Natural Oddities

[jakesrocks]

From time to time nature throws a curve at us. I'm talking about oddities in the rock & mineral world. If anyone has one or more of these oddities, I encourage you to share them here with the rest of us.

I'll start it out with one that scientists have not been able to explain. It's called a Sand Spike. These were discovered in the early 1950's at Mt. Signal, Imperial Co., California. This is the only place in the entire world where they have been found. Sand Spikes are a sand concretion. When freshly dug from the sand, about 98% of them were found laying on their side with the narrow spike end facing to the west. The location was kept a closely guarded secret, but unfortunately someone followed the discoverer out to the location, then returned with heavy equipment hoping to capitalize on this oddity. Almost all of the sand spikes were destroyed in the process as when first dug they were still wet, and had to lay out in the sun to dry before being handled.

I was lucky enough as a young pebble pup to be taken to the location by one of 3 people who knew of it. I managed to find 1, and have treasured it for all of these years. Collected in 1954.

[PinkDiamond]

Wow, that's definitely unique, and I've never heard of sand spikes before. That's awful that someone followed the guy and destroyed the spikes trying to steal them. You're really lucky to have known people who took you there when you were a kid. What a treasure!

[jakesrocks]

Yes, I was lucky. The guy who took me lived about 2 blocks down the street from me. He became my mentor of rocks & lapidary.

Another oddity, tho not nearly as rare are the Sand Calcite crystals from Rattlesnake Butte, Jackson Co., South Dakota. They began as calcite crystals which dissolved & were replaced by sand which was cemented by minerals in ground seepage.

[jakesrocks]

And then there are the popular Moqui Balls or Shaman Stones. They come from 2 locations. Southern Utah and in the Hopi areas of Arizona. This one is from Utah. I cut it in half to show the sandstone core surrounded by ironstone.

[jakesrocks]

Another of the oddities, tho quite common around hot mineral springs is Tufa. Tufa is the result of mineral laden steam condensing on plant life or another solid surface. This piece was collected while on a Boy Scout camping trip in the early 50's. We camped for 2 weeks at Punta Banda, Lower California, Mexico. This was long before Punta Banda became the tourist trap that it is now. About 1/4 mile from our camp site was a hot spring, much too hot to climb into. I risked being scalded or bitten by the resident rattlesnake to break off a piece of Tufa for my collection.

[crazy8s]

Really fascinating collection, I think I have heard about sand spikes from someone in the lap club I belong to.