brybry
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Post by brybry on Apr 30, 2022 14:02:32 GMT -5
Woot, woot, WOOT!  Congrats on finding the mother lode, jamesp! You're probably already there picking up more beautiful wood since we're 3 hours time difference, but be a good boy like rockpickerforever said and stop giving out clues to where your spot is. Someone will put all your little clues together and nab all your wood. Can't wait to see your new haul. Be safe! Not the first time Jean has kept me out of trouble. She is the ultimate friend. Don't tell her but she has a special place in my heart as she does with many ! I would not mind sharing other than one BIG problem that I had with coral. I brought dozens of friends and acquaintances to the Withlacoochee River to collect coral. No problem till word got out over the years and 100's of people started digging and making a mess. No way they could deplete the coral, most of it is underwater and so vast an area. It was the mess they made that was the problem. The wood sites are vulnerable to a similar situation. The sites can't handle such traffic. They are well camouflaged, it would be difficult to find so it is likely safe. So I found another site a mile away based on a theory yesterday and it has a different array of color and found in very different conditions. I went right to the site 5 minutes after exiting my jeep. At the end of the day I went to another spot based on the theory and found it there too so I must have the geological deposition figured well. There is no signs of rock collector's, no hammered rocks or diggings at any of the sites. Must be that no one knows about them or people don't consider it attractive. So I collected chunks and hammered these samples from a site a mile away from the first site. This material has a different color and pattern. A bit duller. It may not be impressive to many but I like it so there ! Just the fact that it is fossil wood is impressive enough. They are headed for the tumblers. I plan to keep the samples from each site separated. Site #2: Shade shot, wet:  Sun shots, wet:      No shortage of it. Looks to be at least 10 feet deep in spots and closely packed in soil judging from eroded locations. It has a patina, hard to know what's on the inside without windowing it. The dense material rings when tapped with a hammer. Color seems closely related to both the soil/clay type and moisture levels it was formed or stored in as does fossil coral.  Dunno about everyone else but that ranks up there with AZ rainbow pet wood for me. Probably jaded since it's a southern thing, 😋. |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Apr 30, 2022 15:00:09 GMT -5
brybry The reds yellows and oranges don't seem to rank with those of AZ wood. The camera may or may not be colorizing it some but not much. That camera is darn close to real. Early sun may have added that spectrum some. should have some coming out of tumbler in polish tomorrow. It has some micro porosity for sure.
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victor1941
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Post by victor1941 on Apr 30, 2022 15:03:59 GMT -5
James, what excitement and enjoyment it must be to find material that others don't know or care about.
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brybry
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Post by brybry on Apr 30, 2022 15:30:33 GMT -5
brybry The reds yellows and oranges don't seem to rank with those of AZ wood. The camera may or may not be colorizing it some but not much. That camera is darn close to real. Early sun may have added that spectrum some. should have some coming out of tumbler in polish tomorrow. It has some micro porosity for sure. Colors may be better in AZ rainbow wood but the AZ stuff is fractured like crazy. At least the stuff I have is. Going back to being jaded since it's southern pet wood.😊 |
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Post by rockpickerforever on Apr 30, 2022 15:42:24 GMT -5
I need covertly follow you one day,lol. Got a vehicle equipped with James Bond grease ejector to foil followers. And tire shredding chariot spikes on the wheels. forgot about the 50 cal machine gun in the trunk... That's the spirit, James! LOL These days, one can't be too careful... |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on May 1, 2022 5:59:25 GMT -5
James, what excitement and enjoyment it must be to find material that others don't know or care about. Apparently they don't care or know about it Victor. One spot is a walking trail peppered with some of the better wood. Rock hounds would have noticed it because it is unique looking rock. You'd think there would be some broken pieces. |
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Post by hummingbirdstones on May 1, 2022 10:47:33 GMT -5
  Great haul, jamesp! Thanks for the trip report and all the pictures of the wood. I can't wait to see some of it finished. It may not be as "colorful" as AZ wood, but it is beautiful in it's own right. I love that you did all that research and hunting around and actually found the spot!
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on May 1, 2022 11:25:05 GMT -5
Great haul, jamesp! Thanks for the trip report and all the pictures of the wood. I can't wait to see some of it finished. It may not be as "colorful" as AZ wood, but it is beautiful in it's own right. I love that you did all that research and hunting around and actually found the spot! Next step is to go shopping along the anomaly for the AZ grade stuff. Fingers crossed that might happen. Just the variation of it is interesting enough. A friend 1 county away occasionally finds nice palm in a creek near his home. May have to chase the source on it too ! |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on May 1, 2022 12:07:15 GMT -5
These are some of the maps of topography, soils, hydrology and drainages that sent me to this location in the first place.   This is a soil map. Wetland soils close to the 350 foot sea elevation line up at Macon County on flood plains and terraces.  |
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Post by liveoak on May 2, 2022 6:39:24 GMT -5
jamesp "And another cove in the south east corner near Dothan." OK, Jim you got us doing more research down here , pulling out the book you also likely have
"Lost Worlds in Alabama Rocks" .
I'm not sure Tom or I ever truly read the whole thing, and quickly told ourselves that all the cool rocks & formations were in way north Al.
Well now your theory is quite interesting , and has us rethinking that maybe there's some, down this way after all.
