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Another Day at Moonstone Creek & Mica Dumps (Read 11000 times)

Tim4d God Member Offline I like creeks & rivers to do the digging for me. Posts: 658 Location: Chester, VA Joined: Feb 24^th, 2011 Gender:	Re: Another Day at Moonstone Creek & Mica Dumps Reply #15 - Oct 13^th, 2015 at 10:51am	Print Post
	No beryl thus far and the history of mining didn't mention beryl. However if you follow the mineralization trend north of here there was a mica mine that also produced hundreds if pounds of beryl. Mapping the coordinates of that mine shows it right in the middle of a present day pond. Even so, I need to look up the landowner and ask.


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Tim4d God Member Offline I like creeks & rivers to do the digging for me. Posts: 658 Location: Chester, VA Joined: Feb 24^th, 2011 Gender:	Re: Another Day at Moonstone Creek & Mica Dumps Reply #16 - Oct 13^th, 2015 at 10:57am	Print Post
	PM me your mailing address and I'll send you a variety. Will include at least one stream tumbled piece. Tumbling in the creek eliminates the crumbly pieces and only the strong survive!


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Tim4d God Member Offline I like creeks & rivers to do the digging for me. Posts: 658 Location: Chester, VA Joined: Feb 24^th, 2011 Gender:	Re: Another Day at Moonstone Creek & Mica Dumps Reply #17 - Oct 13^th, 2015 at 11:23am	Print Post
	The black coating mineralization on some of the rounded pebbles makes me think it occurred at same time as new quartz and moonstone was forming in fault zone fractures, because some of the latter have same black coating or spots.


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JoeM God Member Offline I Love YaBB 2.5 AE! Posts: 4197 Location: Wake County, NC Joined: Sep 30^th, 2010 Gender:	Re: Another Day at Moonstone Creek & Mica Dumps Reply #18 - Oct 13^th, 2015 at 9:44pm	Print Post
	Well yeah, I can see every grain of sand in that clump in that pic. I wonder what all kind of minerals you'd find in that? I guess the other option on your "black coating" is that it has been accumulating for a long time but after the fissure and alluvial were in place? As you say, there are so many "episodes" to figure in, not to mention all the mining there. Looks like you have a real nice rockhounding spot there.


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Tim4d God Member Offline I like creeks & rivers to do the digging for me. Posts: 658 Location: Chester, VA Joined: Feb 24^th, 2011 Gender:	Re: Another Day at Moonstone Creek & Mica Dumps Reply #19 - Oct 14^th, 2015 at 2:05pm	Print Post
	Oops. Thought I resized that photo. Can't find the modify button so I'll try again and delete the jumbo version. Blue clay from creek bottom. Cocoon of crumbly black mineral (biotite?); the light spot inner left is a bit of moonstone left over after the rest fell out before I got there. The moonstone at front and right have a coating of black, like many others found in creek or bank. Note the rounded gravel plucked from layers above and mixed into moonstone and angular quartz producing zones. Virginia Piedmont had multiple geologic upheavals and compressions. My theory is a sandstone or siltstone was laid down followedat some point by river gravels above. First metamorphic event transformed them to gneiss and conglomerate. Subsequent events faulted the strata, confused the layering and introduced mineralizing fluids. All of it decomposed and weathered to the current soft saprolite gneiss, mineralized layers and stringers, and gravel embedded in clay. Rounded gravel from old conglomerate ends up side by side with newer angular quartz formed by the younger fluids mineralization of fault zone fractures.

