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Very Hot Topic (More than 25 Replies) Bowling Green Blues (Read 40448 times)
JoeM
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Bowling Green Blues
Apr 17th, 2011 at 12:33am
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   Once upon a time,( Roll Eyes, yep, it's one of those folks),
in the land called Wake Forest there was a sandy capped knoll
that rose along the southeast side of Austin Creek just above
its confluence with Smith Creek, a tributary of the Neuse River.
Geologically, this an area where, while forming, the younger
Rolesville granite pluton pushed into the older dome under
Wake Fores, altering the older granite with heat and pressure
and creating hydro-thermal veins that eventually filled with
these wonderful quartz crystals.

The top 30 acres were plowed and farmed for years, mostly
tobacco, but only spotty little plots were cultivated from
the mid-1990's on. There was an old small stick built house
that had long been vacant and was being allowed to fall
down as the weeds grew up. Then, one day in 2006, it was
cleared, and that was the beginning of one of the best
rock collecting sites there's ever been in Wake Forest,...
Bowling Green.

Actually, for the first couple of years of development, long
before the sign with the name Bowling Green went up, we
called the area "Austin Creek". They first had to lay water
and sewer lines in along the creek, sometimes having to
blast 25 feet down through rock to get the depth needed.
From there, slowly over the next couple of years, they just
blasted their way to the top and moved the knoll around
wherever they wanted it, exposing veins and plates of
crystals everywhere. A real rockhounds dream site!

But Bowling Green was more than a great site for me and
a lot of other local rockhounds. It was our "first" really
good opportunity to find and see the veins in situ
somewhere close enough to home to go back to often. In
our own backyard. I was a surface collector when I first
started hunting Bowling Green, mostly looking for artifacts.
But we had a good three years to hunt, scratch , and poke
around through each newly exposed vein or pile of rubble,
and the opportunity was a great education.

There are still a few lots and small areas we are keeping
hopeful will provide us with a few more generous finds before
all is under roads, houses, or swimming pools and Bowling
Green is completely complete, and another great site
is gone forever.

So this thread is a memorial tribute, so to speak,
to Bowling Green. A place for any pics you may have of the
rare fare. And may there be many new finds in the future
to keep this thread going.

Here's a pic of a Bowling Green yard rock to get us started.
I had to roll this all the way home. Wink

I set the cup on the rock for size, but then Mabel, and
then Carmen, had to come see what I was doing.
Pic 1
Pic 2

These veins go all the way thru this rock. The granite has
been altered to the green color, or "epidotized".
Pic 3
Pic 4



Thanks for looking,
Joe
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JoeM
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Re: Bowling Green Blues
Reply #1 - Apr 17th, 2011 at 1:01am
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There's no telling how many crystal specimens have been
collected from Bowling Green over the years. Yes, many were
average, but then again, many were very nice, and many
are now gone. Destroyed by the bulldozer, or collected and
scattered to the wind.

Yes, there was some amethyst.
Pic 1

And on the milky white cluster to the right of the amethyst
cluster in this pic,
Pic 2

I found these drusy covered "blades" in the last three pics.






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Rebecca
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Re: Bowling Green Blues
Reply #2 - Apr 18th, 2011 at 8:42am
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What is coating those blades? Or is it a coating under the druse? very very pretty.

Where is Bowling Green? NC? KY?
  
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Scott LaBorde
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Re: Bowling Green Blues
Reply #3 - Apr 18th, 2011 at 11:28am
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Bowling Green is the name of the subdivision in Wake Forest, NC -- in our own backyard.  Grin

Also, I believe the blades are quartz druzy covered epimorphs formerly covering hematite crystals - now possibly geothite or clay.

It's all covered with houses and asphalt now  Embarrassed  Too bad because there's still amethyst underneath houses and roads right now.  I'm indebted to Joe for showing me this fine place where I quickly beefed up my rock collection.  I have some very nice amethyst from there although only very little.  I didn't have the privilege of digging there when the subdivision was just being put in -- just at the tail end of it.  I'll post pictures later of some of my finds from there.
  

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Dennis
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Re: Bowling Green Blues
Reply #4 - Apr 19th, 2011 at 5:44pm
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Joe,

That was a great history lesson about the quartz deposit at Bowling Green before it became totally developed.  It's great that you and Scott keep documenting these Wake (and surrounding counties) locales, because they are probably lost forever........unless an EF5 tornado comes through and blows the subdivision away and scours the soil off.  Oh yeah, that almost happened Saturday!

