hornseeker
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2014
Posts: 268
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Post by hornseeker on Jan 28, 2015 13:54:23 GMT -5
So, in about 1992 I was in college and my buddy was getting a geology degree... turned out the geology department had a big old saw with about a 3 foot blade and Chris had access to use it. Not sure what the level of freedom he was supposed to have, but turned out we made about 6 sets of bookends. Anyhow, one day we went out looking for some rocks to make bookends out of, off the Yakima River between Cle Elum and Ellensburg, Washington, just off the east slope of the cascades. I found this 80-100 pound boulder that fit the bill... it was bascally reddish on the outside...wish I had pics... We cut these bookends out of it and I've admired them for years. They are just cut, then sprayed with lacquer. I want to polish them someday! Well... a couple nights ago, after my newly found obsession with tumbling and polishing rocks, I grabbed them off the shelf and started looking at them and realized just how amazing a boulder that was... take a look at this thing. What do you think it is? Jasper? THe mottling/marbling of the colors is insane. Not sure of hardness... might have to test it someday... Pics suck of course... but the color range is so awesome and some of the greens really go into a teal, bluish green color! Then there was last Saturday afternoon. I recently "assembled" and AR-15 5.56mm. I ran south of billings on a gravel road to test it out. After firing a few rounds to make sure it cycled well, I looked down and saw a pretty rock. The gravel on all the roads around here comes from Yellowstone River alluvium... so I spent 20 minutes walking around... picked up about 5# of not so great stuff, but interesting, tumble-able material... then ran into this: Its the biggest Ystone agate I've found and Ive spent a LOT of hours walking the river bottom looking at gravel bars! It doens't appear to have a lot of moss or color, but still!!!
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hornseeker
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2014
Posts: 268
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Post by hornseeker on Jan 28, 2015 13:56:41 GMT -5
And for those interested... this is the AR-15 I built... Fun guns... and particularly useful when the Zombie Apocolypse happens!
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Post by 150FromFundy on Jan 28, 2015 16:50:38 GMT -5
There's parts of the bookends that look like breccia with dark angular fragments cemented in brown matrix. There's other parts that look like marble. Could it be a metamorphic breccia? Hopefully someone more local will be able to ID it for you. A nice chunk of rock.
Darryl.
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Post by snowmom on Jan 29, 2015 8:30:24 GMT -5
That is truly remarkable rock in those bookends. It does look like it was brecciated and then melted. The colors are just beautiful. Are there any documented impact craters near the site where you found this stuff? Awesome AR15 build... Son put one together for himself after he left the Marines,very similar. Are you a veteran? The Yellowstone agate is huge, very cool! I think I'll go search for meteor impact sites near the locality you mentioned. That bookend rock is great- I need to know more!
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Post by snowmom on Jan 29, 2015 10:02:53 GMT -5
I did a bit more digging around and found only a couple remote references to theories about a massive impact having started the volcano action the region is known for. Some Lava flows are described as full of olivines, feldspars and feldspar porphyries, glass and breccias... yours appears to fit right in there. here is one article which has a lot of good description and only an undocumented reference to possible impact. I wonder if further exploration in light of current impact information might not reveal features that until now were ascribed to volcanic activity.(shatter cones or shattered quartz along with the mentioned glass for example) It happened that way at many impact crater sites... once thought to be due to volcanic action. I like the look of the cross sections of the Ellensburg formation, it brings a lot of questions to mind. found an old geographic survey from the US, searching the area for possible uranium source (1966). radiation was a little higher in the basin.. but evidently not enough to justify trying to mine there. So many questions, so few answers, but regardless, you have got a great set of melted rock bookends. So glad you posted them for us to enjoy.
anna-fern.blogspot.com/2011/12/blog-post.html
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,685
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Post by Fossilman on Jan 29, 2015 11:37:48 GMT -5
Nice!!!!! Liking the rifle too!!
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hornseeker
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2014
Posts: 268
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Post by hornseeker on Jan 29, 2015 11:50:18 GMT -5
I'll take a look at that link in a bit Snow. That is really interesting about the potential impact crater being the cause of this rock. I cant remember much about the geology of that area, even though my buddy that went through school there getting a geology degree used to talk about it non stop... just too long ago!!! hehehe I do know that I am itching bad to get back there and look for more of these boulders/rocks. I have a feeling it wouldn't take much effort to find more. I amy also be able to trace to source, but then again ,the source may be eroded away and all that is left is alluvium, which is fine cause I like looking for rocks in alluvium best! Now if it wasnt 11 hours drive away!! On the other hand, there are a lot of cool sites around there and I would be able to incorporate several hounding jaunts into one trip, as well as visit some old friends!
I am not a veteran (thanks to all who are)... I am just a gun enthusiast and shooter that has had guns in hand since I could walk. The AR is an incredible gun... fun to shoot, affordable to shoot.
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bsky4463
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2013
Posts: 1,696
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Post by bsky4463 on Jan 29, 2015 11:56:29 GMT -5
Nice ones 'seeker. Great find in the gravels. Sweet shooter. Damn glad we live where we do.... Cheers
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hornseeker
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2014
Posts: 268
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Post by hornseeker on Jan 29, 2015 12:08:30 GMT -5
I cant stop obsessing over this rock now... want more bad!!
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Post by snowmom on Jan 29, 2015 16:15:34 GMT -5
Go for it!!!
