Rockhounding Virginia

by Robert Beard

Overview

Explore the mineral-rich region of Virginia with veteran rockhound Robert Beard’s Rockhounding Virginia and unearth the state’s best rockhounding sites, ranging from popular and commercial sites to numerous lesser-known areas. Featuring an overview of the state’s geologic history as well as a site-by-site guide to the best rockhounding locations, Rockhounding Virginia is the ideal resource for rockhounds of all ages and experience levels.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493028528
Publisher:	Globe Pequot Publishing
Publication date:	05/15/2017
Series:	Rockhounding Series
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Robert Beard is a geologist and has collected rocks for over 30 years. In his early days of rock collecting, fellow geologists said that he would get over the excitement from finding an interesting rock, but that never happened. He majored in geology at California State University, Chico and his first rock collecting trips focused on the northern Sierra Nevada and southern California desert. He received his B.A. in geology, with a minor in mathematics from CSUC in 1983. He then attended the University of New Mexico as a graduate student in geology, and spent considerable time looking for rocks in New Mexico's mountains and deserts. He worked briefly for a mining company as part of an exploration team during his first summer in New Mexico, and got to see many different types of mineral deposits and geologic terrains, and developed a keen understanding minerals and how to find them. He received his M.S. degree in geology from UNM in 1987, at a time when the mining and oil industries were flat on their backs, but the environmental cleanup industry was just getting started. In 1988 he moved to the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania area to pursue a career as an environmental geologist. Since then he has remained alert for opportunities to see geology and collect rocks, minerals, and fossils, as he was taught that the best geologist is the one that has the most rocks. He has collected rocks throughout most regions of the United States and parts of the Caribbean, and the past few years he was focused on finding new collecting sites in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He is a Contributing Editor to Rock & Gem magazine, and has written from Rock & Gem since 1993. He also speaks Spanish, which has been a very useful skill for geology, especially when working in Spanish-speaking environments. He currently lives in Harrisburg, PA with his wife, Rosalina, and his two children, Daniel and Roberta.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments viii

Introduction 1

Rockbounding Basics 4

Geology 12

Natural Resources 26

How to Use This Guide 31

Map Legend 34

Coastal Plain

1 Indian Field Creek Fossils 36

2 Chippokes Plantation State Park Fossils 40

3 Lake Matoaka Spillway Fossils 43

4 York River State Park Fossils 46

5 Westmoreland State Park Shark Teeth 49

6 Caledon State Park Shark Teeth 53

7 Leesylvania State Park Sandstone 56

8 Government Island Sandstone Quarry 59

9 Alum Spring Park Wood Fossils 63

Piedmont

10 Windy Run Quartz and Schorl 68

11 Turkey Run Steatite and Sillimanite 72

12 Great Falls of the Potomac Gneiss 76

13 Leesburg Potomac Marble 80

14 Evergreen Mills Banded Metasediments 83

15 Hadensville Metapyroxenite 87

16 Schuyler Soapstone Quarry 91

17 Scufflin Acres Farms Amethyst 94

18 Pittsylvania Wayside Park Feldspar and Mica 97

19 Leesville Actinolite Schist 101

20 Fairy Stone State Park Scricite-Staurolite Crosses 104

Blue Ridge

21 Happy Creek Epidotized Gramite and Metabasalt 108

22 Front Roval Chrysotile in Metabasalt 112

23 Compton Peak Columnar Metabasalt 115

24 Rose River Granite and Unakite 118

25 Stanley Unakite 122

26 Kennedy Mine Limonite and Manganese Oxides 125

27 Mount Torry Mine Limonite and Hematite 129

28 Pkin Limonite 132

29 Little Marys Creek Unakite 136

30 Vesuvius Unakite Quarry 139

31 Tye River Blue Quartz 142

32 Rosebud Blue Quartz 146

Valley and Ridge

33 Gainesboro Fossils 150

34 Gore Fossils 154

35 Elizabeth Furnace Slag, Limonite, and Hematite 157

36 Fort Valley Road Fossils 161

37 Mine Gap Furnace Slag and Limonite 164

38 Columbia Furnace Fossils 167

39 Brocks Gap Limonite-Stained Rocks 171

40 Fulks Run Fossils and Calcite 175

41 Maury River Pink and White Sandstone 178

42 Lexington Fossils and Calcite 183

43 Effinger Fossils 187

44 Callie Furnace Slag and Limonite 190

45 Roaring Run Furnace Glassy Slag 196

46 Rich Patch Banded Sediments 203

47 Covington Ochre and Limonite 203

48 Peters Mountain Limonite 206

References 210

Site Index 213

Index 214

About the Author 216