[Rockhounds] "D'ever Wonder?" - Wondering about mountain leather ... and looking for pictures.

[DonH]

Kris Rowe wrote:



Greetings down south,


"Mountain leather" is usually a mineral called palygorskite.

mineral.galleries.com/minerals/silicate/palygors/palygors.htm

www.mine-engineer.com/mining/mineral/palygorskite.htm


Unfortunately, there are a host of other minerals, such as fibrous 
tremolite, that are nicknamed "mountain leather," and some of these 
others fall under the category of regulated asbestos products.  So 
searches will then reveal some confusing information, some of it 
alarmist, since it depends upon whose information you read (remember my 
motto: the great benefit of  public access to the Internet is that any 
fool can post a page; the great disaster of public access to the 
Internet is that every fool has posted a page).

Keep in mind also that this is a colloquial name with no formal 
definition.  I'm sure this term has been applied to any matted, fibrous 
mineral (or mineraloid, or assemblage of minerals) that people have 
found around the world.