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Post by vegasjames on Nov 27, 2023 8:52:28 GMT -5
Finally have some time to catch up on my trip report and have my other rocks from our trip for waterline agates cleaned up.
Day 3 was my birthday, so celebrated my birthday with friends in Reno.
Next day some friends with a rock club in Reno took me to a new spot to look for waterline agates.
Thar is when we got visited by the Sheriff's deputies from 2 counties who were out looking for us because some nutcase we never saw who is always running people off the land at gunpoint called the Sheriff's department claiming we pulled a gun on him in a claim dispute.
Afterwards, we left and went back to Wonderstone Mountain instead.
Here are some of the finds from the first location.
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Post by drocknut on Nov 27, 2023 9:16:45 GMT -5
Looks like you had a productive although eventful trip. Happy Belated Birthday to you. May you have many more.
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Post by vegasjames on Nov 27, 2023 9:26:20 GMT -5
Looks like you had a productive although eventful trip. Happy Belated Birthday to you. May you have many more. Thank you.
Yes, got a lot of great stuff. Posted some of the others such as the petrified wood, jasper and Wonderstone earlier. Stashed all the cataclastite in the way up so picked it back up on the way back to avoid having to carry all the weight to Reno and back, plus the loading and unloading. Then picked up some more of the radioactive copper ore specimens near where I stashed the cataclasite, that I already posted pics of those as well.
On the way back I made one more stop in the Goldfield District. Been trying to find one spot again there for a while and finally found it again. The road was so overgrown that it was really hard to spot. So still have some goodies from there to post.
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chris1956
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Post by chris1956 on Nov 27, 2023 10:03:48 GMT -5
Wow, that is a lot! Do you tumble them, make cabs or enjoy them as is?
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Post by realrockhound on Nov 27, 2023 12:40:18 GMT -5
How does the material deposit out in that area? Like do you just find it scattered out across the ground. So here in central Oregon (most, not all) you generally have a deposit in an area where it pushes up from the ground, or you find it formed in rhyolite outcrops in seams essentially. Can’t entirely tell from your photos, but looks relatively flat compared to my region where minerals form. Almost like you just find it scattered across the plains with no distinct deposit. Maybe underground veins it’s pushing itself up from?
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victor1941
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Post by victor1941 on Nov 27, 2023 14:57:00 GMT -5
I liked the stone that looked like a sagenite spray and the yellow stone if the color goes inside.
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Post by rockjunquie on Nov 27, 2023 15:23:10 GMT -5
I liked the stone that looked like a sagenite spray and the yellow stone if the color goes inside. You mean this one? It's my favorite, too.
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Post by rockjunquie on Nov 27, 2023 15:24:47 GMT -5
Great haul, James! Give Jax a rub for me. ETA What is the crackle rock? It's gorgeous.
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victor1941
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Post by victor1941 on Nov 27, 2023 19:19:41 GMT -5
Rockjunquie-yes, this should make a great cab.
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Post by vegasjames on Nov 27, 2023 20:24:26 GMT -5
Wow, that is a lot! Do you tumble them, make cabs or enjoy them as is? Depends on the stone. Some stones I throw in the tumbler, mainly stones too small to do anything else with, and some stones I break up for tumbling. Some of the stones I cab or use for crafts such as my turtle sculpture was made mainly from stones I collected. I am also on a rock trade board, so I also get a lot of rocks for trading, including I have traded for some of the material to be made in to spheres. Really nice or unusual specimens go on my shelves. Some of the stuff I give away. Such as a couple of times I have taken baskets of opalized wood to meetings and let people pick what they like, gave some to school teachers for their students, always take some stones to our rock cub meetings for newbies to get started, etc.
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Post by vegasjames on Nov 27, 2023 20:38:19 GMT -5
How does the material deposit out in that area? Like do you just find it scattered out across the ground. So here in central Oregon (most, not all) you generally have a deposit in an area where it pushes up from the ground, or you find it formed in rhyolite outcrops in seams essentially. Can’t entirely tell from your photos, but looks relatively flat compared to my region where minerals form. Almost like you just find it scattered across the plains with no distinct deposit. Maybe underground veins it’s pushing itself up from? Not sure on this site. I thought it was washing down from the mountains, but I walked towards the mountains and as I moved that way the material was getting less and less. And I hit a really big wash cutting across horizontally between the mountains and where were collecting and there was not a single piece in the wash. So, I assume the agate is from the location, maybe a weathered away hill or yes, could have been pushed up from underground from earthquake activity. Most pieces were smaller and was scattered over the area.
We were supposed to go up the mountains afterward, so i could have seen if there was a source up that way somewhere. but after the Sheriff's deputies left, they decided to just get out of there, so we went to Wonderstone Mountain instead.
