ROCK ROOM

Smithers Exploration Group's Collection of Cordilleran Rock Suites

Welcome to Smithers Exploration Group’s Rock Room, home to our classic collection of Cordilleran rock suites. This extensive collection of rock samples is representative of deposits and rock types from across British Columbia, with a focus on the northwest. It’s an important resource for the development of expertise on the geology of northern BC and the discovery of the next mines.

The collection was begun in the 1970s by local geologists and prospectors, as well as the BC Ministry of Mines, and was updated under the direction of former regional geologist Paul Wojdak. It is designed to give hands-on examples of the rocks that make up the regional geological framework of northern British Columbia. We are working hard to complete our collection: if there is a particular suite you are keen to see but we do not yet have, please let us know and we will prioritize the aquisition of those samples. If you have a suite that you would consider donating to help us fill in the gaps, please contact us.

The Rock Room occupies a spacious classroom at the Smithers Exploration Group office at #101 3423 Fulton Avenue in Smithers. We have almost 2000 rock samples catalogued, clearly labelled and stored in trays that can be removed for handling and close examination. The room is heated, well-lit and spacious .It is equipped with regular and zoom stereomicroscopes for detailed investigation.

The rock suites cover:

Plutonic
Volcanic
Sedimentary
Metamorphic
Stratigraphy
Mineral Deposits and Ore Deposit Types
Rock-forming and Ore Minerals

Call 250-877-7883 or email rockroom@smithersexplorationgroup.com if you have questions about the Rock Room or the donation requirements for samples.

SEG’s Rock Room with its Cordilleran Rock Suites will make Smithers home to a unique tool for explorationists. It will attract industry and government attention to Smithers as a community committed to the growth of the minerals industry in BC.

