Frenchman Mountain (West), Fun picking up Garden rocks
Feb 25, 2019 18:02:08 GMT -5
vegasjames, fernwood, and 5 more like this
Post by NevadaBill on Feb 25, 2019 18:02:08 GMT -5
Without explanation today, we had no more rain and snow in the forecast, so I decided to scout a new area. I found some nice Garden rocks and keepers that had nice pink and red color to them. Plus, it was just great being out.
The target was to scour the West face of the mountain, in particular a horizontal seam which can be seen right in the middle of this shot:
I started here, and planned on getting to about 300 ft. elevation, starting at the Traditional Trilobite area, and then moving South (left to right in the picture)
As you ascent up the mountain, there is striking, colorful banded granite of various colors all over the place:
I picked up some pieces (not this one, it looked to be about 700 lbs!), on the way back out.
I am not sure how these rocks got here. A geologist once told me that Frenchman Mountain was moved 40 miles West by a fault at one time. Las Vegas has fault history at popular Red Rock Canyon and volcanic McCollogh Range too. So, I don't doubt this. I was told that Frenchman Mountain was old, and basically bulldozed its way 40 miles over, accounting for all kinds of disrupted ranges along the way. A smarter person probably knows better than I do though.
As I kept moving South, I ended up finding some colorful Chert in a draw, which took me to about 300-500 ft. elevations, at around the 3/4 mile mark, from the parking lot:
The mountain in the background is called Charleston Peak. It is fun hiking in the snow up there, this time of year.
Here is what some of the Chert looks like. Iron Oxide stained material. At first I thought it to be Petrified Wood, but when I got it home, discovered that it was not.
I probably won't tumble any of it, but it might look nice in a dark flower bed though.
Here is some of the Granite (probably Gneiss) that I brought home. The larger pieces about the size of a toaster oven.
I could have brought home all I wanted really, but would need a pickup truck. Some of it is the size of a Volkswagen.
Once before in this general vicinity, I had found some chunks of interesting Jasper (Red / Yellow) up there once before, but came across none today.
Note, these pictures and others are much higher definition, if you <Right> click on them, and choose "Open Image in New Tab".
Well, just to wrap things up, nothing like a sunny and warm day outside in the Desert Southwest. Good exercise too!
Map available upon request.
Thanks for coming along!
The target was to scour the West face of the mountain, in particular a horizontal seam which can be seen right in the middle of this shot:
I started here, and planned on getting to about 300 ft. elevation, starting at the Traditional Trilobite area, and then moving South (left to right in the picture)
As you ascent up the mountain, there is striking, colorful banded granite of various colors all over the place:
I picked up some pieces (not this one, it looked to be about 700 lbs!), on the way back out.
I am not sure how these rocks got here. A geologist once told me that Frenchman Mountain was moved 40 miles West by a fault at one time. Las Vegas has fault history at popular Red Rock Canyon and volcanic McCollogh Range too. So, I don't doubt this. I was told that Frenchman Mountain was old, and basically bulldozed its way 40 miles over, accounting for all kinds of disrupted ranges along the way. A smarter person probably knows better than I do though.
As I kept moving South, I ended up finding some colorful Chert in a draw, which took me to about 300-500 ft. elevations, at around the 3/4 mile mark, from the parking lot:
The mountain in the background is called Charleston Peak. It is fun hiking in the snow up there, this time of year.
Here is what some of the Chert looks like. Iron Oxide stained material. At first I thought it to be Petrified Wood, but when I got it home, discovered that it was not.
I probably won't tumble any of it, but it might look nice in a dark flower bed though.
Here is some of the Granite (probably Gneiss) that I brought home. The larger pieces about the size of a toaster oven.
I could have brought home all I wanted really, but would need a pickup truck. Some of it is the size of a Volkswagen.
Once before in this general vicinity, I had found some chunks of interesting Jasper (Red / Yellow) up there once before, but came across none today.
Note, these pictures and others are much higher definition, if you <Right> click on them, and choose "Open Image in New Tab".
Well, just to wrap things up, nothing like a sunny and warm day outside in the Desert Southwest. Good exercise too!
Map available upon request.
Thanks for coming along!
