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The Legend of Limestoned

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  • The Legend of Limestoned

    Okay, obviously there are a certain implications of pop counter-culture concepts in the handle, but in fact it represents a lesson.

    Long ago there was a Marine Corps brat who loved collecting things like shells along the California coast, rocks in Arizona, fossils and artifacts in New Mexico, and quartz crystals in Arkansas. Although generally a worthless, rather clumsy young man, he became quite good at picking up shiny things. He developed a love for vibrant geologies, like lava fields, mesas, canyons, and rich mineral deposits. He learned why we find fish fossils on top of mountains, and he personally swooned over a creek full of fool's gold.

    Then he moved to the Texas Hill Country. Interested to learn the underlying geology of the area, he asked around.

    "What's that rock?"
    "Limestone."
    "And that rock?"
    "Different kind of limestone."
    "And that rock?"
    "Yeah, that would be another kind of limestone."
    "Is that it? Just limestone?"
    "Well, there's chert."
    "Cool. What's chert?"
    "It's a kind of rock you find in limestone."
    "Okay, besides limestone and rocks you find in limestone, is there any interesting geology here?"
    "You can find calcite sometimes."
    "Excellent! What's calcite?"
    "It's kind of like crystallized limestone."
    "Arrgghh!"

    The lesson was this. What seemed like boring geology to me at first turned out to be just as interesting as geology anywhere. Can you say Balcones Fault Zone? No longer active, but a major geological feature. One of the caves around here that's open to the public is actually a scar opened up by that faulting rather than the usual eroded limestone cavern. I live right over one of the faults. There are some paleontologically fascinating formations exposed in this area, like the Glen Rose. Some parts of it are completely oysteriferous, but that same formation has yielded dinosaur foot prints and fossils as well as simple seafood. Even the plain old limestone itself can be interesting, because it's not all the same. Different types record the changing conditions of the sea that used to cover this place 100 million years ago. I even found a fossil that looks the surface of one of the coral reefs that used to live here. A piece of fossilized coral reef sitting in the Texas scrublands.

    That's the Limestoned lesson. If you don't see anything interesting in your life, maybe you should take a closer look. There's a whole planet-full of stuff to marvel over.

    I used to be young and foolish. Not so young any more.

  • #2
    I feel your frustration, most of my first questions were why instead of what, but it still seemed to lead in a vicious circle.
    Kevin - North/Central Texas

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    • #3
      Well, sure enough. The Earth is an open book wherever we call home. I started collecting the rocks and fossils of my home turf when I was still knee high to a grasshopper. Still do. We have a great roadside guide too:

      Click image for larger version

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      And, along the way, I learned that I lived on a fragment of ancient Avalonia, which my home based bias thinks is one of the most interesting geological pieces of the geological jigsaw puzzle that is North America:


      Geologists find a wealth of data in the rocks and fossils of Rhode Island, once part of a chain of volcanic islands in the Southern Hemisphere.


      Rhode Island

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      • Limestoned
        Limestoned commented
        Editing a comment
        I have the Texas volume of the Roadside Geology series.Very interesting book.

    • #4
      That is awesome Limestoned and Charl thanks for sharing that book title i do not think I have ever seen that one.
      Last edited by Hoss; 07-16-2018, 03:31 PM.
      TN formerly CT Visit our store http://stores.arrowheads.com/store.p...m-Trading-Post

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      • #5
        Limestones, I enjoyed your life story. Well done! I look forward to hearing more of your tales.
        Deb
        Child of the tides

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        • #6
          Indeed , bravo there Buddie !!!. I really enjoyed that and well written .I grew up in Cal and watched the fault lines there and collecting rocks as well . Love your lifetime research by the way and as Deb said looking forward to many more .
          Now in Hawaii part of the year where the earth is still creating . The lava is flowing ...

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