[Rockhounds] "list where the knowledge of many is shared freely"

[DonH]

Lanny wrote:
> Just curious Don. You mean to say that the outcrop is gone? There are no 
> kyanites and no garnets remaining? 


Hi,

The large, collectible kyanites are gone from that particular outcrop 
(garnets weren't part of the discussion in this case, and I've never 
found ).  They appear to have been restricted to particular layers in 
this rock (I hesitate to call it a schist!)  There are still fine, 
well-formed little kyanites in the top remaining layer.  This is about 
where I found that couple wandering around with a copy of your book in 
hand, and called you, but there was no answer (I still can't believe I 
had a cell signal out there).  The outcrop was pretty hammered before I 
got there, and I did some hammering myself, until I realized it was too 
unique to take apart further until I had someone look at it.  It is 
definitely layered, but also exhibits a gentle undulatory folding, and 
is shot through in places with massive, white, porcealainous feldspar 
and chunks of anhedral quartz.  The mica looks like biotite but in 
thinner sections it has a green tint.  The last person I had out there 
was mumbling something about this area being the missing link between 
two formations, but I didn't quite get what she was thinking.

There is garnet amphibolite up there as well as the schistose material, 
plus another outcrop I found where white laths (of kyanite?) surround 
small, subhedral, reddish-orange garnets.  Very odd.

But yes, the garnets are up there and still able to be collected.  Many 
of them are worn out of the matrix and can be found in the road.

My earlier comment referred to the fact that the outcrop has been 
changed, to the point where a full interpretation is probably not 
possible any longer.  But then again, that is just fate.

The bottom line is that this area has been studied since the 1950s, and 
this particular ridge should have been more closely studied already.  At 
least I have a team of worthwhile professors ready to go take a 
look--and in a sense we do owe it to you!  I don't know how long I'll be 
around after I graduate, but I'd like to go take a look up there 
together, if you still have that Mammoth Car and the snow cooperates.

Best,
Don