Interestingly, in that book, they show a picture of petrified wood that looks very much like the stuff your finding, but from Barbour county, in the SE part of the state.
Now that's within a distance that we could go poke around creeks and look. There's even a couple of corp of engineers campgrounds there.
Thank you for the added research on your part 
Patty
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on May 2, 2022 9:11:59 GMT -5
jamesp "And another cove in the south east corner near Dothan." OK, Jim you got us doing more research down here , pulling out the book you also likely have
"Lost Worlds in Alabama Rocks" .
I'm not sure Tom or I ever truly read the whole thing, and quickly told ourselves that all the cool rocks & formations were in way north Al.
Well now your theory is quite interesting , and has us rethinking that maybe there's some, down this way after all. Interestingly, in that book, they show a picture of petrified wood that looks very much like the stuff your finding, but from Barbour county, in the SE part of the state.
Now that's within a distance that we could go poke around creeks and look. There's even a couple of corp of engineers campgrounds there.
Thank you for the added research on your part Patty
Basically the entire half of the Alabama state below the Fall Line is likely to have it. One friend takes groups all over Bama on kayak trips, pet wood being one of their collecting targets and they find it on most of those drainages. They prefer to kayak the sloped land along the Fall Line where the water moves a bit faster. Yes Barbour County is one of 4 counties listed in one rock book, another rock book listed other County's. And I knew the Chattahoochee River drainage in south Alabama was a place pet wood could be found close to or in Barbour County. But most of the wood counties were along the Fall Line. The more research and asking around I do the more I find more locations for it. There are 3 counties west of the Escambia River in the Mississippi state line that are known for their whale fossils. Here is a drainage map of those rivers mentioned. East Barbour County would be on the Chattahoochee drainage. The west side would be Pea Creek and Linsey Creek drainages flowing to the south west. And the east side of Barbour County would be almost entirely the west shore of Walter George Reservoir which may be a great place to collect when the reservoir is low in the summer. Good luck there ! PS Georgia collectors all think north Georgia is the only place to go. Most are not aware of the fine rocks at the coastal plain.  |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on May 2, 2022 9:27:59 GMT -5
These would have likely been cold weather conifer and/or ginko species. The piles of logs would have been unimaginable.  |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on May 3, 2022 8:27:25 GMT -5
These are the earliest creek finds and were fast 'hack' tumbled. The surface shear fractures were not completely removed due to the short stage 1 tumble. These are not representative of the finds at the source location, just downstream crumbs. Leaving out this morn for trip #9 - goal is to explore the source terrace over a longer distance. I'm not much of a rock hunter. Ok at finding wetland plants(and rocks) as hydrology affects them. I do understand the hydrology of the ancient Rio Grande, Florida/Georgia coastal plain rivers and now these Alabama drainages. The Rio was by far the most complicated, the tall 350' to 400' hills in the area were turns in the ancient river where rocks were deposited. The hills never eroded away because they were covered by river transported rock full of agates and woods much further upstream. The lower elevations had mostly local rock that was much less desirable except the local woods and palms Texas is so famous for. The wood tumble shapes fairly fast, polish is ok. Next time I will change the tumbling schedule a bit. Suspicious these are in the Ginkgo tree family.  |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on May 4, 2022 9:08:06 GMT -5
The quartz gravel bars are north-south-east-west of this wood rich location, telling that this is a concentrated pet wood location.
Adjacent creeks almost all quartz:
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Post by liveoak on May 4, 2022 10:21:48 GMT -5
Thanks for posting the photo jamesp of that pet wood creek bed- sure does look different. But now we know what to look for 
Patty
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Post by perkins17 on May 4, 2022 10:26:22 GMT -5
I vote we slap a tracker on his truck. If I followed him, I'd probably get better stuff than I would if I spent the rest of my life rockhounding lol.  |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on May 4, 2022 13:24:32 GMT -5
Thanks for posting the photo jamesp of that pet wood creek bed- sure does look different. But now we know what to look for Patty
Ya'll rise to the challenge of finding the pet wood Patty. |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on May 4, 2022 13:29:23 GMT -5
I vote we slap a tracker on his truck. If I followed him, I'd probably get better stuff than I would if I spent the rest of my life rockhounding lol. Shoot, geology is a whole lot simpler down here than Washington state with all the tectonic and glacial activity you guys have experienced. Way simpler. It would be a breeze to find fossiliferous rocks here after what you guys have to go thru to understand past events. |
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Post by liveoak on May 4, 2022 13:48:45 GMT -5
No worries there, we don't communicate much with the masses, more the self employed hermit types 
Patty
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Post by perkins17 on May 4, 2022 15:34:57 GMT -5
I vote we slap a tracker on his truck. If I followed him, I'd probably get better stuff than I would if I spent the rest of my life rockhounding lol. Shoot, geology is a whole lot simpler down here than Washington state with all the tectonic and glacial activity you guys have experienced. Way simpler. It would be a breeze to find fossiliferous rocks here after what you guys have to go thru to understand past events. We have some crazy geology up here. My house is built on coarse glacial sand which probably goes down a few miles. We have random float basalt covering almost all of Washington, that sometimes holds silicates. I found potch opal in practically my backyard when they dynamited behind me. We have intense geologically formed area everywhere around, making for some interesting yet tough hounding. |
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