My best rock hunting find ever happened yesterday

[jamesp]

OK, it may not be such a big deal to you guys but for me it was huge.
Atlanta Georgia is home to crappy rocks. Granite and fractured quartz for the most part.
Am used to the gruel of travelling to Texas and Florida to go REAL collecting.

The chert zone starts a long 3 hours away. Decent finds there like fossil coral and ok cherts.

History and day's events:

After 7 three hour round trip visits to a much closer south Alabama zone involving physically difficult samplings of many creeks I finally found (my) mother load. Yesterday about 4pm and ready to call it a day.

Water worn pet wood crumbs are in a large creek down there as if coming from an upstream source. T
The amount and quality of the wood kept increasing moving into the smaller upland tributaries. Upland ? Go figure, a surprise... Desolate location, perfect. One of the creeks was bold and cut deep into the forest floor cutting into an odd clay, it was narrow and with high velocity flow.

But the fun began when I broke into the big chunk. Unlike many silicifications found at the coastal plain that have pulpy interiors this chunk was beautiful(IMO) on the inside and had formed harder more colorful rock toward the center. Yes, well silicified AND it had better colors. I started working my way up the creek and started pling 2 to 10 pound chunks on the gravel bar. EUREKA !
Not only that there was colors all over the chart. And I have about 4 miles of this creek to collect on legally. Not as single hammered rock, no signs of ANY rock hunters ! No on site photos, don't want to take chances geo locating my secret spot(greedy eh).

Here is some samples taken on site from larger chunks at the last hours of yesterday. TONS OF ROUGH and saw size chunks. Color all over the chart. May not be pretty to some but I'm in love. Actually many more in the general area.
The SE US is not known for a source of gemmy pet wood but IMO this stuff is close enough. Big big find for me and I love pet wood.

Going back tomorrow with a rested body, excited. It has some weird organic colors and textures. And a bit translucent. The black chunk chipped out of what seemed to be a foot long 3 inch limb with deep red clouds in it. Plus there are artifacts in the creek !

[aGates]

I'm so very happy for you. I am getting excited off your stoke! Nothing beats finding material. I can't wait to get hounding in two weeks. Great find. Johnny aGates

[rockpickerforever]

Apr 28, 2022 12:16:54 GMT -5 jamesp said:

Not only that there was colors all over the chart. And I have about 4 miles of this creek to collect on legally. Not as single hammered rock, no signs of ANY rock hunters ! No on site photos, don't want to take chances geo locating my secret spot(greedy eh).

Congrats on finding your Mother Lode, jamesp!!


No, not greedy, smart! I have always hated it when people join a site such as this, and in their first post, they are asking for locations to "the good stuff."  Many just don't understand that they are breaching protocol.  Take your case, for instance James.  They do not realize the time and amount of work it took for you to locate that honeyhole. Unfortunately, there are many times when someone hears about a new find or location, then have gone in and picked it clean.  They only see dollar signs in their head, and are only interested in making money off it.  Those are the greedy ones.

Some may feel differently about it, but that's just how i roll .

[Lumberlegs]

Hell yea, James. Exploration with a treasure

[jamesp]

Apr 28, 2022 13:09:14 GMT -5 aGates said:

I'm so very happy for you. I am getting excited off your stoke! Nothing beats finding material. I can't wait to get hounding in two weeks. Great find. Johnny aGates

aGates Treasure comes in many different forms.
Fossil evidence is an amazing artifact that can be a great resource for the lapidarian.
Perhaps more valuable is seeing it's habitat and trying to imagine why it is where it lays.
If you find one fossil there is likely many more.
Happy hounding, enjoy the great outdoors !

[fernwood]

Congrats on the great finds.
Some of the pet wood rivals AZ pet wood.
The black is awesome+

[jamesp]

Apr 28, 2022 13:17:07 GMT -5 rockpickerforever said:

Apr 28, 2022 12:16:54 GMT -5 jamesp said:

Not only that there was colors all over the chart. And I have about 4 miles of this creek to collect on legally. Not as single hammered rock, no signs of ANY rock hunters ! No on site photos, don't want to take chances geo locating my secret spot(greedy eh).

Congrats on finding your Mother Lode, jamesp!!


No, not greedy, smart! I have always hated it when people join a site such as this, and in their first post, they are asking for locations to "the good stuff."  Many just don't understand that they are breaching protocol.  Take your case, for instance James.  They do not realize the time and amount of work it took for you to locate that honeyhole. Unfortunately, there are many times when someone hears about a new find or location, then have gone in and picked it clean.  They only see dollar signs in their head, and are only interested in making money off it.  Those are the greedy ones.

Some may feel differently about it, but that's just how i roll .

Solid material but very different from the Texas/Cali wood in terms of it's structure and complexion. Some force must have swept it to the hills. It all did not make sense but who said geology is simple.

No, I'm not willing to share this one. Not sure if anyone even knows about it. That section of the county is mostly African American farmers that probably don't have much interest in rocks. No signs of rock hunters.

Looks like there is a lot of variation in color and texture with more creeks of similar elevation to explore. I'll freak if whole logs are there. You know we don't have deserts, our only exposures are dang creeks and rivers.

If palm is there I'll be ruined. I have found a few that sure seemed to have palm markings.

Headed back in morn. Won't sleep well tonight. Tomorrow is Christmas morning :(yes, I am strange)

[mohs]

i'm highly exited for ya James !
well at least mildly elevated

[jamesp]

Apr 28, 2022 14:42:48 GMT -5 Lumberlegs said:

Hell yea, James. Exploration with a treasure

Thanks Chad. New treasure. New surroundings. Can't go wrong.

