Utah Geology - Unusual Agates in Salina Reveal Intriguing Insights to Earth's History

[@aceedmond8053]

Thanks for this! I grew up there late 70s to 1987... was a happing place then, lotta time spent off roading the hills and local mountains... You're right that is hwy 89.

[@GemstoneJournalist]

You're welcome, and thank you for watching! I'm sure Salina had more going on back in the day. It's a pretty quiet place still in comparison to the city up north and Washington County. This is definitely the place for trail riding in central Utah. Paiute trail and the Skyline Trail come through the area.

[@jasongibbens3803]

You are correct and good job. The Black Rock Volcano and the Sundance Oceanic remains. You are definitely knowledable. I took my college students to that area with the USGS . We also found fossils of palm trees in that area held at BYU. You could've tought my classes.

[@GemstoneJournalist]

Thank you very much for the acknowledgement! I feel a little rusty on a lot of topics, but I'm glad I still managed to make some sense. I've heard of some palm fossils near Joe's Valley in the Wasatch Mountains just east of Salina. I've even found some other Cretaceous leaf fossils in that general area. It's arguably one of the coolest places to study geology and paleontology.

[@hollykainz]

I actually find smaller rocks like these, full of little flaws, and sometimes fossil prints. Some of them form in pyramid-shaped angles, which I think are cool. They are hard, and hard to work, and many may not find them to be pretty. I'm in far southwest California, near San Diego Bay. Many of my back yard finds resemble sea creature fossils. I thought it might be my imagination, too.

[@GemstoneJournalist]

The earth is definitely full of surprises! I've found several examples of silica cast fossils and imprints of aquatic life in chalcedonic quartz (jasper, agate, chert ,etc.) in a few different places in the United States. It would shock some people to know how frequently these things occur around the world. Somewhere in Washington for example, I've heard of agatized clam shells with enhydros (water bubbles) inside of them. Always cool to find things like that.

[@vitaliyrudenko7663]

Beautiful places!

[@GemstoneJournalist]

Thank you for watching! The heart of Utah is a truly remarkable part of our planet.

[@BlazingShackles]

Content is interesting, but steady that camera my friend, Im getting dizzy.

[@GemstoneJournalist]

@@BlazingShackles lessons learned

[@BlazingShackles]

@@GemstoneJournalist has you seen any of that black material cabbed? I bet its nice.

[@lorikendrick5076]

I wish you would hold the camera steady. I almost got dizzy trying to follow what you are showing. You move it so quickly all the time. Hard to follow. I can't follow what you are saying because I'm trying to focus my eyes. You are very interesting and I'd like to learn more. I just can't follow your camera work.

[@GemstoneJournalist]

I fully understand your point. To be fair, I'm not very well equipped on this trip (no tripod, just my phone), but I ordered some top notch camera equipment right before I left, and I'm going to be picking up my camera and equipment in the next few days. I hope you will continue to watch my videos as I aim to improve with each upload.

[@lorikendrick5076]

@GemstoneJournalist I will keep watching. You are talking about things I'm interested in. Rocks. I hope your camera does a great job for you.

[@GemstoneJournalist]

@@lorikendrick5076 I will be taking some strong steps to get better captures and less movement of the camera. I hope I can amaze you with my future videos. Thank you so much for the constructive feedback!

[@ikestoddard2458]

Could you take a course in camera techniques? I have to give up at 05:35.

[@GemstoneJournalist]

@@ikestoddard2458 kind sir, I'm sorry you didn't like watching the video. I appreciate your engagement though. I do realize everyone is a critic, but I make these videos because it makes me happy and I enjoy teaching. I will be making serious efforts to improve my video quality, but I would rather post a crappy video than no video at all.

[@goldcambodia]

Good!

[@GemstoneJournalist]

Thank you!

