|
Post by miket on Feb 1, 2021 10:15:14 GMT -5
Jason, That's funny! The wife and I had a few yards of Rio material dropped in our yard for landscaping too. Unfortunately, as the Eagle Pass quarry gets deeper the stuff seems to have less and less good agate and I got very little good stuff from the load. As I travel around locally, I find I can tell if their landscaping is "old" or "new" Rio Grande gravel by seeing the amount of agate included. I know of one store locally that has landscaping from the old, top agate layer that would make your eyes pop, with fancy agate all over the place. I saw one orbicular one in particular and actually went in and asked the owner if I could have a rock from his landscaping. The answer was No....Oh well and I was buying a lot of stuff there too. When we were first making our Texas move, we stayed at a motel under construction and they had a pile of tons of Rio material and I swear it was 20% agate, wood, and jasper. Lucky to find a couple now days in the stuff being quarried. It's amazing to see the amount of people poking around the parking lots of local businesses. They're constantly agate hunting...and generally without permission. I haven't found the need to do that as I have my own supply of river rock to poke around in! LOL The guy that delivers this for me let me know there's two local sources. One contains agate...the other not at all. I had to wait months in order to take delivery of the "good" stuff! LOL An hour after he dumped the load, I found this Fairburn just poking around the outside of the pile...well worth the cost of the 2nd load of 8-tons. I missed this one.
|
|
|
Post by miket on Feb 1, 2021 10:16:55 GMT -5
Sabre52 - I feel like I'm hijacking your thread...so I'll stop after this one. stephan , miket , and Brian - here's a couple close-ups. Depending on how you count the fortifications, I come up with 36 different bands that surround the druzy (I think that's what it is) pocket...I've never seen another Fairburn with that many bands... Not too bad for a landscaping rock! LOL Now you've done it, Jason. I have to look at my Fairburns and see if I have any with more bands. But not in this thread, sorry for the sidetrack Sabre52...
|
|
|
Post by jasoninsd on Feb 1, 2021 10:36:43 GMT -5
NO worries on the post. I have the Fairburn book and it's one of my favorites to read. In my opinion Fairburns are easily among the top ten fortification agates and that example is friggin awesome. Usually don't see too many black ones like that. Interesting how all those sedimentary agates seem to have highly identifiable patterns and matrix. Dryheads, Fairburns, TeePees, Bear Canyons etc have similar geology but such different color schemes. The Bear Canyons are probably the ones that seem most like Fairburns but still there are major differences in colors and banding. Thanks for letting us sidetrack the thread...it's like internet ADHD! That was the very first Fairburn I ever found. Unfortunately it set the bar so dang high, that every other one I've found since is now measured against the "best of the best"! LOL That rock was singlehandedly responsible for my hounding addiction! I went to college in Billings and had no interest in rock hounding at the time. Looking back, I could've spent so much time around the Big Horn River or The Big Horn Mountains looking for dryhead agates, it's ridiculous! I spent several years with a view of the mountains from my dorm room window and never once went and spent time in them...ahhh...the folly of youth! LOL I'm a huge fan of any rock with fortifications...with Crazy Lace (and its "cousins") being right near the top. But there's something magical about a Fairburn Agate. Maybe it's their seeming rarity these days...unless your name is miket! LOL I haven't been hounding for Teepees yet, but that is first on my list to go do once the weather says it's springtime...I've been practicing up on the Tennessee Ernie Ford song in preparation! LOL
|
|
Brian
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2020
Posts: 1,506
|
Post by Brian on Feb 1, 2021 10:37:13 GMT -5
All I can say is both of you ( Sabre52 and jasoninsd) have far better landscaping rocks than we have around here!
|
|
|
Post by jasoninsd on Feb 1, 2021 10:38:32 GMT -5
All I can say is both of you ( Sabre52 and jasoninsd ) have far better landscaping rocks than we have around here! I don't know how many times I've dreamt all 21 tons of river rock were made up of all Fairburns! LOL
|
|
chandler
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2020
Posts: 105
|
Post by chandler on Feb 2, 2021 10:54:45 GMT -5
Is this chert? Sorry for the big images.
|
|
Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,456
|
Post by Sabre52 on Feb 2, 2021 12:45:50 GMT -5
Looks like it could be chert. Some chert seems to be not as silica rich and glassy as others are. What we have here in Texas is mostly very fine grained and glassy and really takes a fine polish. Even the coarser textured examples will polish well most of the time. The big difference seems to be that some regions have chert that is much more colorful than others while others have mainly earth tones.
|
|
chandler
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2020
Posts: 105
|
Post by chandler on Feb 5, 2021 15:01:02 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by rockpickerforever on Feb 5, 2021 16:09:09 GMT -5
To me, it kind of looks like quartz and feldspar.
But then, I'm no expert. Let's see what others think.
|
|
Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,456
|
Post by Sabre52 on Feb 5, 2021 17:40:28 GMT -5
Yeah, I'm thinking that's definitely not wood and more likely quartz. To me, chert usually appears more fine grained, though chemically both are pretty much the same. Here in Texas some of the "chert" has that same sort of layering though, almost like an intergrade between quartz and chert. And, some of the chert is virtually indistinguishable from agate.
|
|
chandler
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since November 2020
Posts: 105
|
Post by chandler on Feb 5, 2021 18:36:30 GMT -5
I sliced a piece to see how it polishes. Does this help with identification?
|
|