Browse the Rock Room Collection

Library No.	Suite Name	Location	Collector	Rock Name	Age	Description	Cart
12-6-RB2 (missing)	Subaerial Basalt	Chilcotin		Basalt (sample missing)	Miocene		Add Item
V3-10	Subaerial Basalt			Olivine nodule basalt		1-2 cm nodules of olivine plus chromite that are mantle xenoliths; 4-5% vesicles	Add Item
V3-09	Subaerial Basalt	Endako Group		Palagonite basalt breccia	Eocene	black, glassy basalt fragments in brown matrix which is hydrated volcanic glass; formed when basalt lava flows into water, such as a lake	Add Item
V3-08	Subaerial Basalt	Chilcotin		Basalt	Miocene	black; fine grained; weakly vesicular (1%); very weakly magnetic; very small vesicles visible with strong lens and sparse very fine feldspar (<1%); open space texture in basalt matrix is diktytaxitic texture; caused by interstitial gas	Add Item
V3-07	Subaerial Basalt			Vesiculated or scoreacous basalt		dark chocolate brown; aphanitic; 20% vesicles; broken sample (2 pieces)	Add Item
V3-06	Subaerial Basalt			Basalt		dark reddish grey; aphanitic; massive; dense; non-magnetic	Add Item
T499 (WV 78-176-2) (missing)	Subaerial Basalt	Endako Group, Whitesail Lake		Red vesicular to scoriacous basalt (sample missing)	Eocene	red colour is due to oxidation, very common in basalt flows and block flows; usually best developed at top of flow and as narrow zone at base	Add Item
V3-05	Subaerial Basalt	Nazko Cone		Basalt breccia	Quaternary	dark grey; chocolate brown weathering; aphanitic; <1% vesicles; fragments agglutinated together, a common texture in block lava flows	Add Item
V3-04	Subaerial Basalt	Nass River		Ropey basalt	Quaternary	dark chocolate brown; aphanitic; 5% vesicles	Add Item
V3-03	Subaerial Basalt	Chilcotin		Basalt scoria	Miocene	dark grey; no crystals; 15% elliptical vesicles	Add Item
V3-02	Subaerial Basalt	Okanagan highlands		Olivine basalt	Tertiary	5-10% olivine nodules (crystal aggregates) to 1 cm; derived from the mantle	Add Item
V3-01	Subaerial Basalt			Vesicular olivine basalt		very dark chocolate brown; 5% olivine; <1% feldspar; 2-3% vesicles	Add Item
V2-18a (13/07/93)	Explosive Silicic Volcanics	NE Arrow Lk, Nechako area		Quartz-kaolin sandstone		light grey and white salt-and-pepper texture; 1-2 mm size grains; quartz and kaolin clasts are derived from a rhyolite explosion and subsequently resorted by streams into quartz sandstone	Add Item
V2-17a (08/07/93)	missing	Arrow Lk, Nechako area		Quartz sandstone and siltstone		angular, chalkly-altered feldspar and rock fragments with quartz-eye grains; results from fluvial and lacustrine winnowing of an airfall tuff	Add Item
V2-16a (16/07/93 KSN)	Explosive Silicic Volcanics			Rhyolite breccia		fragments of grey welded tuff and beige rhyolite, including quartz-eye rhyolite; hard white matrix of broken crystal fragments; matrix is probably welded compacted volcanic glass	Add Item
V2-15a (22/06 KSG)	Explosive Silicic Volcanics			Tuff		pale mud-grey; low density; black fragments are carbonized plant material; probably an air fall unit	Add Item
V2-14a (T0025B)	Explosive Silicic Volcanics	Terrace Mountain, Okanagan area	B N Church	Ash flow - lahar	Tertiary	angular fragments of chilled rhyolite and dacite; crudely bedded with clasts aligned according to bedding but with no size sorting; interbedded fine ashey silts and breccia	Add Item
V2-13a	Explosive Silicic Volcanics		T Richards	Tuffaceous lake sediment		fossil wood impressions; explosive volcanic eruptions deposit abundant loose, unconsolidated material that is susceptible to immediate erosion, transportation downslope into rivers, lakes and basins	Add Item
V2-12a	Explosive Silicic Volcanics		T Richards	Accretionary lapilli tuff		concentrically banded spheres (some broken) are "hailstones of rock" that form like hail, by accretion of ash and water in the turbulent thunderhead-like cloud that accompanies explosive rhyolite-dacite volcanism; may be far from the explosive vent; some cores are porous, hollow from evaporation of water;	Add Item
V2-11a	Explosive Silicic Volcanics		T Richards	Pumice			Add Item
V2-10a	Explosive Silicic Volcanics		T Richards	Tuffaceous mudstone		15-20% irregular white fragments of pumice in brick red matrix; pumice may be carred far in an eruption; pumice clasts altered to laumontite (zeolite)	Add Item
V2-09a	Explosive Silicic Volcanics		T Richards	Red crystal tuff - tuffaceous mudstone		4-5% feldspar crystals, sub-mm in size, irregular, broken, not well formed; likely broken by explosive event; air fall unit that may cover great extent, are moderately well-bedded and crumbly	Add Item
V2-08a	Explosive Silicic Volcanics		T Richards	Rhyolite lapilli tuff		heterolithic; crudely bedded; clasts tend to be rounded indicating material has been reworked	Add Item
V2-07a	Explosive Silicic Volcanics		T Richards	Rhyolite lapilli tuff		heterolithic, but clasts only comprise 5%; pale pink matrix is 95%; prominent manganese dendrites	Add Item
V2-06a	Explosive Silicic Volcanics		T Richards	Rhyolite lapilli tuff		heterolithic, 40% clasts are hematitic red, grey and off-white in pink matrix; lapilli refers to angular clasts to thumb size; these units form beneath, over and peripheral to the main ash-flow unit; may be coarse to well-bedded; many are air-fall units associated with an explosive event; size distribution is a crude indication of proximity to source	Add Item
V2-04a	Explosive Silicic Volcanics		T Richards	Welded ash flow tuff		streaky; hard and tough; characterized by matrix that swirls around angular fragments, and presence of flattened wisps that are flattened pumice fragments (fiamme), degree of flattening varies; these units form sheets that may be of great extent (many 10's of kilometers) (3a & 5a are similar but missing)	Add Item
