FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[NellsRocks]

Last week we drove up to Vermont and I tried to snap some photos of the roadside geology as we drove along Route 89.

[NellsRocks]

More photos...

[NellsRocks]

Last ones...

[Matt_Zukowski]

I thought this post was going to be about the excellent Roadside Geology book series. One of the books in this series is called Roadside Geology of Vermont and New Hampshire.

These books discuss the geology along roadways in the United States so you can take a driving tour and see geological features.

[Pierre Joubert]

Interesting photos. I find these roadside cuttings rather distracting when I drive, as I am always tempted to look for faults and pockets:-) When someone else drives, I can concentrate and look more carefully. The problem is, if you do find something exciting, there are so many eyes on you and it may also be illegal. Anyway, they remain fascinating :-)

[Peter Lemkin]

In the USA, I know one great place in Colorado to dig on the side of highway, but it is a MAJOR highway and one would be arrested within minutes. Once in Norway with a friend we were allowed to drive in a construction area where they were still blasting and cutting a new road. The crew stopped and watched as we found some pockets and explored them. They were happy to stop working and were amused at things they bulldozed and blew up without even thinking about. For many people rock is just rock. But that was a very rare event and the only one I can report on roadside collecting in a lifetime of collecting.

[Susan Robinson]

Back in 1970, I took a geology field course in Maine. On the way home, Route 89 at Montpelier was just being constructed, and the road was dirt, and had some side lanes on it that didn't have any traffic. Several road cuts in that area are through phyllite, and it was loaded with cubic pyrite crystals. Needless to say, I filled the car with as much as it could carry. Today, most of the exposed pyrite crystals remaining in the phyllite are badly weathered.

[NellsRocks]

I just picked up the Massachusetts Roadside book... usually they are offered for $40+ but I waited and got mine used for less than $20 shipped! I leafed through it and I think a lot of it will go over my head, but it will be a good read when crummy winter weather hits New England...

:-)

I only wish the photos here were as good as the real thing... There was a section that had rock walls an odd blue/green color. Wondering if that area was somehow connected to the green talc specimens I have seen.

I also had to contend with my boyfriend's windshield that had bugs on it, power lines, etc. And NOW I know why newer digital cameras sometimes come equipped with WIFI... assuming it helps you know exactly where you snapped the pics?

[Jordi Fabre]

Yes, sometimes the works on the roads give very pleasant surprises.

[NellsRocks]

[Tobi]