Unusual coral from a new vein

[jamesp]

This pile has some fine coral. Only the small ones pretty. and only one out of 20-30. These in the first 30 minutes of sampling.

The vein.

[junglejim]

Very nice coral candy. Lot's left to pick later. That river looks fishy to me.

[Fossilman]

SCORE!!!!!! Nice to hit a new vein,isn't it! Congrads....

[quartz]

Looks like you will be making a lot of little ones out of big ones to find the keepers, but a plentiful supply of raw mtl. Always fun to find a new location.

[rockpickerforever]

So cool, nice variety of colors. You need to be exiled more often!

[jamesp]

This 1/2 mile section has water seeping off the clay hardpan every inch of it's length. You can see the little drainages in the sand to the left of the boat.
This vein of coral has cold water flowing thru it. It is typical to have high grade silicification at such springs.
Often with a very white rind on it. It is still grainy but not in the sense of being hard to polish. The grains make it dense, not glassy.
Very few coral veins though. Maybe in the bottom of the river. The smother and softer the rind, the higher the quality silicification.
And none of it more than 3 inches across was silicified completely thru, but pulpy on the inside. Only the small stuff was good.
Perfect for trim saw/cabs and tumbling. Strong colors/rich chemical content should change drastically w/heat.
Found some mammal bones, a scraper, tons of silicified oysters. Have found fine artifacts along this stretch years ago.
It was 100F and real humid, would have to say a rain forest.
Water dripping of clay hard pan, well filtered by 40 foot layer of sand on top of it:



About 200-300 gallon per minute spring, lots of artifacts in river near this drinkable water. Cool flow attracts fish.

Weird rock outcrops




Too big to put in the boat


The clay shores are cantilevered. Nothing but water under them. strange when river is lower.
Junglejim's fish waiting in ambush in the shade up under. Throw lure on bank and let fall in.



Water clear but very stained by tannic acid. Have used airplane headlamp when snarling for artifacts back in the day.

A few echinoids, turtle scute, chips from the natives, beer tab and oyster gravel.

Unlike Keith's chick magnet boat with 6HP, mine is only 5.5. His is shiny and new, perhaps w/hot bow bunnies riding up front.
Mine dirty and old, and made in US unlike his import. A true work boat.

Water worn pine knot, will heat your house for 6 days. Full of resin, common. Carvers make things out of them.

Upstream from ramp is all white water. Interesting driving boat up these. After the fifth one I was worn out.

[snowmom]

wow, the coral is a bonus, and will be really cool when worked. lots of good shading in those puppies.... but the scenery takes the show.
OH my, what beauty in the surroundings and exotic to this yankee. That spring, those wonderful cypress, the rocks.... so glad you posted,
you have the best adventures! I find cedar and pine knots here on the beach and end up picking them up. Most are much smaller. They look good arranged with rocks, and I don't worry about deterioration or infestation... thanks for the tour!

[rockpickerforever]

Some mighty fine photos, James, a pretty place to be exiled to. But what, no selfies?? Dave is going to be upset.

Very interesting scenery. Love all the gnarly trees, but you can keep the humidity. The low water really does make a difference, the river volume has really dwindled. I imagine it gets low at certain times of the year, a lot to be found that is normally below water. How are the rapids when the river is higher? Rougher, or do they go away when it gets deeper?

The echinoids are pretty cool!

Thanks for posting!

[Fossilman]

Totally great story,photos and goodies.........Thanks for sharing James......

[Pat]

What a show! Love the scenery. The finds are a bonus. Thanks for posting.

[rockjunquie]

Gorgeous pictures and scenery and I love that new coral. Thanks for sharing- the environment there looks so prehistoric!

[quartz]

Thanks for taking us along, really enjoyed the finds and scenery. The 100&humid would be tough. Do you have any ideas on the origin of the clay, must be very old to be strong enough to hang like that.

[jamesp]

Aug 24, 2014 23:39:01 GMT -5 quartz said:

Thanks for taking us along, really enjoyed the finds and scenery. The 100&humid would be tough. Do you have any ideas on the origin of the clay, must be very old to be strong enough to hang like that.

