FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Scott A. Miller]

In 1986, or somewhere there abouts, a number of small glassy spherules fell out of a Keokuk Geode I broke. At first I thought them to be evidence of glass impact ejecta from an event I theorized was responsible for the unconformity found immediately above the Warsaw formation separating Mississippian from Pennsylvanian formation's locally, in which the major units missing are Permian. Because of this, and a series of peculiar anticlinal structures locally, that come in multiple wave sets, with each successive wave, traveling through the set, from largest to smallest, decreases in amplitude and increases in frequency, towards the suspected center of impact. I believe this impact feature to be grossly misdated, and is the much sought after Permian Impact Crater, which is several thousand miles across!
A geologist earned their PhD, in describing these anticlinal features, in SE Iowa, NE MO., and WC ILL, as a series of disjointed, primarily linear features that have a slight change of angle from one set to the next. What I saw immediately upon viewing their work, were lines tangent to the arc if a GREAT circle! I immediately broke out a Rand McNally road Atlas with a map of N. America, translated the structures on to it and located the center of the circle. At the risk of a TREMENDOUS amount of ridicule, which I fully expect, coming from folks who have a tremendous amount of time and effort, plus their reputation's on the line, I here by stick my neck out on the chopping block, a quite tempting target.
The center of the circles is the Sudbury Ontario Canada Impact Crater!
I see evidence of the structures throughout vast stretches of the Stable Mid-continental Interior and via the Law of Superposition , I declare that it is incorrectly dated at 1.8by and is more like 250my. There you go, start chopping! You haven't even began to hear the rest of my theories and postulations, which I'm sure to give my contemporaries plenty of ammunition to hasten my demise!
The Oscillating Earth Theory, what happens when a planetary mass is heated and then through a very long period of re-radiational cooling, a very rapid expansion, followed by a very slow contraction. Is this not an oscillation? Could this not be the current primary driver of the current epoch of Plate Tectonics, yes, I just indicated that there have been previous engines and epochs! As long as I am sticking my neck out, I may as well stretch it out good! This would explain why, if every drop of glacial ice and snow is melted and returned to the sea, it would not cover these stable mid-continental interior's to a degree where these endless carbonate sedimentary profiles could accumulate and become the rocks we walk on today. I don't believe that the continents rose as much as the entire planet expanded and is in the very slow process of a contraction until the next catastrophic event occurred.
Yep, there you go, I mentioned Catastrophism, the apparent counter to Uniformitarianism! These should not be viewed as opposite theories, but inclusive of each other. These impacts
have happened, are continuing to happen and will happen into the future as far as I , The Village Idiot can see with my cloudy crystal ball! There you go, have fun.
If you thought that was total lunacy, you will love the next one!
Fossil hunting in extra-orbital space, and an explanation for a phenomenon that Arthur C. Clark found quite captivating and could never find an adequate explanation for. As a result of these almost unimaginable catastrophic events, a portion of ocean which is not vaporized nor atomized, is hurled into sub-orbital, orbital and extra-orbital space. For a period of time, the Earth probably had accreation rings much like Saturn, some of this flung into orbit around the sun matching the Earth's orbital velocity very nearly and kind of backing it's way, at very low velocities into the atmosphere, and gently melting on the way, depositing it's contents of marine life, falling out of the sky. Clark was extremely interested in this phenomenon and never felt he could adequately address it! I just did! So, perfectly preserved Permian critters, floating around out there, who would have thunk! The Village Idiot! Have fun!

[Scott A. Miller]

How in the name of the ONE, do I post a blinking photo on this blasted forum, I've failed 3 times and I getting a bit bent!!!

[Kevin Schofield]

Hi Scott,

you seem very keen to belittle yourself, which seems a tad harsh as you have apparently solved the problem of time travel, and come to the early 21st century enthused to share many of the geological theories of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Quite splendid.

The one thing I would take issue with is your assertion in the second sentence that the unconformity separating the Mississippian from the Pennsylvanian in Iowa is characterized by missing units of Permian age. This would, if correct, be another time travel issue, as in the rest of the world, the Permian is younger than the Pennsylvanian and therefore cannot be missing from beneath it.

Other than that, keep up the good work!

[Bob Harman]

I hate to get on this thread once again, but I must.

The original poster ( https://www.mineral-forum.com/message-board/viewtopic.php?t=5842 ) asked a simple question regarding ID of his calcite specimen. The several early responses simply said that the example probably was not from the Elmwood Tennessee mines.

All of a sudden these past few responses have gotten completely off topic. Not good!!!

I suggest either locking the thread or moving these last responses to another thread.

And bye the way, spherules or not, that calcite would not occur in any Midwest USA geode, Keokuk area or anywhere else in the Midwest. For a starter, it is much too large for all Midwest geodes. BOB

[Scott A. Miller]

Sorry Bob, you are correct, this is not the proper thread for the previous pontificating I committed. However, 6" calcites do exist in Keokuk Geode's, very rarely, but they do! I'll search around a bit and send a photo, if I can figure out how

[Scott A. Miller]

The question I asked, which was not answered, was, does anybody else see the spherule in the middle of the photo? It appears to be a 2mm, perfect sphere, partially etched out of the base of the calcite.
I came, I saw, I what? My Latin is a bit rusty, so shoot me. I actually am curious, emi? As to time travel, each one of us who looks upon the Geologic record, are just that, time travelers to the distant past!
An explanation for the misapplied time periods is available, but as Bob pointed out, this is not the proper thread for that. If you are actually interested, perhaps you can direct the Village Idiot to the proper thread, perhaps you will find it interesting, perhaps not.

[Scott A. Miller]

Bob, I just got done measuring a couple of 4" calcites in KEOKUK geodes. I had a 6", but it was highly weathered and relegated to my rock garden, behind a home I sold a couple of years ago and I didn't snag it before the new owners took possession. Even though it was highly weathered, I wanted it for it's significant size. The woman will not let me have it back. However I think if I scrounge around a bit more, I can find something approaching this size. If not, Norm Woods sold one to John Haslem in Galesburg approaching this size. Oh yes, back to the thread. I can say nothing of its origin, but it is quite striking and I wish I had it in my collection, my kudos sir!

[Scott A. Miller]

Know body has addressed my question about the spherule in the lower left corner, of the upper right quadrant of, IMG_3124.JPG (in https://www.mineral-forum.com/message-board/viewtopic.php?t=5842 ) Does anybody else see this?

[Tobi]

[Jordi Fabre]

Thread moved

[Scott A. Miller]

I started a reply, lost it again. I don't know and at this point, don't care, wether it is lost in electronic oblivion or posted by accident, as I have previously done. This forum is not well formatted for stupid-phone's, that's my problem, not entirely yours. Please accept my apologies, none for mr. schofield! He is the one stuck in the 19th Century and woefully uneducated! As to Mr. Harmon, I'm going to leave the site and crawl back under my rock. It happens to be a Midwest geode and contains a 5,5/8" slightly pink Scalenohedron, "dogtooth", making him technically correct, just barely. I was just starting to photograph some of my several thousand geodes collected over 55 years. Not all are museum specimens, but a very great many are. I rather like the view from within my abode, it is a small microcosm of perfect beauty and harmony few humans can experience, and I do believe for the time being I've decided not to share it with any of you . Hasta la vista folks. C'est la vie!
S.A.M.