Post by kawagumby on Nov 18, 2009 14:41:45 GMT -5
Hi,
I'm finally revisiting geology and rockhounding (with some lapidary work) after a fifty year break. I'm a san benito county native who used to rockhound with several enthusiastic old-timers when I was 10 or so. Our area is rich with mineral variety, with mercury mines, asbestos desposits, quartz fields, and hilly terrain formed about the san andreas fault line. We also have the Pinnacles national monument, half of volcanic formations that strattle the san andreas fault line - the other half is still down in southern california. As a youth, I ventured into a local antimony mine that was on the verge of collapse and found beatiful green and white crystalline mineral formations that would break down in open air, and collected stibnite crystals. A local road cut back then yielded well-formed gypsum crystals in the clay soil. Our Clear Creek BLM area has produced benitoite, a deep blue, soft gemstone as well as Clear Creek jade. As a starting point I'm taking a course in geology and using a local state park as a lab - the most recent El Nino exposed unweathered layers of granite/quartz/mica at the San Andreas fault line - providing a very interesting journey back in time.
I look forward to learning from you all -
Tom
I'm finally revisiting geology and rockhounding (with some lapidary work) after a fifty year break. I'm a san benito county native who used to rockhound with several enthusiastic old-timers when I was 10 or so. Our area is rich with mineral variety, with mercury mines, asbestos desposits, quartz fields, and hilly terrain formed about the san andreas fault line. We also have the Pinnacles national monument, half of volcanic formations that strattle the san andreas fault line - the other half is still down in southern california. As a youth, I ventured into a local antimony mine that was on the verge of collapse and found beatiful green and white crystalline mineral formations that would break down in open air, and collected stibnite crystals. A local road cut back then yielded well-formed gypsum crystals in the clay soil. Our Clear Creek BLM area has produced benitoite, a deep blue, soft gemstone as well as Clear Creek jade. As a starting point I'm taking a course in geology and using a local state park as a lab - the most recent El Nino exposed unweathered layers of granite/quartz/mica at the San Andreas fault line - providing a very interesting journey back in time.
I look forward to learning from you all -
Tom