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Post by snowmom on Jan 29, 2015 16:58:29 GMT -5
a little more kicking stuff around on the internet came up with this! Nickel Iron Deposit, Cle Elum... there is still debate among scientists whether that comes from space rocks (meteors, etc) or from deep volcanic action. Another clue. I bet a bit of digging may bring more info to light, pubs.usgs.gov/bul/0978b/report.pdf
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hornseeker
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2014
Posts: 268
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Post by hornseeker on Jan 29, 2015 18:09:59 GMT -5
I bet it will be a year or so before I get over there, but maybe before then I'll be able to do some online scouting and find a better spot. I dont remember being picky about what I grabbed, so I dont even remember if what I grabbed was rare or abundant.
If anyone living in the area wants to go look... just ask and I'll send you a map to the proximity! Only rule is you have to post pics of what you find!
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Post by snowmom on Jan 29, 2015 19:31:43 GMT -5
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Post by nowyo on Jan 29, 2015 20:04:29 GMT -5
Cool rocks, nice bang-stick. Never know what you'll find in these gravel hills.
Russ
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isocline
off to a rocking start
Member since January 2015
Posts: 1
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Post by isocline on Jan 30, 2015 1:30:55 GMT -5
Great memory! I recall pulling that boulder out of some fast moving water with you and you’re not exaggerating the weight. It was something that foolhardy early twenty-somethings do. The sister pair of bookends resides in my office (photos to be posted later) and a slab of it is in my goldfish/koi pond. The rock is derived from the Mid to Late Jurassic Ingalls Ophiolite Complex. An ophiolite is an obducted sequence of rock that originates on the oceanic basalt floor, is partially subducted, faulted, metamorphosed, hydrothermally altered, and then finally thrust up onto continental crust (and more complex derivations of this process). The red is likely altered radiolarian cert and the black/green is metamorphosed basalt or pillowed basalt. The metamorphic facies for the complex includes amphibolite grade which ranges from 550-750 degrees C and 0.4-1.2 GPa (gigapascals). I suspect that the green is epidote and chlorite but I never did a thin section (should have!). It was brecciated during the whole ordeal. Thanks for resurrecting that memory. Beautiful agate! See: gsabulletin.gsapubs.org/content/96/1/27.abstractebooks5.net/t/the-ingalls-ophiolite-complex-central-cascades-washington-w11572-book.html
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Post by MrP on Jan 30, 2015 6:24:49 GMT -5
Great memory! I recall pulling that boulder out of some fast moving water with you and you’re not exaggerating the weight. It was something that foolhardy early twenty-somethings do. The sister pair of bookends resides in my office (photos to be posted later) and a slab of it is in my goldfish/koi pond. The rock is derived from the Mid to Late Jurassic Ingalls Ophiolite Complex. An ophiolite is an obducted sequence of rock that originates on the oceanic basalt floor, is partially subducted, faulted, metamorphosed, hydrothermally altered, and then finally thrust up onto continental crust (and more complex derivations of this process). The red is likely altered radiolarian cert and the black/green is metamorphosed basalt or pillowed basalt. The metamorphic facies for the complex includes amphibolite grade which ranges from 550-750 degrees C and 0.4-1.2 GPa (gigapascals). I suspect that the green is epidote and chlorite but I never did a thin section (should have!). It was brecciated during the whole ordeal.
Thanks for resurrecting that memory. Beautiful agate! See: gsabulletin.gsapubs.org/content/96/1/27.abstractebooks5.net/t/the-ingalls-ophiolite-complex-central-cascades-washington-w11572-book.html
That is exactly what I was thinking .........................................MrP
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2015 6:58:11 GMT -5
Holy smokes "ditto".welvome aboard new member.rock identification should be a cinch now. Dave
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Post by captbob on Jan 30, 2015 7:18:05 GMT -5
Great memory! I recall pulling that boulder out of some fast moving water with you and you’re not exaggerating the weight. It was something that foolhardy early twenty-somethings do. The sister pair of bookends resides in my office (photos to be posted later) and a slab of it is in my goldfish/koi pond. The rock is derived from the Mid to Late Jurassic Ingalls Ophiolite Complex. An ophiolite is an obducted sequence of rock that originates on the oceanic basalt floor, is partially subducted, faulted, metamorphosed, hydrothermally altered, and then finally thrust up onto continental crust (and more complex derivations of this process). The red is likely altered radiolarian cert and the black/green is metamorphosed basalt or pillowed basalt. The metamorphic facies for the complex includes amphibolite grade which ranges from 550-750 degrees C and 0.4-1.2 GPa (gigapascals). I suspect that the green is epidote and chlorite but I never did a thin section (should have!). It was brecciated during the whole ordeal.
Thanks for resurrecting that memory. Beautiful agate! See: gsabulletin.gsapubs.org/content/96/1/27.abstractebooks5.net/t/the-ingalls-ophiolite-complex-central-cascades-washington-w11572-book.html
That is exactly what I was thinking .........................................MrP
And I was just about to post that myself. Thanks for saving me the time typing isocline and welcome to the forum!! Keep posting like that and you're gonna have all the girls chasing ya!
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hornseeker
spending too much on rocks
Member since January 2014
Posts: 268
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Post by hornseeker on Jan 30, 2015 8:56:56 GMT -5
Hey thanks coming coming aboard... Im fairly new here too, but anyhow, welcome Iso... and all this is my best friend from long long ago...
Next time I come to visit him (So Cal) I am going to pick all your brains for a good hounding spot we can hit! This guy loves rocks, but he's not so into "pretty" rocks as much as just those that have had havoc wreaked upon them by the earth for umptine millions of years...
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Post by MrP on Jan 30, 2015 10:02:01 GMT -5
By the way Isocline welcome. Really like the info. It is amazing the process rocks go through to end up the way they are................MrP
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