Labradorite:
Polychromatic Jasper:
Sodalite:
Star Rose Quartz:
Tiger’s Eye:
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Amazing "Old Time Rock Shop" Bulk Rock Just In!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Trilobite Hunting Trip
The Father's Day Trilobite Expedition
June 20th we will be enjoying a Father’s Day Trilobite Dig.
You will want to bring your 2 5-gallon buckets (We have some for sale.), hammers, chisels, newspaper to wrap your goods, sun screen, a hat and gloves, and lots of water to drink.
We are limited to 50 lbs of rock or 2 full 5-gallon buckets. This can constitute hundreds of trilobites—maybe thousands if you are really lucky.
I will be your personal guide through the trip and will help make sure you are a successful hunter.
As always, when you go with our group we get the “fun layer” of rocks brought out just for us. No one has filtered through the material before us. This dig, not with our group, is $200 per person, per day.
Come with our group and get the same deal for $100 per person for an all day dig (8 hours and maybe longer).
A New Dig, inc. is offering us a half day dig (4 hours from when you get to the dig) for $60.
Kids 5 and under are free.
New Bulk Rock & Lapidary Material Just In!
Tumbling & Lapidary Rock Shipment Just in From Overseas!
We just received a large rock shipment from overseas. It includes super-high-grade gem Tiger’s Eye, spectacularly colorful Labradorite, Sodalite, Amethyst, Unakite, Aventurine, Fucshite, two-toned striped Red Jasper, rare blue/yellow dichroic Cordierite, and Polychromatic Jasper--polychomatic means multi-colored!This material is so good people were stopping in off the street and buying it as we were trying to unpack it from the shipping crate yesterday.
Monday, June 01, 2009
We're Helping Rock Related and Other Small Businesses Through These Tough Economic Times
We're grateful we've made it through 45 years of some good and some bad years. In an effort to repay the goodwill sent our way over the years, we're passing on what we've learned to other small businesses. Visit www.rocks4u.com/links.htm for info on where to get goods and services that have worked for us.
We've expanded our services to include really inexpensive domain name registration at www.websitedomainsavvy.com. We've received domain renewal offers for as much as $75 / year. At www.websitedomainsavvy.com, businesses can renew for $9.90 per year!
Best wishes, Rockpick Legend Co. Staff
We've expanded our services to include really inexpensive domain name registration at www.websitedomainsavvy.com. We've received domain renewal offers for as much as $75 / year. At www.websitedomainsavvy.com, businesses can renew for $9.90 per year!
Best wishes, Rockpick Legend Co. Staff
Monday, May 11, 2009
The Copper Mine of Falun, Sweden
Many of us are interested in the unusual. And when it comes to fossils weird is better. Large dinosaurs to small trilobites draw our attention. Petrified people will always get attention.
It is not recorded when mining started in Falun, Sweden but by 1000 AD the copper mine was in full production. By the 1600’s it was the largest producer of copper in the world, supplying 70% of the world's copper demand.
Mining accidents plagued this mine as well as any other. In 1677 a miner was trapped from a cave-in. It took 40 years to recover his body, and when it was found it looked as though he had not aged a day. The dry mine air and vitriol in the water (vitriol means blue death in Latin) kills all germs and bacteria as well as anything else living. These conditions preserved him and he became known as the “petrified miner."
Today this historic town is painted red as it has been for hundreds of years because the mine also has a lot of ocher, and the people of the town used it to tint the paint dating clear back to 1764. Many thought the Swedish flag should have been red and green--the red from this town and green for the lush forests in Sweden.
The underground workings at the mine are so extensive that no one really knows how big the mine is. With 1,000 years of mining it must be amazing. Many of the old areas have collapsed, so there is no way of mapping the mine. Records are insufficient or non-existent, leaving us to our imagination.
The mine closed on 8 December 1992, ending a thousand years of mining! This is the longest worked mine in history.
It is not recorded when mining started in Falun, Sweden but by 1000 AD the copper mine was in full production. By the 1600’s it was the largest producer of copper in the world, supplying 70% of the world's copper demand.
Mining accidents plagued this mine as well as any other. In 1677 a miner was trapped from a cave-in. It took 40 years to recover his body, and when it was found it looked as though he had not aged a day. The dry mine air and vitriol in the water (vitriol means blue death in Latin) kills all germs and bacteria as well as anything else living. These conditions preserved him and he became known as the “petrified miner."
Today this historic town is painted red as it has been for hundreds of years because the mine also has a lot of ocher, and the people of the town used it to tint the paint dating clear back to 1764. Many thought the Swedish flag should have been red and green--the red from this town and green for the lush forests in Sweden.
The underground workings at the mine are so extensive that no one really knows how big the mine is. With 1,000 years of mining it must be amazing. Many of the old areas have collapsed, so there is no way of mapping the mine. Records are insufficient or non-existent, leaving us to our imagination.