That 'clay' is more of a limestone/clay mix. Funny you asked, I inspected it yesterday. It is dead slick and more like dirty limestone.
And full of razor sharp oyster fragments. I will not ever stand on it again. The oyster fragments will slice you. Just dragging your hands
on it will shred your skin.
That 1/2 mile stretch is way wetter than the other 30 miles of that river I have explored. Obviously a lot of water percolating from the sand.
Maybe dirty limestone is a better description.

A dense section of silicified oysters

[jamesp]

Aug 24, 2014 6:50:50 GMT -5 rockpickerforever said:

Some mighty fine photos, James, a pretty place to be exiled to. But what, no selfies?? Dave is going to be upset.

Very interesting scenery. Love all the gnarly trees, but you can keep the humidity. The low water really does make a difference, the river volume has really dwindled. I imagine it gets low at certain times of the year, a lot to be found that is normally below water. How are the rapids when the river is higher? Rougher, or do they go away when it gets deeper?

The echinoids are pretty cool!

Thanks for posting!

I think Dave will survive. He has some adjustments to make.

The river is at 200 cubic feet per second. I have been on it at 30 cubic feet per second. it is a mere trickle, but the deep pools are still full of water to keep the fish happy.
When it is 30 feet deeper during the wet season the water is moving much faster and the shoals are nonexistent. It probably averages 12 feet deeper than the level you see.
Those are cinnamon ferns on the vertical banks. They have a big wood root ball like fossil ferns have. They get 6 feet tall in flatlands.

[jamesp]

Aug 24, 2014 16:37:51 GMT -5 rockjunquie said:

Gorgeous pictures and scenery and I love that new coral. Thanks for sharing- the environment there looks so prehistoric!

That stretch of the Suwannee is much more populated Tela. Lot of canoe outposts and outfitters. Short and long runs.
They pass by me and wonder what I am doing. You can stop by White Springs sometime, it is just a few miles off of I-75.
A 2 hour rental kayak run will put you in the scenery.

Did score on some cool coral. Some of the prettiest so far maybe. Will have to saw it and see.

[grayfingers]

I never tire of this scenery!


Here is what the weekend rains left here, when the clouds lifted above 7,000'

[jamesp]

Aug 25, 2014 7:57:45 GMT -5 grayfingers said:

I never tire of this scenery!


Here is what the weekend rains left here, when the clouds lifted above 7,000'

Are you saying it rained at low elevation and snowed on those peaks ?
Or does that snow stay there year round ?
It was hot enough that I was getting in the river about once every hour or two to cool off.
The water in your rivers would cool you off for a whole day.
I could have brought a stick of 3/4 PVC and filled a container w/72F spring water by sticking it in a bank spring.
Little 2-3 gallon per minute springs were common. Kayakers would worry if I was laying in a kiddie pool cooling off.

[grayfingers]

"Are you saying it rained at low elevation and snowed on those peaks ?"

James, exactly. There are snowbanks that stay year-round on the highest peaks, but this is fresh snow. I have seen snow here every month of the year several times in the past 50-plus years, sometimes in the valley. After posting this one shot, I went to the edge of town and took a few more.

forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/thread/67271/first-snow-sw-montana

[bhiatt]

sweet looking coral specimens. I could take a nap in that natural spring right now. Nice find. Those huge coral heads are crazy and it still blows my mind that ancient sea shelf was once there. All we got around here is creeks with beer cans in them lol and old farm equipment.

Oh and the colors on that wall is something I haven't seen yet from your tips. Cool blue color.

[jamesp]

Aug 25, 2014 11:40:44 GMT -5 bhiatt said:

sweet looking coral specimens. I could take a nap in that natural spring right now. Nice find. Those huge coral heads are crazy and it still blows my mind that ancient sea shelf was once there. All we got around here is creeks with beer cans in them lol and old farm equipment.

Oh and the colors on that wall is something I haven't seen yet from your tips. Cool blue color.

I will say that Florida is strict and will bust your butt for messing w/their water ways. Remote area helps matters.
The oysters and the siderastrea coral spread out over the large area is telling of a giant shallow bay that sat on an old
ocean floor that deposited enough diatoms and small carbonate particles to make limestone bedrock.