Author Topic: Does this mean...?  (Read 1467 times)

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Offline Dakota Kid

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Does this mean...?
« on: April 13, 2017, 01:14:05 am »
I found this today while fishing a creek with my daughter. It's decent material, but the really unique part is it looks like it just came out of a cliff face. All of the local material I find has been pushed here by glaciers during the last ice age. None of it looks like this after that kind of abuse. At the very least it looks like it's been tumbled with no hard edges. This looks like the shale and slate jutting out from any of the numerous rock faces in the gorges cut by the creeks. Would you all assume that somewhere up stream from where I found it there's a deposit amongst the shale and slate?



I have nothing but scorn for all weird ideas other than my own.
~Terrance McKenna

Offline GlisGlis

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Re: Does this mean...?
« Reply #1 on: April 13, 2017, 05:07:59 am »
yup
looks like you just found a good source of stone

Offline Outbackbob48

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Re: Does this mean...?
« Reply #2 on: April 13, 2017, 07:56:52 am »
Mike, I don't know much about our local stuff, but when I get onondago from a guy at Letchworh it looks real blocky like your pc, I know some of these guys are collecting on the candian side right out of the lake not far down the other side.  Hope you found a source on our side and those blocky pcs can be a real challenge. I did find a beautiful 4" x 1" blade in one of those blocks, I think the guy that gave it to me thought it was a pc of junk. Bob

Offline Dakota Kid

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Re: Does this mean...?
« Reply #3 on: April 14, 2017, 11:46:54 pm »
Bob the more I think about it and research there almost has to be some deposits in those shale cliffs somewhere. They may be small which will make them all the more difficult to locate, but likely are out there somewhere. Looks like I have some hiking i my future. Hopefully it won't involve any repelling. Shale is a mountaineering nightmare.
I'm also convinced that I can find that primo material without the all-to-common freeze cracks the larger pieces have if I skin dive for it. I don't have a wet suit so I won't be testing this theory for a few months yet.
I have nothing but scorn for all weird ideas other than my own.
~Terrance McKenna

Offline Zuma

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Re: Does this mean...?
« Reply #4 on: April 16, 2017, 12:44:16 pm »
Black and grey cherts like yours are usually found in Devonian deposits.
Usually lenses with lots of fossils. Used extensively by Aboriginals.
I am not positive about Onondaga but I think it is Devonian era.
Zuma
If you are a good detective the past is at your feet. The future belongs to Faith.

Offline Dakota Kid

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Re: Does this mean...?
« Reply #5 on: April 16, 2017, 02:35:45 pm »
There are certainly fossils present in some of the samples. Our area is definitely not lacking in the fossil department. The piece pictured above didn't have that tell tale Onondaga smell, but a fair amount of what I find does. I don't know if all Onondaga has that odor or not.  There were some freeze cracks in the above piece, but it was big enough to begin with that it left me with a few small workable pieces.

I've also come across some stuff similar to what is pictured but with white mixed in and lighter grays overall. I think maybe it's bois blanc formation chert?

On rarer occasions I find small nodules that have an orange rust colored cortex and vary on internal color from tan, to white, to dark brown. If I'm lucky I can manage a small bird point from the largest of them. Too bad, the stuff is like butter. Twice I've seen almost identical chert but with a bluish cortex instead of the orange. It really is a complete mystery what I'll find each time I go out. I might head out here for a bit after ham dinner. Happy Easter.
I have nothing but scorn for all weird ideas other than my own.
~Terrance McKenna