The mine closed on 8 December 1992, ending a thousand years of mining! This is the longest worked mine in history.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Earth Day
I celebrate Earth Day every day of the year. According to Wikipedia, Earth Day was created to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment. I love living in Utah because I get to see evidence of the Earth's geologic history in every direction I look. We get mountains, mineral deposits, rock formations and so much more that. It is a history in the hundreds of millions of years in the making.
When the trilobites were living in Utah about 550 million years ago, what is now the House Range west of Delta, Utah sat on the equator with most of the eastern half of the state under warm tropical water. This is where the trilobites lived and flourished. They weren’t alone. They lived with worms, algae, sponges, and some primitive plants. There were some other creatures but they are rare in the fossil record. Undoubtedly, there were many other creatures that are not seen in the fossil record.
Moving ahead 250 million years, Utah was a little farther north on the equator and was covered in lush tropical plants like cycads and palms trees along with many other types of vegetation. Moving around and living among the lush greens were dinosaurs. There were many types and sizes living in what we could equate to an “African” type jungle.
The earth is a dynamic system and all good things must come to an end. The dinosaurs only lived for 200 million years, then they moved on. The earth continued to change its appearance, making way for us to live further north on the planet and giving us wonderful seasonal cycles. During the transition from the dinosaurs to our time, the record of the dinosaurs and forests were preserved in the rocks. Weathering has re-exposed them in our time for our enjoyment and understanding of our planet.
Many have equated Earth Day as a day to promote different agendas like recycling, global warming, and preserving the planet. While these issues are important, there are other important “earth environments.” Many minerals and rocks used today come from specific geologic environments. Ore bodies must be mined for metals such as silver, gold, copper, lead, zinc, iron, aluminum, molybdenum, and beryllium--to name a few from Utah. If you ever wonder how important these metals are to you, just try to live without any one of them for any length of time.
Other geologic environments worthy of mention include the Utah sand and gravel deposits that began as shore lines. This is where we get our cement. There are also the oil and natural gas deposits in eastern and southern Utah. For recreation and personal enjoyment we have environments that created Topaz, Red Beryl, Petrified Wood, Dinosaur Bone, Marble, Onyx, and Agate.
Then there are the mineral, fossil, and geologic specimens—the samples that come from the different environments that represent the diversity of Utah’s geology. We display a small portion of what is available from Utah in our Museum Cabinets. Many people around the world collect mineral, fossil, and geologic samples from Utah for personal enjoyment as well as research. I hope you enjoy Earth Day as much as I do!
Rick
When the trilobites were living in Utah about 550 million years ago, what is now the House Range west of Delta, Utah sat on the equator with most of the eastern half of the state under warm tropical water. This is where the trilobites lived and flourished. They weren’t alone. They lived with worms, algae, sponges, and some primitive plants. There were some other creatures but they are rare in the fossil record. Undoubtedly, there were many other creatures that are not seen in the fossil record.
Moving ahead 250 million years, Utah was a little farther north on the equator and was covered in lush tropical plants like cycads and palms trees along with many other types of vegetation. Moving around and living among the lush greens were dinosaurs. There were many types and sizes living in what we could equate to an “African” type jungle.
The earth is a dynamic system and all good things must come to an end. The dinosaurs only lived for 200 million years, then they moved on. The earth continued to change its appearance, making way for us to live further north on the planet and giving us wonderful seasonal cycles. During the transition from the dinosaurs to our time, the record of the dinosaurs and forests were preserved in the rocks. Weathering has re-exposed them in our time for our enjoyment and understanding of our planet.
Many have equated Earth Day as a day to promote different agendas like recycling, global warming, and preserving the planet. While these issues are important, there are other important “earth environments.” Many minerals and rocks used today come from specific geologic environments. Ore bodies must be mined for metals such as silver, gold, copper, lead, zinc, iron, aluminum, molybdenum, and beryllium--to name a few from Utah. If you ever wonder how important these metals are to you, just try to live without any one of them for any length of time.
Other geologic environments worthy of mention include the Utah sand and gravel deposits that began as shore lines. This is where we get our cement. There are also the oil and natural gas deposits in eastern and southern Utah. For recreation and personal enjoyment we have environments that created Topaz, Red Beryl, Petrified Wood, Dinosaur Bone, Marble, Onyx, and Agate.
Then there are the mineral, fossil, and geologic specimens—the samples that come from the different environments that represent the diversity of Utah’s geology. We display a small portion of what is available from Utah in our Museum Cabinets. Many people around the world collect mineral, fossil, and geologic samples from Utah for personal enjoyment as well as research. I hope you enjoy Earth Day as much as I do!
Rick
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Petrified Neapolitan Ice Cream?
These rocks are not really petrified Neapolitan ice cream. They just look a lot like it. Many of us have seen them and not known they are really coal clinkers. They are another interesting Utah geological product.