The photos are great, too, and I never get tired of seeing those amethyst specimens.  Keep showing us your Wake Forest goodies.

Scott: do you know if the amethyst specimen that I got from Laurie (collected by Bob Crocker) came from the Bowling Green area?  The label only says Wake Forest.

Anyway, I'm glad you guys survived the tornado.  It was exciting for a while, and scary to those in the path of the twister.  The neighborhood our niece lives in is in NE Raleigh was hit hard, with 75% of the houses damaged severely.  Our niece lost all of her large trees in the back yard and damage to the smaller ones in the front yard.  Fortunately, the house had no structural damage.

Sorry to get off track.  Keep the stories and photos coming.

Dennis

  
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Scott LaBorde
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Re: Bowling Green Blues
Reply #5 - Apr 19th, 2011 at 7:00pm
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Dennis, the specimen you have is almost 100% from the Bowling Green or Heritage Subdivision within Wake Forest.  Bob Crocker knew where every vein of amethyst ran through that place.  He can still point at spots under a road, a backyard, or house, where he knows the amethyst is.  I'm happy to see and be a part of the history of that place.
  

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Re: Bowling Green Blues
Reply #6 - Apr 20th, 2011 at 9:56pm
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Here is some of the amethyst I found there before things completely dried up.  There was some very nice color there.
  

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Re: Bowling Green Blues
Reply #7 - Apr 20th, 2011 at 10:26pm
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Here's a nice rock crystal cluster from there.  I left the goethite coating on because it gives the cluster character just as the stains do with the Diamond Hill material from South Carolina.
  

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Re: Bowling Green Blues
Reply #8 - Apr 20th, 2011 at 10:51pm
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The floaters we would find there were very nice.  This lilac colored floater has an enhydro bubble that moves along a miniature tube inside -- too small for the camera to catch clearly.
  

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Re: Bowling Green Blues
Reply #9 - Jun 14th, 2011 at 10:36am
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Those are truly very very pretty. You guys were in the right place at the right time for sure!
  
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Re: Bowling Green Blues
Reply #10 - Jul 21st, 2011 at 7:03pm
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Joe and Folks,
Kim and I were up in the Bowling Green Subdivision and came away with some very neat green mineral.  We ran into an older gentleman who said his name was Hughen and his background was in the diamond industry in South Africa.   He said he knew Joe.  He identified the material as olivine.  There is still construction going on in the subdivision so collecting is not totally dead there.  Dan  Wink
  
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JoeM
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Re: Bowling Green Blues
Reply #11 - Jul 22nd, 2011 at 11:13am
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Glad to hear you are keeping tabs on Bowling Green, Dan. Smiley
Yes, there's still some hope that they will get into a few more
good areas.
Glad you ran into Hugh. He doesn't study individual minerals
that much but knows a whole lot about the geology of the
area and how and when it was formed. He leads a Guided
Geology Tour of Wake Forest and Falls Lake once or twice
a year and I'm sure you would find it interesting. I don't
know if he will be doing another tour this year but will ask.
They are usually in the Spring.
I have a lot more material from this spot that I need to post.
Joe
  
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JoeM
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Re: Bowling Green Blues
Reply #12 - Apr 18th, 2013 at 10:24pm
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(I didn't realize the first pics from this thread had "disappeared" too.
That is too bad and will have to see what I can do to rectify that.)

Anyway, back at the quarry,
I've had this cluster of quartz crystals with many inclusions
from Bowling Green sitting around to take a closer look at forever,
and I guess forever is nigh upon us.

The cluster is in two pieces that fit together with crystals
coming off the top and bottom of the plate.

  

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JoeM
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Re: Bowling Green Blues
Reply #13 - Apr 18th, 2013 at 10:31pm
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Here are some groups of pics of individual inclusions from
different angles and with different lighting.
The pictures are,............well, what can I say, They're mine. Tongue
I hope you enjoy a closer look at some of these inclusions. Smiley
Joe

  

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JoeM
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Re: Bowling Green Blues
Reply #14 - Apr 18th, 2013 at 10:34pm
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I wish I had more shots of this one.
First pic is from the front and the second is of the otherside.

  

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