Where do you find rocks, minerals, and fossils?

July 06, 2009
by Ray Hill

I’ve been a rock collector for twenty years now. The “seed” for the passion of collecting rocks, crystals, mineral specimens, and fossils was planted in me by my step-dad when I was about 13 years old. Yes, I got a way from it for a long time, you know, military, work, marriage, raising a family, and such. But, about twenty years ago that seed grew and I became interested in starting my own rock collection. When I really decided that this is something I wanted to do, I remembered some of what I had learned as a boy, but, had absolutely no idea where to go collecting for material for my collection.

One of the things I did when I got serious about putting together a decent collection was to seek out others that had been collecting longer that I had. I got involved in a couple of different local rock clubs…. Gem & Mineral Societies. There I met many super nice folk that had a passion for going on field trips and collecting material for their collections. I befriended these folks and it wasn’t long to where I found out where a few productive collecting sites were. After a couple of years I had learned so many places in Georgia, my home state, where collecting could be done that I was asked to be Field Trip Chairman of one of the clubs. If this capacity I got to lead field trips and it truly was a joy being with like minded rock collectors. I also learned some new places to collect from some of the other people in the club.

Over the past fifteen plus years I have had many, many, people, usually those just starting out, ask me “Where do you go to find rocks, minerals, and fossils?” Well, I hope this short article will be of some help to you that are just starting in the rock collecting field.

1. Get yourself some basic books on rocks, minerals, and fossils. These will help you to identify the material you collect.
2. Seek out your local Gem & Mineral Society. Make contact with the people there and start attending their monthly meeting. Get to know the members of the club. They will be happy to share information and often even give you specimens they have collected. The members that have been in the club for a while is a great source of information.
3. Do some research on the web about collecting sites in your state and also check out a few of the commercial web sites that are out there. In looking at the web sites that sell rocks, mineral specimens, crystals, and fossils, you can learn quite a bit about the material being offered. By looking at a number of different web sites you can get a feel for what particular items are selling for. You will learn approximate values of the specimens in your own collection.
4. Go to the local Gem & Mineral shows that you can find in your area. Here, you will meet up with lots of other collectors and see who is selling what and for what price. It won’t take long for you to learn the names of many different rocks, minerals, fossils, and such. You will also learn what the specimens are selling for. Again, this will help you in determining what your specimens are worth.
5. Learn to recognize the three basic types of rock; Igneous, Metamorphic, Sedimentary. I’m a simple-minded country boy and it took me a while to learn and understand what the three types of rock were and how to recognize them when I saw them. But, it’s quite simple really.
   I always list the three type or categories of rocks in the order in which they are formed.
   1. Igneous = “Original” Or, rocks in their original form. Those that come from a volcano. (Obsidian, granite, lava, tuff, pumice, rhyolite, basalt, etc.)
   2. Sedimentary - “Settled” (Limestone, mudstone, shale, sandstone, chert, coal, salt rock, etc.)
   3. Metamorphic = “To make over”, or to change. When rocks go thru a process of change by way of heat, pressure, chemical fluids + time. (Slate, Gneiss, Schist, Marble, Quartzite, Soapstone, Garnet, Kyanite, Muscovite, Biotite, Talc, Chlorite, Graphite, Tourmaline, etc.)
   The above explanation of the three basic types of rocks is somewhat an over simplified explanation, I know. My point here is this. Learn to recognize the three basic types of rocks and you will go a long way in answering the question of “where do you find rocks, minerals and fossils.” It’s a matter of knowing where to look.
   
   Let me give you a couple of examples. Some years ago I drove from my home near Atlanta up to visit my sister who lives just outsideYoungstown, Ohio. On my drive up, I noticed on the left side of the freeway, just a couple of miles from where I was to get off the freeway, there was a large area where some heavy grading was taking place. There was a half-dozen pieces of heavy equipment lined up at the top of a large bank. It was a Friday afternoon and it appeared the workers had knocked off for the day. As I drove past this site, it was obvious to me that the whole side of the bank, (An area about a hundred yards wide by about two hundred yards long.) was a dark gray shale rock. Now, I knew that shale is a hardened marine sediment.
   
