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Post by rockpickerforever on Mar 27, 2013 11:09:43 GMT -5
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Post by orrum on Mar 27, 2013 12:55:18 GMT -5
Great looking rocks! Thanks for showing, now we gotta see what a cab looks like please?
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Sabre52
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Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,466
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Post by Sabre52 on Mar 27, 2013 15:21:42 GMT -5
Another great batch of specimens. The snails are really neat. Do you know where they are from?.....Mel
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Post by rockpickerforever on Mar 27, 2013 16:37:04 GMT -5
Mel, glad you like them. The one with the shells was definitely found out at Indian Pass. We went on a field trip there with one of the local rock clubs a couple years ago. Here's the coordinates for the area we were searching on the field trip: 33.01265 -114.77728. It's about 20 miles north of the US/Mexico border, and maybe 5 miles west of the Colorado River. We've also gone there on our own a few times, but it is still in the general area.
I checked a geological map, and it says that the area is made up of Quaternary sedimentary deposits, and also "Mesozoic and Paleozoic metamorphic rocks; includes some preCambrian metamorphic rocks." If you can find out what type of snails those are, let me know. Thanks! Jean
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Sabre52
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Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
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Post by Sabre52 on Mar 27, 2013 17:34:54 GMT -5
Howdy Jean, Your tiny snails have me in kind of an identification pickle. Marine snails were one of my specialties when I was a Marine Invertebrate Biology major for awhile and I would think those fossils from that area would be marine in nature because I know there are marine corals, bryozoans etc over on the pebble Terraces by the Colorado River. However, that being said, as with the Goniobasis in our so called Turritella agate, fresh and brackish water snails are more likely to die in mass due to ponds or shallow estuaries drying up, forming that kind of death plate. My best guess for your snails would be Campeloma sp. which are small fresh water species that existed from upper Cretaceous to recent. I suppose it would be plausible for snails from dried up marshes of the ancient Colorado River to wind up agatized in Quaternary alluvial deposits. Without having a loose specimen under my microscope though, that's only a best guess *S*.....Mel
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Mar 27, 2013 18:04:21 GMT -5
Good to see you challenged Mel.That broad array of various protoplasms should befuddle the best of them.What an assortment.Those colors are similar to fossilized masses here in the south east.Those snails are magnificient -petrified escargot.I atleast get the palm roots and snails.Thanks for posting those Jean.One of the most interesting fossilizations i have seen. The pink slabs w/the bog life looks like bryozoans(sewer monsters),sorry.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2013 20:21:05 GMT -5
jean or mel or whomever; in this image: are the shells, shells in agate or shell pseudomorphs in agate?? I think I am communicating even if I have the terminology wrong. Jean, that is really cool. Is there lots of this stuff?
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Sabre52
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Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
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Post by Sabre52 on Mar 27, 2013 20:32:51 GMT -5
Scott: To me, it appears those are the actual shells in the agate, though I would guess the calcium nacre is well infiltrated by silica. In the Wamsutter turritella, the original nacre seems to act as a mold and the inside is filled with a cast of agate. These snails appear very similar. In either case, with the nacre removed, the remaining snail shaped agate cast would be a pseudomorph.....Mel
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 27, 2013 20:42:50 GMT -5
Mel, I made several trips to Indian Pass. Between Palo Verde and Indian Pass Rd there is a monument to some General. Across the hwy. from the monument is a Paleozoic corral reef. It isn't silicified enough to take much of a polish but interesting to walk around on in the middle of the desert. So, at least in Paleozoic times, it was ocean. Indian Pass road is where we collected dumortierite. Did you find any while there?
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Sabre52
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Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
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Post by Sabre52 on Mar 27, 2013 21:06:37 GMT -5
John, Yep. I have a really good piece or two of mice bluejeans blue dumortierite and a few of stuff that's just fair and has more gray with the blue. Also found a heck of a piece of breciated jasper that was a dead ringer for Stone Canyon except for the desert varnish. And, yep, lots of marine fossils on the west side of the river but I suspect that particular specimen, with those snails, is more recent on the time line that those marine corals and bryozoans....Mel
PS: I was hiking Bristlecone Pines and there's a reef of that paleozoic coral clear up there at like 10,000 feet and trilobites in the shales in the pass leading up to Bristlecone.
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Post by rockpickerforever on Mar 28, 2013 11:34:32 GMT -5
Scott, I think Mel answered your first question. Your second question, yes, I would think that there are a lot of these out there. However, they don't look like much from the outside, so it's pretty much blind luck that you find them. This is the only rock I've cut so far that has this type of snail, but I've only cut into a fraction of them so far. I also have a few with a flatter type of snail, like the one that left a mold on the outside of the rock in the fifth to last photo (gonna have to start numbering the pics!). Sometimes you get lucky (aren't you LUCKY, Scott - lol!) and if you look closely, you'll see them on the outside of the rock. Anybody up for a field trip?? Jean
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2013 12:17:54 GMT -5
yes, I would love to visit that area. Weather awesome now too.
Drive out the night before,sleep somewhere, get up and rockhound all day, then go home. Whattaya say? I am free Easter sunday. I already made rabbit sausage so that will be my easter snack.
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Post by rockpickerforever on Mar 28, 2013 12:34:56 GMT -5
Sounds great, but unfortunately, already have plans with the family for Easter. Maybe sometime soon, though. It's gotta be soon, or else it will be too hot! The second weekend in April is booked, but any other weekend is open. Jean
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 28, 2013 12:46:51 GMT -5
We camped at Gold Rock Ranch. It is pretty central to the collecting there. There is an old ghost town/mine across the highway that is interesting and other mines (kyanite and gold) in the area. If you only have one day Indian Pass Road will probably be it. If you have time, drive to the end of the road. The view of the pass is really nice. The dumortierite looks like nothing on the outside too.
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billg22
spending too much on rocks
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Post by billg22 on Mar 28, 2013 13:11:07 GMT -5
Is this site in the Gem Trails book?
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Post by rockpickerforever on Mar 28, 2013 15:00:34 GMT -5
John, on several different occasions we've actually driven all the way down the road until we came to the river and the campgrounds down there. I don't think it has been maintained since they first cut the road however many years ago. It definitely should only be tackled with 4WD with high clearance, preferably with a short wheelbase. If it has been raining, don't even think about it, as it turns into a mud bog closer to the river. We did see some wild burros the last time we ventured down there. But for most "normal" people, turn back when you come to the kiosk and dropoff! Jean
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Post by beefjello on Mar 28, 2013 19:41:49 GMT -5
Wow Jean, love the roots and all, but the shells.. holy guacamole!!! I'll bet you're jaw dropped when you sliced that one open. I know mine did when I saw the pic.
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 28, 2013 20:31:00 GMT -5
I guess I meant the kiosk/view area as end of the road. There is a rough jeep trail that continues through the pass. Mary Francis Strong version I have has the road going through Gold Rock Ranch and a note that the highway would be paved soon and moved East. It is a really fun area with lots of good rock.
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snuffy
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Post by snuffy on Mar 28, 2013 20:54:15 GMT -5
The snails are a treat to look at,the rest of the pics aint too shabby either! What fun slicing!
snuffy
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Post by rockpickerforever on Mar 28, 2013 21:56:44 GMT -5
OK, Beef, I have a confession to make. The one with the shells, in fact, most of them, were cut MONTHS AGO. My jaw did not drop when I cut it open. At the risk of sounding like a moron, I didn't even see the shells until I was taking the photos a few days ago. I guess I just didn't take a close look a them. It sucks to be nearsighted, LOL! Jean
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