formations of the state make it easy to access many of its most interesting.

To the north, Georgia is hilly and mountainous.

But there are plenty of flat plains in the rest of the state, which makes it easy for rock hounds to find rocks that are worth adding to their collection.

Types of Rocks Found in Georgia (A Guide)

Disclaimer

The information provided in this article by YesDirt.com is for informational purposes and is subject to change. Laws are updated. Accessibility guidelines and restrictions change. Be sure to confirm the land status and collection rules before you travel to an unfamiliar location or collect any material.

Here are of the most common types of rocks and minerals found in Georgia:

1. Chert

This is known as a flint rock. It is generally grey in color with some bright shades of blue, red, yellow, and orange.

Chert is a very hard rock. It was used by Native Americans to make axes, spear heads, and arrow points.

2. Common Clay

This is a sedimentary rock found throughout the state.

It is sticky, and is composed primarily of clay, quartz sand, calcite, iron oxides, organic impurities, and other materials.

Most of Georgia’s clay was originally deposited as mud in seas, lakes, rivers, and deltas.

This type of rock is commonly used in the manufacture of cement and lightweight aggregate.

3. Dolostone

This is another sedimentary rock.

It is often found in limestone deposits.

Indeed, dolostone is often used as a substitute for limestone in many industries—with the exception of cement manufacturing.

4. Limestone

This type of rock is found all over the state of Georgia.

It is covered by sand and clay that forms part of various land surfaces.

Limestone is composed principally of mineral calcite. It is easily identified because of its palish color. However, there are darker types of limestone rocks.

They tend to have a more greyish hue.

5. Phosphate

This earthy rock varies in texture from hard tock to a granular and loosely consolidated mass.

The phosphate rocks found in George are primarily of the land pebble type.

These rocks have a wide variety of industrial applications.

They are used to make phosphoric acid, superphosphate, and a variety of phosphatic salts for fertilizer.

6. Sandstone

This sedimentary rock is composed of quartz sand grains cemented together by silica, calcite, iron oxide, and other mineral substances.

You will find sandstone rocks mostly in southern Georgia, in red sandy clay formations.

7. Anhydrite

This mineral rock has a marble-like texture, but is without a crystal form.

It has a white, grey, or brown-and-white color streak. It is used to make fertilizer and cement.

8. Calcite

This type of rock is composed of calcium carbonate.

It varies in color from white to various shades of yellow, orange, and grey.

It also breaks up readily into crystalline forms called rhombohedra.

9. Dolomite

This rock leaves a white, light brown, or pinkish streak.

The best way to test for dolomite is to put it into diluted hydrochloric acid, in which it effervesces very slowly.

10. Fuller’s Earth

This is a clay-type rock that has the ability to absorb oil from various minerals.

It can be light green or grey in color.

It has a greasy feel when wet, and a low specific gravity.

Fuller’s Earth can be found in sizeable deposits near the surface of the ground.

It has a wide variety of industrial applications, including in the making of paint thickeners, medical drugs, absorbents, soaps, paints, polishes, and plastics.

11. Gypsum

This is one of the softer rocks to be found in the state.

In fact, it is so soft that you scratch it with your fingernails.

This makes it perfect for use in wall plaster, wall board, stucco, crayons, casts, cement, and fertilizer.

12. Ilmenite

This rock leaves a black to brownish red streak.

It is slightly magnetic, and its magnetism can be increased through heating.

In Georgia, ilmenite occurs as rounded, sand-sized particles.

This mineral rock is most often used in the manufacture of titanium oxide pigment for white paints.

It can also be used for coating electric wielding rods.

13. Staurolite

This is mineral rock is composed of iron and aluminium silicate.

It usually comes in shades of brown, and leaves a colorless streak.

This rock is found in abundance in Georgia’s heavy-mineral sand deposits.

It is used primarily to make cement.

14. Rutile

This rock is made of titanium oxide.

It can be red-brown or black in color with a yellow or pale brown streak.

15. Zircon

This rock can leave a red, brown, lavender streak.

It occurs as sand-size particles in the state of Georgia, and may be distinguished from quartz by its shiny luster and smooth crystal face.

Zircon can withstand high temperatures which makes it perfect for use in bricks and cement.

When properly processed and polished, it is also used a gem stone in jewelry.

16. Kaolin

This rock is more like a soft, lightweight, and chalk-like clay.

It has an earthy odor, and is generally light in color.

It is often found in quartz sand deposits.

High grade Kaolin is used in the manufacture of China, porcelain, and ceramics.

It is often used as filler in paints, paper, soaps, toothpaste, crayons, and textiles.

17. Limonite

This rock is a compound of iron, oxygen, and hydrogen.

It can be yellowish brown to dark brown or black in color.

Impure limonite occurs in many counties in the state, in which it appears as a rusty material.

Limonite is used as an ore for iron and as a pigment in paints.

18. Quartz

This mineral rock occurs in surface deposits of unconsolidated small grain-sized sand particles.

There is an abundance of this type of rock on land surfaces throughout Georgia, but they have not been properly developed.

Quartz has a variety of industrial applications.

It is used to make glass and to grind and polish metals. Quartz is also used to mold and blast sand.

In Summary

If you live in Georgia or are in the state for a visit, you will find plenty to do if you are a rock hound.

Most of the rural and mountainous areas in which great rock deposits are found are pretty easy to get to.

You can also take advantage of the rather warm summer weather in the state to carry out your expedition.

Whether you are gathering rocks for you own private collection or you have some other use for them, the variety of rock types found in Georgia is unrivalled in the lower 48 states.

You should put the state on the map of must-see rock hounding sites.

You will not regret your selection of the state or forget your adventure in it.