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Post by vegasjames on Nov 27, 2023 20:43:58 GMT -5
Great haul, James! Give Jax a rub for me. ETA What is the crackle rock? It's gorgeous.
Not sure which one you are referring to. I see several that could be referred to as crackle rocks.
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Post by realrockhound on Nov 27, 2023 20:57:59 GMT -5
How does the material deposit out in that area? Like do you just find it scattered out across the ground. So here in central Oregon (most, not all) you generally have a deposit in an area where it pushes up from the ground, or you find it formed in rhyolite outcrops in seams essentially. Can’t entirely tell from your photos, but looks relatively flat compared to my region where minerals form. Almost like you just find it scattered across the plains with no distinct deposit. Maybe underground veins it’s pushing itself up from? Not sure on this site. I thought it was washing down from the mountains, but I walked towards the mountains and as I moved that way the material was getting less and less. And I hit a really big wash cutting across horizontally between the mountains and where were collecting and there was not a single piece in the wash. So, I assume the agate is from the location, maybe a weathered away hill or yes, could have been pushed up from underground from earthquake activity. Most pieces were smaller and was scattered over the area.
We were supposed to go up the mountains afterward, so i could have seen if there was a source up that way somewhere. but after the Sheriff's deputies left, they decided to just get out of there, so we went to Wonderstone Mountain instead.
Gotcha. I’ve experienced similar. Sometimes you’ll find loose agate like that scattered throughout an area and you try to follow the source but it just disappears. You know it’s coming from somewhere, but where haha. Cool finds btw.
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quartzilla
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Post by quartzilla on Nov 27, 2023 21:08:07 GMT -5
All great stuff. The waterlines and sagenitic ones are killer!
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Post by rockjunquie on Nov 28, 2023 9:17:45 GMT -5
Great haul, James! Give Jax a rub for me. ETA What is the crackle rock? It's gorgeous.
Not sure which one you are referring to. I see several that could be referred to as crackle rocks. This one. A couple others look similar.
eta
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Post by vegasjames on Nov 28, 2023 18:30:52 GMT -5
Not sure which one you are referring to. I see several that could be referred to as crackle rocks. This one. A couple others look similar.
eta
Those are waterline agates as well. I think the crackle surface came from a thin layer of opal that got exposed too fast before hardening in to chalcedony. Could have been from the surface being exposed suddenly from a drop in the water table, a mudslide, etc. Opal is not a true solid, it is a hard gel, so the molecules are still mobile. If an opal slowly loses its water the molecules move and have time to stabilize in their new positions. If the opal dries too rapidly, then the molecules do not have time to move to stable position and the result is cracking of the opal. Eventually the water content of the opal will drop below 3%, at which point the opal will start to crystallize in to some form of chalcedony (common chalcedony, agate, jasper or chert/flint. Bright light or sudden changes in temperature can also facilitate cracking, so very likely just the surface was suddenly exposed allowing cracking from rapid water loss, sudden sunlight exposure or temperature fluctuations then the whole opal crystallized in to the waterline agates.
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Post by rockjunquie on Nov 28, 2023 18:38:09 GMT -5
This one. A couple others look similar.
eta
Those are waterline agates as well. I think the crackle surface came from a thin layer of opal that got exposed too fast before hardening in to chalcedony. Could have been from the surface being exposed suddenly from a drop in the water table, a mudslide, etc. Opal is not a true solid, it is a hard gel, so the molecules are still mobile. If an opal slowly loses its water the molecules move and have time to stabilize in their new positions. If the opal dries too rapidly, then the molecules do not have time to move to stable position and the result is cracking of the opal. Eventually the water content of the opal will drop below 3%, at which point the opal will start to crystallize in to some form of chalcedony (common chalcedony, agate, jasper or chert/flint. Bright light or sudden changes in temperature can also facilitate cracking, so very likely just the surface was suddenly exposed allowing cracking from rapid water loss, sudden sunlight exposure or temperature fluctuations then the whole opal crystallized in to the waterline agates. AWESOME! Thanks for such a great answer. Even I could understand it. LOL!
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Post by Pat on Nov 28, 2023 20:54:53 GMT -5
Thanks for the explanations. I’ll be looking harder for waterline agates. What a perfect way to spend a birthday!! vegasjames. Happy birthday!
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Post by rockjunquie on Nov 28, 2023 20:58:04 GMT -5
I forgot to wish you a belated birthday. So, Happy Birthday! I already know you made it a great day.
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Post by jasoninsd on Nov 28, 2023 21:20:33 GMT -5
I gotta chime in on a happy belated b-day as well James! Thanks for posting pics of the finds!
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