   The next day, at my sister’s house, my brother-n-law, Joe, announced that he was going to go over to a hardware store that was located right off the freeway where I had come in and asked if I’d like to ride along. It was then that I told him about the grading that was going on in that area and suggested that maybe some fossils could be found there. He laughed at me and reminded me that he had live in this area for fifty years and that it was not likely that fossils could be found around there. Not deterred, I asked if he would drop me off at this site and I would look around while he went to the hardware store across the freeway.
   
   I spent about twenty minutes picking up broken pieces of shale rock in the area, looking for fossils. When Joe showed up a few minutes later I showed him four specimens of shale rock with seashell imprints in them. (Moulds and casts. Trace fossils.) Joe, my brother-n-law, said “if I hadn’t seen this I wouldn’t believe it“!. He asked how the heck did I know there may be fossils here. I explained that the whole side of the hill where the grading was going on is a shale rock. A sedimentary marine rock. Hardened silt from the bottom of an ancient ocean. “That’s why I suspected marine fossils to be there!”
   
   Here’s another example. Some years ago I took a trip up to just outside Columbus, Ohio to visit John, a rock buddy. When I got there I noticed that there was a huge conveyor belt in the pasture across the road from his house. He said that a company was working a sandstone quarry just over the hill from his house. I explained to my buddy that chances were pretty good that some fossils may be found in the quarry. John asked what caused me to think there might be fossils there. I then asked where do you find massive amounts of sand? John said in an ocean and in a desert. I then explained that it was not likely that the sandstone from this quarry was from a desert but from where an ocean once was. My guess was that we could possibly find some type of marine critters in this massive amount of sandstone. The next afternoon we drove over the hill and entered the quarry. We didn’t find any seashells, corals, or such but we did find bunches of ancient tree root cast. This makes me think that at one time this sand was a beach and that trees grew along the edge of the beach. When the trees died, it rotted away, including the roots in the sand. When this happened the roots left a cavity that was then filled in with sediment and hardened into stone over a period of years. You could actually see the texture of the tree roots in these fossil cast. John was amazed that we found the material that day.
   
   To find rocks, minerals, crystals, and fossils, it is important that you be able to recognize the three basic types of rock. This will help you find more material.
6. A good place to find rocks, minerals, crystals, fossils, is where the ground is being disturbed…. Places where grading is going on. Places where new roads, highways, streets, are being made. Any place where grading or digging is taking place. This is where you are likely to find rocks, minerals, crystals, and fossils.
7. Existing road cuts or banks. When driving on any road I look at the banks along the roadway. If there is a bank with lots of rocks exposed then often times I stop to check it out. I’ve found many good collecting locations in road cuts or banks. These are everywhere. Every state has road banks. Every state has areas where grading and digging is going on. Check these places out. You never know what you’re going to find.

Like I said at the beginning of this article folks, I have spent twenty years collecting rocks, mineral specimens, and fossils. Rock collecting has brought me many, many hours of pleasure and satisfaction, and even a certain amount of success. I know for a fact that this has been due to someone taking the time to show me the joys of rock collecting when I was young… planting that “seed” in my life. So, pass it on. Take a young person rock hunting.

Ray Hill
Great South Gems & Minerals, Inc.
www.greatsouth.net
888-933-GEMS

Note: Only rock clubs have permission to print this article but must give credit to the author, Ray Hill, and Great South Gems & Minerals, Inc. For everyone else, please email us for permission.

Great South Gems & Minerals, Inc. www.greatsouth.net 38 Bond Drive Ellenwood, Georgia 30294 USA 1-888-933-GEMS (4367) FAX: 770-389-8095