V2-02a	Explosive Silicic Volcanics		T Richards	Rhyolite breccia		75% clasts; 25% matrix; clast supported; complete size range from <1 mm to 5 cm; proximal breccia, the size of angular clasts in a chaotic array may indicate proximity to source of explosive volcanism; weak argillic alteration	Add Item
V2-01a	Explosive Silicic Volcanics		T Richards	Rhyolite breccia		most clasts are the same but some are finely crystalline indicating brecciation did not occur in place; potential vent rock for ash tuff units	Add Item
V1-15f	Passive Silicic Volcanics		T Richards	Lithophysae rhyolite		15% gas cavities; caused by late phase boiling of gas out of the rhyolite; cavities commonly lined chalcedonic quartz (agate), quartz crystals, more rarely topaz; red stain may be due to fine hematite dust at top of flow	Add Item
V1-14f	Passive Silicic Volcanics		T Richards	Flow banded spheroidal rhyolite		1 cm spherules in grey matrix; spherules are zone from white core to grey margin, are delicate and radiating, and obliterate flow banding	Add Item
V1-13f	Passive Silicic Volcanics		T Richards	Quartz-eye porphyry rhyolite (felsite)		massive texture; limonite weathered surface; may represent feeder zone for rhyolite flows; rhyolite flows and ash flows may occur together from the same vent	Add Item
V1-12f	Passive Silicic Volcanics		T Richards	Flow banded rhyolite breccia		chalky, kaolin ateration; cemented by fine, vuggy, banded quartz stockwork	Add Item
V1-11f	Passive Silicic Volcanics		T Richards	Rhyolite breccia with opal		punky to sub-chalkly spotted alteration; cross-cutting opaline silica veins (low temperature)	Add Item
V1-10f	Passive Silicic Volcanics		T Richards	Spheroidal rhyolite		wine red to grey spheroids with strong concentric banding; matrix is glassy, brittle and shows subconchoidal fractures; spherules consist of microcrystalline quartz and feldspar formed during devitrification of the original volcanic glass	Add Item
V1-09f	Passive Silicic Volcanics		T Richards	Coarse spheroidal rhyolite		1-3 cm spheroids are zoned from pale grey core to dark grey rim; flow banding is obliterated by formation of spheroids	Add Item
V1-08f (T498)	Passive Silicic Volcanics		T Richards	Flow banded rhyolite breccia		exceptional specimen; breccia zones are common in rhyolite lava flows; steam eruptions occur when rhyolite flows over water or from water in the lava itself; stockworks, veins and occassional flooding by silica may occur with propylite to argillic alteration	Add Item
V1-07f	Passive Silicic Volcanics		T Richards	Spheroidal rhyolite		2-3 cm chocolate brown spherules in white matrix, resembles conglomerate	Add Item
V1-06f	Passive Silicic Volcanics		T Richards	Spheroidal rhyolite		0.5 cm wine to hematite colour spherules in pale matrix; round spherules are common in rhyolite flows, ranging from pin-head to fist size; form by crystallization of glass after solidification, i.e. in solid state	Add Item
V1-05f	Passive Silicic Volcanics		T Richards	Flow banded rhyolite		"clasts" are solidified rhyolite enveloped by fluidized, gas-charged molten material; weak argillic altered light bands and less altered dark bands, not a hydrothermal alteration	Add Item
V1-04f	Passive Silicic Volcanics		T Richards	Flow banded rhyolite		rhyolite lavas commonly have a distinctive laminated colour banding that represents flow differentiation, may not be compositionally different; folds and contortions are due to turbulent flow, are not due to regional folding	Add Item
V1-03f	Passive Silicic Volcanics		T Richards	Perlite		wine colour; colour zoned from honey margin to wine core; vitreous; aphanitic; colour difference from 02f may be due to differing oxidation state of a small amount of iron	Add Item
V1-02f	Passive Silicic Volcanics		T Richards	Perlite		pearly lustre; does not break like glass; perlite is obsidian with contained water in the glass	Add Item
V1-01f	Passive Silicic Volcanics		T Richards	Obsidian		common in young volcanic flows; obsidian is volcanic glass rich in silica; will recrystallize over a few million years to opaque dense rhyolite or felsite; alters readily in presence of hot water as in hydrothermal system; concoidal, glass-like break is typical	Add Item
T-13-07	Mississippi Valley Lead-Zinc			Sphalerite and fluorite		minor galena	Add Item
T13-06	Mississippi Valley Lead-Zinc			Skeletal galean and colloform sphalerite		sphalerite is various shades of brown	Add Item
T13-05	Mississippi Valley Lead-Zinc			Colloform sphalerite		delicately banded colloform sphalerite nucleated and grown around galena crystals; sphalerite is various shades of brown	Add Item
T13-04	Mississippi Valley Lead-Zinc	Tri State		Crinoidal chert and massive galena		exceptional crinoid fossils; lesser silica oolites (or fusulinids); one tiny vug of recrystallized silica; sharp contact with coarse galena, 2-4 cm crystals	Add Item
T13-03	Mississippi Valley Lead-Zinc	Deardorff mine		Oolitic limestone in sharp contact with ore		limestone contains 1% disseminated, interstitial galena; ore comprises coarse (cm size) crystals of sphalerite and lesser galena	Add Item
T13-02	Mississippi Valley Lead-Zinc	Deardorff mine		Oolitic limestone with sphalerite		footwall of orebody; disseminated honey-brown sphalerite; recrystallized pockets of vuggy crystalling calcite and sphalerite	Add Item
T13-01	Mississippi Valley Lead-Zinc	Deardorff mine		Fredonia limestone		oolites are mm size grains of calcium carbonate cemented together; this is the horizon that was replaced by fluorite, galena and sphalerite etc to form the orebody; sample taken from 6 ft below the ore; contains 0.5% disseminated galena	Add Item

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