[@ce4015]

The little piece is petrified bone. That black tubular structure in the hole is a vein and the crystalynn structure, are petrified bone. I have the same in my backyard.if you have time we should talk

[@GemstoneJournalist]

That would be interesting. Honestly, I hadn't even considered the possibility of bone. I'm a little skeptical, but I've certainly heard of and formulated wilder theories myself. I'd love to chat. If you have Facebook, please request to join my group, or you can send me an email (check channel description).

[@ChestersGump]

Hey, I have a chunk of agate from the Salina area. Some think it may be Turtle Back or something from the Salina Bubble? Any insight on these names/areas? I can send you a pic. Thx!

[@GemstoneJournalist]

Not too sure about the names of the areas you mentioned, but I'm always interested in seeing cool rocks. I need to create some means of sharing stuff like this, such as Facebook or Discord. Do you use either of those? I'm considering making a Facebook group for this channel if that's something you and others would be interested in.

[@wandawilliams8287]

Can you give GPS coordinates for this location? I'm near Salina in central Utah. I would like to go to this site.

[@GemstoneJournalist]

I'm not going to call it cheating if I did give you GPS coordinates, but I think half the fun is finding it! The main giveaway is the Salina gun range directly across the road. Be aware, there are two gun ranges!

[@markrouse2416]

Really, a picture from the top of a mountain/ hill of small 2 light town with name given and you want GPS?

[@фонУнгерн]

Природа конечно.......на любителя....

[@GemstoneJournalist]

Respectfully, we can choose not to love our Mother, but she never stops being our Mother. There is no separation from nature physically, only emotionally.

[@claudegervais7103]

Tubes. Tube agate! @ 6:00

[@GemstoneJournalist]

I guess they would be a tube agate! Thank you for your comment. 😄

[@mikeblair2594]

It's not basalt. Trust me. The rest you seem to be correct about. I'd take a tub of water and a gold pan and see what's in the bottom of the pan. Maybe not gold, but its at those cracks and vents that bring the precious metals up.

[@GemstoneJournalist]

What would you call this rock? I'm not saying there isn't gold in it, but I'm not particularly interested in gold prospecting this location. Some later videos, I will very likely be doing some gold mining and prospecting, but that wasn't the purpose of this video. I don't particularly think there is much gold to be found here because it lacks in strong secondary mineralization. The agate may contain trace elements, but the presence of native gold is highly unlikely. The more interesting characteristics of this spot are the presence of agates that appear to be aquatic life casts. They might not even be that, but they are interesting nonetheless. The banded black and blue agate, the green opal, the unusual botryoidals, and the unique shapes make this a fun spot to dig into.

[@Siluetae]

Looks like volcanic ash flow tuff in contact with the crazy hollow formation and the Aurora. The botryoidal nodules are black chert, and you are correct about the generalized environment with silicified marine beds. I too often speculate about the origin of rocks when they resemble ancient species. I see dinosaurs, sea turtles, and worms all the time... or is it just my imagination???

[@GemstoneJournalist]

@@Siluetae I believe you are right about the contact with the Crazy Hollow Formation (much of the surrounding red - gray hills are an example of it), and like much of the region, there is significant ash and mud flow deposits with clasts of volcanic rock and black chert, but this particular outcropping I have not seen any examples of black chert like I have typically found in the surrounding areas. This region is extremely difficult to read because of the extreme deformation of the landscape caused by the Sevier Orogeny, the collapse of underground salt formations, and the intrusion of multiple volcanic structures. Carter Peak, just to the north, is one such example of local volcanic intrusion. The mafic rock seen at this locale seems largely continuous, although deeply brecciated, and contains seams with mud and ash sediments. The lacking presence of black chert nodules on this outcropping leads me to think that the outcropping may have been above the valley fill when the unconformity of the Aurora was taking place (that's a theory, but the black chert is very prominent elsewhere, especially going north from this location towards the Redmond Hills). This outcropping seems largely unaffected by much of the unconformity of the surrounding valley, although fault activity has obviously deeply disturbed this outcropping, and further hydrothermal activities have sprung up through this outcropping creating the silica deposits seen here. Piecing together the series of events is difficult even for the USGS, but it is definitely fun to think about.