There is an anomaly related to the location of the I-85 interstate placement that relates closely to the location of the pet wood.
There is 5 creeks in a row in that stretch that flow under I-85 and all 5 have similar gravel bars at the crossings.

I-75 was placed along most of the Florida ridge where good bedrock is located and fossilized coral occurs most commonly along that ridge at creek and river crossings.

[rockpickerforever]

Watch it now, James. Don't say too much, lol.

I hate those takers. Next, they'll put a tracking device on your vehicle to see where you go. I wouldn't put it past some of them!

[jamesp]

Apr 28, 2022 14:55:56 GMT -5 fernwood said:

Congrats on the great finds.
Some of the pet wood rivals AZ pet wood.
The black is awesome+

To rival AZ wood would be a dream come true. It would be totally satisfying to be a half rival of that fine wood.

Here is the black limb cast look-alike. It has patches of red cloudy spots in it. found smaller pieces of black with some catchy red markings. This photo in sunlight which helps see the sorta unique colors for wood.



A big one.

[Lumberlegs]

Looks very much like the pet wood I was gifted.

Is that a metallic sparkle on the big one left of the plate, or just a play of the light?

[jamesp]

Apr 28, 2022 16:38:03 GMT -5 rockpickerforever said:

Watch it now, James. Don't say too much, lol.

I hate those takers. Next, they'll put a tracking device on your vehicle to see where you go. I wouldn't put it past some of them!

Thanks Jean.
Carefully worded. The gravel bars at the interstate are not equal to the gravel bars with wood.
There is yet another randomly shaped geological feature that dictates the wood location.

[jamesp]

Apr 28, 2022 16:52:25 GMT -5 Lumberlegs said:

Looks very much like the pet wood I was gifted.

Is that a metallic sparkle on the big one left of the plate, or just a play of the light?

Glad you noticed. Was your gift Arizona wood ?
I posed the question here if mica could enter a petrification and it was not known.
Yes there are what appears to be mica flakes in some of the wood just as the compressed sand(quartzite) is riddled with mica specks.
The quartzite grains vary widely from like 1000 grit to 30 grit from sample to sample, sand said to be early ocean sands.
It asks the question if the wood was formed partially in a similar process as the quartzite
I collected many different pet woods in Texas and never seen any with such grainy construction as this material.
It polishes well regardless of the grain.

[Lumberlegs]

Apr 28, 2022 17:06:40 GMT -5 jamesp said:

Apr 28, 2022 16:52:25 GMT -5 Lumberlegs said:

Looks very much like the pet wood I was gifted.

Is that a metallic sparkle on the big one left of the plate, or just a play of the light?

Glad you noticed. Was your gift Arizona wood ?
I posed the question here if mica could enter a petrification and it was not known.
Yes there are what appears to be mica flakes in some of the wood just as the compressed sand(quartzite) is riddled with mica specks.
The quartzite grains vary widely from like 1000 grit to 30 grit from sample to sample, sand said to be early ocean sands.
It asks the question if the wood was formed partially in a similar process as the quartzite
I collected many different pet woods in Texas and never seen any with such grainy construction as this material.
It polishes well regardless of the grain.

I honestly don't know. It was in a box Rockindad gave me months ago.  Whatever I have is as hard as anything I've ever tumbled.  It's been tumbling for 5 -6 months now and just starting to get close to finished.

I'm finding a lot of metallic like inclusions in rocks that seem to have no business being there.  Things that look like pyrite in quartz for example.  I haven't played enough with pet wood to know anymore.

[brybry]

Sweet finds brother! Going to hitting local creeks here hard this summer. Likely won't find a goldmine like that but gotta find something cool.

[Sabre52]

Awesome haul and well-earned too. Very well agatized high quality material too. Had no idea such colorful wood was to be found in that area.

[quartz]

Good for you, that's some fine material. We always figured a person has to do their diligence to get a good payday, looks like you sure did. Lot of effort to track that stuff, and a great payday.

[fernwood]

The black is amazing. I have some AZ pet wood that is partially black. Nothing that is entirely black.

[jamesp]

Apr 28, 2022 17:55:07 GMT -5 Lumberlegs said:

Apr 28, 2022 17:06:40 GMT -5 jamesp said:

Glad you noticed. Was your gift Arizona wood ?
I posed the question here if mica could enter a petrification and it was not known.
Yes there are what appears to be mica flakes in some of the wood just as the compressed sand(quartzite) is riddled with mica specks.
The quartzite grains vary widely from like 1000 grit to 30 grit from sample to sample, sand said to be early ocean sands.
It asks the question if the wood was formed partially in a similar process as the quartzite
I collected many different pet woods in Texas and never seen any with such grainy construction as this material.
It polishes well regardless of the grain.

I honestly don't know. It was in a box Rockindad gave me months ago.  Whatever I have is as hard as anything I've ever tumbled.  It's been tumbling for 5 -6 months now and just starting to get close to finished.

I'm finding a lot of metallic like inclusions in rocks that seem to have no business being there.  Things that look like pyrite in quartz for example.  I haven't played enough with pet wood to know anymore.

Yea, not all 'Mohs 7' rocks are created equal and take forever to shape. Can actually be frustrating lol.

Hematite is a common ingredient in agates formed in volcanic type rocks. I was real surprised after tumbling mixed Rio Grande river agates from Texas. I found a 4 pound chunk of pet wood that was riddled with hematite. Got a photo of that one somewhere.

Here it is, color jazzed up to show the silver hematite fills:



Yes, pyrite in quartz and nickel in many Great Lakes rocks.
Some pet wood is formed in volcanic ash and some from silica dissolved out of limestone. No idea which might be the harder.