Picture of the Day - Quartzy Whale Vert

Today I went fossil-collecting at Field #2 in Templeton and found this petrified whale vertebra that is highly silicated. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - My Final #3 Hunt

Today my bother by another mother, Ron, and his son Ethan and I got run out of Secret Field #3 in Templeton, CA. The actual owner of the property or one of them as he framed it, drove up and flagged us down to talk to us. He told us that although we had permission to be there from the lessees of the property, his out-of-town partners didn't like the legal risk of having guests on the property. Ron and I don't believe the latter part of the story and suspect he is the sole owner and wanted us out but felt bad about it so put it off on the fictitious "other" owners. Thanks a lot lawsuit-happy America! Below is my final haul from this short-lived (the last nine months or so we enjoyed it on the whole and I enjoyed part of it off and on for the past dozen years or more) biconoid and petrified whale bone locality. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Today's #1s From #3

This was today's haul from Secret Spot #3 in Templeton: tractor-disk-fractured petrified whale vert (upper right), tractor-disk-fractured biconoid (upper left), and various carnelians and yellow agates. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

My Big Whaleboner

Today while hunting for Miocene petrified whalebone from the Monterey Formation and biconoids from the Franciscan Melange in Templeton, CA, I discovered this end-piece of a large petrified Miocene whalebone, parts of which are highly silicated. This is the first such piece of I have ever found in regards to end-pieces with ball-joints. It is also one of the largest pieces of petrified whalebone I have ever found.

Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Visiting a Rockhounding Legend

En route back home from Jalama Beach last weekend, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen visited the private museum of the arguably most legendary rockhound in California. I withhold his name for the sake and safety and sanctity of the man and his collection. Needless to say this infamously peripatetic rockhound and raconteur regaled us with many a tale of adventure and graciously showed us his fine collection of the fruits of his lifelong labor of love. To view the Jalama Beach part of this adventure go HERE.

The largest shark teeth are megalodon teeth.

Lots of Desmostylus teeth here as well as a tusk at right.

This is essentially a petrified shark skull sans the skull which is made of cartilage but the teeth are in their original configuration.

The collection of local petrified wood was the most interesting thing to me aside from the shark-related items.

Petrified burl or root.

This petrified limb was found encased in a concretion.

This is another concretion-encased petrified wood limb.

Since being a child I have been intrigued with Nipomo agate. Nipomo beanfield agate is at center in the geode.

Nipomo sagenitic agate.

Nipomo sagenitic (at left) and marcasitic (at right) agate.

Nipomo marcasitic agate.

A bit of everything Nipomo agate here: beanfield at bottom, marcasitic at left and top, sagenitic at right.

He told me he got this petrified whale skull for me but I did not follow up on it and now I fear he does not want to give this up having grown fond of it being in his yard. Let the game commence!
All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all right reserved)

My Refugio Fossil Fest 2015

The last time I got out of my cage to rockhound was on September 4, 2014... today was March 11, 2015 (four-year anniversary of the Great Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami, on an unrelated note). That is to say it has been a half-year and a week since last I rockhounded. Today I rockhounded. That was not "my" original plan for the day but often the best things in life are things that happen "off-the-cuff" or "spontaneously." Today I picked up a dear loved one from a medical facility in Long Beach and drove them home. On the way home we stopped at Refugio State Beach in Santa Barbara County on the Gaviota Coast to unwind. There I looked around in the newly-sorted cobbles on the "beach" as I have done in the past. Unlike in the past, I found an abundance of interesting and even unexpected things, all in a rather small section of beach and in only about an hour's time. Earlier this winter some fairly vigorous wave events churned this coastline refreshing the cobbles and stones along the coast. As many of you know this coastline is famous for its petrified whale bone and less commonly, petrified wood and even sharks teeth and on rare occasions, whole shark jaws and whale brain casts. Today's visit was my most fruitful one ever for any location along the Gaviota Coast and I recommend my rockhound brethren check this place before the summer wave pattern starts dumpting sand atop some of this material. Pictured below are each of the items I found today.

Balanced-rock monument

My search area looked like this.

The rocks generally looked like this.