Clinkers form from burning coal. Anyone who has had one of those old coal burning furnaces will remember the hard black glassy clinkers that have to be removed periodically. Unlike the furnace type, these clinkers form naturally when a coal seam underground catches fire and burns. The interesting colors that often resemble Neapolitan ice cream come from the surrounding rock and its mineral content, mostly iron. The colors will include yellow, red, black and limey green.
These clinkers get their name from the sound they make when struck against another rock or a hammer. The “clink” sound when it is struck resembles the clink sound from striking metal or glass and is caused by the overlaying rock being burned and then collapsing into the slag.
There are places around the world where you can walk up and see into cracks in the ground where the coal is glowing as it burns. Although dangerous, it is an interesting phenomenon to witness.
These coal seams will burn until the coal is gone. In some cases they have been burning for decades and maybe centuries. Many attempts have been made to extinguish these fires but they are to vast. In Alberta, Canada a coal mining company diverted a small river into the mountain to extinguish a burning coal seam. After months of the water running into the mine, the mountain blew up like a volcano spewing ash and steam into the air and sending a mudflow down the mountain.
The problem with a burning coal seam is that once the fire is started cracks in the ground form from the void created as the coal is reduced to ash. These cracks allow air to flow to the fire keeping it fed with a constant flow of oxygen.
Utah has several of these burning coal seams such as the Burning Hills and Smoky Mountains in Kane County. Here the coal seam is about 84 million years old (Late Cretaceous).
There is an exposed clinker seam in Castle Gate that can be seen in a road cut. March 8th, 1824, an explosion in the Number Two Mine at Castle Gate killed 172 miners making this the 3rd worst mining disaster of its time in the U.S. Some of these miners are buried right across the road from the clinker outcrop in the Castle Gate cemetery.
A by-product of burning coal is carbon dioxide. It is estimated that the burning coal seams in China alone produce more carbon dioxide (from fossil fuels) in a year than all the cars and trucks in the United States.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Turquoise
One of the most recognizable gemstones to anyone in the world is the blue stone, turquoise. There is not another like it. It has become the symbolic color and gemstone of the West. Its history starts in ancient Egypt where it was mined on the Sinai Peninsula. Later Prussian turquoise was mined as a solid sky blue. Tibet turquoise is wondrous blue-green and is considered a national treasure. More recently, Native Americans of the Southwest have mined its many shades of blues and greens.
From the 1950s to the 1970s turquoise was highly prized and sought after by consumers. At one point a poor prospector could find a new deposit and be wealthy beyond dreams within months. By the mid-1970s turquoise was loosing favor with consumers and the demand dwindled to the small trickle we see today. There is still some demand for high quality gem material with jewelers and mineral collectors but not enough to cause the huge price spike from the 1970s.
Utah has one good location for gem turquoise--the Bingham Copper Mine in Salt Lake County. The Bingham Copper Mine holds the unique designation as the largest man-made hole and the largest copper mine in the world. The mine is also famous for many spectacular mineral specimens. Most specimens mined at Bingham Copper Mine are discarded or crushed without any care for their intrinsic value.
One of the minerals that are general destroyed is a beautiful turquoise. It exhibits a dark robin-egg blue to a light powdery blue and often has inclusions of galena and pyrite crystals. When a face is polished, these crystals add to the distinctness of the specimens from this location. Unfortunately, the mine operators will not allow any of this material on the market. The mine will not even discuss it or their reasoning behind the policy. Excuses for this behavior range from rumors of contracts with other turquoise mines (non-compete), to a former president of the company that didn’t like the color. Regardless of the reasoning it is a shame that this world class turquoise is rarely seen by anyone. The turquoise from here that is available only comes from miners who, at some time in the past, smuggled it out in their lunch boxes.
From the 1950s to the 1970s turquoise was highly prized and sought after by consumers. At one point a poor prospector could find a new deposit and be wealthy beyond dreams within months. By the mid-1970s turquoise was loosing favor with consumers and the demand dwindled to the small trickle we see today. There is still some demand for high quality gem material with jewelers and mineral collectors but not enough to cause the huge price spike from the 1970s.
Utah has one good location for gem turquoise--the Bingham Copper Mine in Salt Lake County. The Bingham Copper Mine holds the unique designation as the largest man-made hole and the largest copper mine in the world. The mine is also famous for many spectacular mineral specimens. Most specimens mined at Bingham Copper Mine are discarded or crushed without any care for their intrinsic value.
One of the minerals that are general destroyed is a beautiful turquoise. It exhibits a dark robin-egg blue to a light powdery blue and often has inclusions of galena and pyrite crystals. When a face is polished, these crystals add to the distinctness of the specimens from this location. Unfortunately, the mine operators will not allow any of this material on the market. The mine will not even discuss it or their reasoning behind the policy. Excuses for this behavior range from rumors of contracts with other turquoise mines (non-compete), to a former president of the company that didn’t like the color. Regardless of the reasoning it is a shame that this world class turquoise is rarely seen by anyone. The turquoise from here that is available only comes from miners who, at some time in the past, smuggled it out in their lunch boxes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