	image_179.jpg ( 306 KB \| 104 Downloads )
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Tim4d God Member Offline I like creeks & rivers to do the digging for me. Posts: 658 Location: Chester, VA Joined: Feb 24^th, 2011 Gender:	Re: Another Day at Moonstone Creek & Mica Dumps Reply #20 - Oct 15^th, 2015 at 4:59am	Print Post
	The smaller stone is one of the 3 or 4 that are nearly fracture free. However, these show less schiller than the stones with multiple cleavage plane fractures that admit light. The topmost large stone is fairly free of fractures. The mid size stone on the right was deeply tannin stained (my guess) and lightened with one scrubbing under soap and water. The tannin stain makes an interesting effect with the schiller but likely does not go deep. The white stone was result of cooking in acid just to see what happened. Probably ruined it but who knows, it might look great polished. So I will send you at least one big, one small but clear, and several "lesser" stones. Remember, this helps me avoid being labeled a rock hoarder. Sort of like giving you cake to help my diet!

	image_178.jpg ( 242 KB \| 115 Downloads )
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JoeM God Member Offline I Love YaBB 2.5 AE! Posts: 4197 Location: Wake County, NC Joined: Sep 30^th, 2010 Gender:	Re: Another Day at Moonstone Creek & Mica Dumps Reply #21 - Oct 15^th, 2015 at 9:41pm	Print Post
	Oh yeah, Tim, those all look nice! 'cept for maybe that one that got cooked in acid. Nothing to lose now.


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JoeM God Member Offline I Love YaBB 2.5 AE! Posts: 4197 Location: Wake County, NC Joined: Sep 30^th, 2010 Gender:	Re: Another Day at Moonstone Creek & Mica Dumps Reply #22 - Oct 19^th, 2015 at 9:41pm	Print Post
	Allright Tim, got your package today. It will be fun seeing what we can get out of it! Here's what I got. The top ones will be "experimental", and then maybe get something out of one of the bottom four. The bottom right piece is the primo piece! We'll see. Thanks.

	DSCN5142.JPG ( 172 KB \| 117 Downloads )
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Tim4d God Member Offline I like creeks & rivers to do the digging for me. Posts: 658 Location: Chester, VA Joined: Feb 24^th, 2011 Gender:	Re: Another Day at Moonstone Creek & Mica Dumps Reply #23 - Oct 20^th, 2015 at 4:26pm	Print Post
	Looking forward to some in-process and outcome reports! One or two must have crumbled in transit (the gravel in upper left of photo).� So USPS is rougher than my "will it break/crumble from twisting it in my hands" test.


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Tim4d God Member Offline I like creeks & rivers to do the digging for me. Posts: 658 Location: Chester, VA Joined: Feb 24^th, 2011 Gender:	Re: Another Day at Moonstone Creek & Mica Dumps Reply #24 - Oct 20^th, 2015 at 4:30pm	Print Post
	If memory serves, I was hoping experimentation would turn out something nice with the topmost stone. If that's the one that seems pretty solid, having survived a lot of stream tumbling and rounding without breaking into pieces.


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Tim4d God Member Offline I like creeks & rivers to do the digging for me. Posts: 658 Location: Chester, VA Joined: Feb 24^th, 2011 Gender:	Re: Another Day at Moonstone Creek & Mica Dumps Reply #25 - Oct 20^th, 2015 at 4:32pm	Print Post
	Getting old is funny sometimes. Even with the aid of a photo, I don't fully remember what I put into a box last week!


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JoeM God Member Offline I Love YaBB 2.5 AE! Posts: 4197 Location: Wake County, NC Joined: Sep 30^th, 2010 Gender:	Re: Another Day at Moonstone Creek & Mica Dumps Reply #26 - Oct 20^th, 2015 at 10:43pm	Print Post
	HA! I know. And it's that short-term memory that goes first! Yes, I was going to ask you if you wanted me to post "progress" pics here on this thread or if you wanted me to start another one for it. I started on the first piece tonight and it looks like there's some great material in that stuff. Could be a lot of progress pics.


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Tim4d God Member Offline I like creeks & rivers to do the digging for me. Posts: 658 Location: Chester, VA Joined: Feb 24^th, 2011 Gender:	Re: Another Day at Moonstone Creek & Mica Dumps Reply #27 - Oct 21^st, 2015 at 8:59am	Print Post
	I started a topic on Lapidary Creations. Makes more sense to continue there.


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