View this post on InstagramProspectors always look at systematic trenching done with heavy equipment but we usually don’t get answers in areas with no mining history. This is pure alluvium deposited by hills full of marine rocks, mostly limestone. What gives? #mining#geology#inyocounty#prospecting#gold#rocks#desert#mojave
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View this post on InstagramNot devoid of all vegetation. A spare mix of creosote and cactus. The black material is vitrophyre. Lots of densely welded tuff in the area along with poorly lithified tuff. #geologistonboard #geology#rockhound #rocks#explore#desert#mojave#getoutdoors
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View this post on InstagramI have found the road to nowhere. #geology #roadtrip #rockhound #inyocounty #deathvalleyregion #desert#mojave#basinandrange#explore#minerals #mining #rocks
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View this post on InstagramHad to get out my reference samples for this one and redo my talk from the field. RC is the only one who can explain this: “Densely welded Resting Springs tuff” “There is a progression in tuffs, from unwelded volcanic ash (the source material) to welded volcanic ash (tuff) to densely welded tuff. Further welding would result in vitrophyre, a phenocryst-bearing obsidian. Densely welded tuffs are uncommon. This tuff, a member of the Resting Springs Formation, formed from a pyroclastic flow that was particularly hot in the middle. The middle was so hot it welded into a vitrophyre, essentially an obsidian with phenocrysts. On either side of the vitrophyre the tuff was hot enough to become densely welded, almost glassy, and ceramic in appearance. This is an unusual specimen. Note the color. Darker was closer to the center of the ash flow, at a higher temperature and is more vitreous. Potassium-argon dating gives the age of the tuff and vitrophyre as 9.5 million years.” “Flattened pumice lapilli in this densely welded tuff appear as dark lens shapes called fiamme, Italian for flames. Farther from the center of the tuff bed, where welding was not as intense, the flattened pumice fiamme are much larger and retain the pumice texture.” A cross section through the Resting Springs Tuff is exposed in a spectacular roadcut east of Shoshone, in Inyo County, California. It is Miocene in age.” Explaining in a different way: “Above and below this vitrophyre, the hot ash flow solidified into a densely welded tuff - vitreous instead of ashy as are most tuffs. The densely welded tuff contains fiamme or "flames" in Italian, pieces of pumice that because of the heat, were melted and squashed into almost flat glassy lens-like structures.” #geology #geologyrocks#rocks#vulcanism #explore#rockhounding#
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View this post on InstagramMy next hike. This is a strong trail. A fainter trail might be burros and you see those trails in areas with more water. No burro scat here at all. Not mountain biking, bikes not allowed in a WA. This is almost as wide as the Desolation Wilderness section of the John Muir trail. Hmm. Oh, I didn’t mean to say the bees here are Africanized, only that they have moved into the area. I am sure the bees here are simply keying in on any movement. #geology#roadtrip#inyocountytourism #nopahrangewilderness #tecopa#shoshonecalifornia #rocks
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View this post on InstagramSunday cleanup day. I need to do this a lot more often. Everything out of the truck, everything back in, sorted. Boring work but it lets me find things and gives me more peace of mind in the field. #camping#daytrips#solar#chargingelectronics #solarpanel#prospecting#exploring#beprepared