Lapidaryforum.net
Let's Rock => Rockhounding Tips, Maps, Trips Etc. => Topic started by: Kaljaia on July 01, 2016, 11:20:50 PM
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We're in busy season (and hot season) so on a rare afternoon off two days ago I did the only sensible thing and donned a bathing suite to rockhound in the river. The property borders the John Day (If you've ever done the Burnt Ranch to Clarno Bridge float you went past these gravel bars) (it's an awesome float with great camping on BLM land along the river).
A series of gravel bars on bends in the river just past a locally-named 'Cathedral Rock' (not the cathedral rock, just a local variety of big rock face; it's upriver and not pictured.)
Also a favorite local swimming hole and diving rocks.
(https://65.media.tumblr.com/2c456533011b499141bb3c345ff4ad9f/tumblr_o9obpozhCw1spns93o2_1280.jpg)
(https://67.media.tumblr.com/80b35673125cd3788d13879278a25d20/tumblr_o9obpozhCw1spns93o4_1280.jpg)
The river height fluctuates a lot throughout the year. The water receded in orderly fashion this year, as sometimes the bars are covered in a fine brown silt but this time they seem pretty clean. The water was crystal clear too.
(https://65.media.tumblr.com/e930680c64ef15daab94dee7492514c2/tumblr_o9obpozhCw1spns93o5_1280.jpg)
Petrified wood:
(https://67.media.tumblr.com/c9e0442fa34579fb6f5616683b423e6b/tumblr_o9obpozhCw1spns93o3_1280.jpg)
banded Agate
(https://67.media.tumblr.com/155bfe03052d7dd132d5ba625e3a3b05/tumblr_o9obhgCDt81spns93o1_1280.jpg)
There's a lot of this on the gravel bars:
(https://65.media.tumblr.com/3374973fe1157b7200fda7ded59c24c1/tumblr_o9obhgCDt81spns93o3_1280.jpg)
(https://67.media.tumblr.com/ab3ceb133345b547c764677dc58e0b1f/tumblr_o9obhgCDt81spns93o4_1280.jpg)
Banded chert:
(https://66.media.tumblr.com/721c2ae01d83b34bf985870d46bf836e/tumblr_o9obhgCDt81spns93o10_1280.jpg)
A nice big breccated piece of chert:
(https://66.media.tumblr.com/7ae77bf503691498aba079a6ce8cf567/tumblr_o9obhgCDt81spns93o5_1280.jpg)
(https://66.media.tumblr.com/60afabe88f090432965d894007f79924/tumblr_o9obhgCDt81spns93o6_1280.jpg)
Speaking of circular patterns in stones, almost looks like a fossil coral:
(https://67.media.tumblr.com/d8f1df768e94bd0db0572e18415285e4/tumblr_o9obhgCDt81spns93o8_1280.jpg)
And this, which was terribly annoying to photograph because it was both very smooth and very shiny. Water does not like to stay on its surface. Consistently dried much faster than the other rocks, regardless of sun, shade, or having been kept shaded for a while. Looks better under water because that gets rid of the reflection off the stone's surface. I haven't done a hardness test. Fine grain, black, rusty veins throughout of a slightly softer material.
(https://67.media.tumblr.com/2b19acb5facf08273bdc2c7754a94a0d/tumblr_o9obhgCDt81spns93o9_1280.jpg)
(https://67.media.tumblr.com/8939005ab9ca9c92644012fb8a8d06fa/tumblr_o9obhgCDt81spns93o2_1280.jpg)
Had a great time splashing around! Been tied to a computer or phone ever since. Will have to go back down next day off, which is... next week sometime, maybe!
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In the dried river rock pic the stone in upper left that is shiny and greenish, jade or jasper? Obviously hard enough that erosion and tumbling in river gave it a shine. Looks like a lovely day.
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that breciated jasper is bad ass!
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I would love to see a piece of the spotted rough in person. In Montana there are places that the rattlesnakes swim in the river also, not so good. Have a fun summer.
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I would love to see a piece of the spotted rough in person. In Montana there are places that the rattlesnakes swim in the river also, not so good. Have a fun summer.
I'll send you some.
Yeah the rattlesnakes swim here too but rarely. Much more likely to see garter snakes in the water.
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Ive seen many rattlesnakes swim in the lake that I grew up on south of the town of Cheney. Easy to tell the difference between them and other snakes swimming. They like to keep their tail out of the water while they swim so they don't get water logged. Makes them look like a two headed snake. Lol, becomes unsettling when youre diving under the water and come back up for air to see a rattler swimming across the lake towards your head
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I have seen rattlers swim across white water rapids in Montana and not get carried downstream. Scary animals.You have some classic gabbro there and the first piece looks like it has a touch of olivine in it. Gabbro is very common at the bottom of magma chambers which are not normally eroded out in an environment as young as eastern Oregon. They and olivine are much more common just north of the California border in an area known as the Josephine ophiolite.
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WHAT ABOUT THAT RACK IN THE BACKGROUND!!?
What happened to the antlers!?
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WHAT ABOUT THAT RACK IN THE BACKGROUND!!?
What happened to the antlers!?
Haha they're on top of the book shelf in our living room. I'll probably put them on a mask at some point. Left them in the garden all summer so the rest of the flesh on the skull cap would rot off.
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If you bleach it, use hair bleach the season uses on hair or it will turn yellow over time
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Salon, not season
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The best way to remove flesh from bones is to just soak in water. Change the water once a month until all the unwanted material is gone. I've done this with several dozen skulls and a few complete skeletons. The bones come out nice and white with no yellowing as you would get from bleaching or placing on an ant hill.
I used to do them that way. Now I just take the project to a friends house and let his dermestid beetles do all the work in about a week.
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The best way to remove flesh from bones is to just soak in water. Change the water once a month until all the unwanted material is gone. I've done this with several dozen skulls and a few complete skeletons. The bones come out nice and white with no yellowing as you would get from bleaching or placing on an ant hill.
I used to do them that way. Now I just take the project to a friends house and let his dermestid beetles do all the work in about a week.
Ah I'm jealous, I want a dermestid beetle box!
I have heard there's a bit of a smell involved with maceration buckets so I haven't tried it yet, but I might on the new skull. And I've read to use peroxide, not Clorox, for bone bleaching so they don't get thin and yellow. I think Peroxide is the salon bleach too. Usually the sun gets it bleached before we find 'em but sometimes not.