This specimen appears to capture a turbidity zone on the ocean bottom which might have been a submarine landslide.

Calcite nodule/geode.

Generic petrified whale bone specimens.

Petrified whale bone vertebra.

Heavily silicated petrified whale bone vertebra. 

Closer view of whale bone vertebra.

Even closer view of same vertebra: note bone cell structure.

Petrified whale bone in matrix.

Odd-looking petrified whale bones in matrix are cervical vertebra.

Different view of previous specimen with alternating layers of bone.

Large, well-preserved petrified whale bone vertebra with both disks attached.

Close-up of silicated fossilized coral.

Petrified drift wood encased in worm-eaten concretion. All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved)

Picture of the Day - My Hospital Fossil Find

Last evening on my way home from checking on a home in Templeton, CA, I have recently been watching while the owners are on vacation I decided to stop by the nearby neighborhood in which Templeton's Twin Cities Hospital is located on my way home to Paso Robles, CA. Fellow Santa Lucia Rockhound "Jason" is the master hunter of material from Templeton and he recently showed his finds from a construction zone in the shadow of the hospital and I had since then intended to stop by after work hours and see if anything new had been exposed. The general vicinity of the hospital is locally renowned for having the very best petrified whale bone in California (highly silicified to the point of being gemmy in some cases) as well as possessing the very best biconoids to be found anyway on Earth (the ones in the vicinity of the Highway 46 West summit pale in comparison). Unfortunately, that area has now been mostly built over but a few vacant lots remain and will be most fun to pick through once they get developed during the earth-moving process. Anywho, I knew that "Jason" had already been through the site several times during the course of construction that my odds of finding anything were slim unless new digging had occurred since his last visit. Upon arriving it was immediately obvious that construction was at a pause and had been since last it had rained last month. This meant everything there now Jason had already seen. I decided to go look around anyway and it was clear he and perhaps others had been picking around but I did find this one very nice piece of highly silicified Miocene whale bone.
Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - My Three-Bone Miocene Fossil Find

Today while hiking Pine Mountain in Atascadero, CA, I discovered this stone on the trail and immediately noticed the bone structure on the top-most flatish petrified bone. Given I was challenging myself headed up the inclined trail I did not stop to check it out until I summited at which point I realized it was actually three bones, probably from the same smallish Miocene marine mammal such as a seal or dolphin. All three bones are heavily silicified, but especially the bottom-most two as pictured here.
Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Santa Lucia Rockhounds' July 2014 Meeting

This month's meeting of the Santa Lucia Rockhounds earlier tonight marked the 23rd anniversary of the club's founding.

Tonight's meeting featured a program by esteemed club member Aaron Miller sharing with us his passion for trilobites which is part of the reason I am doing programs the way I am: getting to know our club member's interests because we don't always know them as well as we think or perhaps we even know we don't know them. Before tonight I thought Aaron's passion was fossils in general so I was surprised to find out he was so into trilobites.

Alas, I forgot to photograph Aaron's trilobites afterwards, but I was distracted thinking about that birthday cake!

Attendance was strong with some visitors. All photographs by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

February 2012 SLOGMC Meeting Report

Tonight I attended the February meeting of the San Luis Obispo Gem & Mineral Club and captured these images there. Dick Reynolds gave a presentation on blister pearls in abalone. In addition to most of the regulars being in attendance there were both guests and new members present as well which made for a busy meeting. We planned a field trip to Nacimiento-Ferguson Road on the Big Sur Coast for President's Day morning later this month. Mike Shipsey won Find of the Month. I was able to attend because I do not have an evening class Tuesday nights this semester. It was nice being back!

Close-up of a lone blister pearl in red abalone shell. 

More blister pearls in red abalone shell.

Dick Reynolds giving his presentation on blister pearls.

Complete red abalone shell.

Close-up of red abalone shell.

Mike Shipsey's ametrine specimen which won "Find of the Month" honors tonight.

Dan Manion purchased these quartz bookends at Quartzsite for $1.

New member Rolland Felton's fossilized whale vert he recently found in the Potomac River area. 

Fossil shark teeth found in the Potomac River area.

All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved)