[Rockhounds] Garnet & Kyanite

[DonH]

Glenn Wimpee wrote:
> How far is it from SLC?
>  
> Are you serious about going now?


Well, if that is Salt Lake City, it's about 1.5 hrs. flight from SLC to 
Lewiston Airport, then about 3 hrs. drive to the mighty terrain where 
kyanites and andalusites are as big as Snickers bars and garnets are too 
big to lift.  In all seriousness, yes if someone could make it here soon 
I would take them out, as long as they provide a high-clearance vehicle 
(which I do not have; mine gets me pretty far, but not as far as where 
we need to go).  We are having an Indian summer right now (if that's not 
politically incorrect to say any more) but the weather could turn at any 
time.  Once it starts snowing, that area is out of reach until next 
July.  I realize those are long odds, but the offer is truly there.

The petrology professor and I are talking about going out there this 
weekend if the weather holds.  She has the jeep.  Two of the professors 
at Washington State U. down the road are very interested in the types of 
garnets I'm finding, with anywhere from one to three zones of growth, 
all in the same terrain.  Up until now I've been collecting them for 
teaching but we need some systematic samples collected at precisely 
recorded localities for isotope dating.  So far they have used a method 
called hafnium/lutetium dating that puts their earliest age at 
Precambrian, well over a billion years.  I'd like to do some of these 
myself to see if my ages correlate; that would need to wait until I 
finish my thesis and if they have funding for me to hang around a few 
more months after I graduate.


Don