Owenahincha super pocket and a few unknowns

Owenahincha (it took me a while to learn the name of this place ;) ) beach is one of my favourite spots in Ireland, both for relaxing (the beach is almost always empty, and it is so beautiful) and collecting ( we always find something nice).

That day we were hoping to find some better hamatite samples, maybe some quartzes, but what we found was beyond our dreams!

First, Klaudia came across a small pocket and spent an hour taking out a single quartz cluster. This trip would be worth it even if we found this specimen ONLY.

A few undamaged tips + one crystal with flowery chlorite inclusions= a great specimen!

Chlorite inclusions in quartz

Meanwhile I found a rock with potential, I noticed a few small quartz tips sticking out of clay. I called Klaudia and we started digging carefully in the clay. We found only a few small crystals, though. However, Klaudia switched on her "crystal radar" and her "crystal nose" sniffed THAT POCKET! On top of the rock, in a place I wouldn`t even try to reach! Sometimes it helps to be tall and have long legs ;) While I was still digging a bit lower, she was taking out crystal after crystal from that big pocket! Some of them the size of a thumb, some clusters, some double terminated... All dirty, so we still didn`t know what was hidden under the clay. We were to discover it at home, after giving the specimens a few days long bath in my son`s plastic bathtub.

I first spotted this badly weathered, rotten, ugly quartz "cluster", literally falling apart in my hands. I brushed it gently and noticed some pink crystals under all this rotten, stinky stuff. I didn`t know what it was, I only knew it wasn`t quartz. It actually took over two weeks of studying the crystals before, with Thomas` help I was able to find out what it was- ALBITE!

Klaudia on the rock, the huge pocket with albite was higher

Quartz, albite and limonite, photo taken through macro lenses for a mobile phone

 After cleaning we also realized that we have something else. What I initially considered clay turned out to be most likely limonite after pyrite and limonite after siderite.

Here are a few out of over 30 crystals and clusters from this pocket:

one of my favourites!

Limonite pseudomorphs after pyrite

quartz

A beautiful, about 4cm high quartz cluster. Excellent specimen with many clear, undamaged crystals

Thank you Thomas for editing my pictures :)

Some other, unedited photos:

Specimen about 3.5cm

Same specimen

Another nice cluster, about 3cm

Albite and limonite

Broken...

...but only for a while :D

Another one, broken...

... and fixed :)

Another favourite, here still wet after a bath in a detergent with some lemon juice (great method for removing iron, by the way)

I will add photos of the limonite after siderite, so come back if you are interested to see them. And also, I am currently investigating what is the pink stuff covering my crystals.

This day we went to look for hematite, but we found none. We found other treasures. But we went back to Owenahincha shortly after this trip and this time found our hematite- LOTS.OF.HUGE.HEMATITES! Check out my next post!

Hope you enjoyed :D

University College Cork display minerals

The day that we went with Klaudia to see Cotterite at UCC, we also had a look at their display cabinets at the last floor. This is just a small percentage of what they have. Unfortunately, they keep their specimens in boxes in the basement.
The photos are of terrible quality, taken through glass.

Gold in quartz

Wavellite from Laharran Quarry

Here is the post promised long ago.. I have been so busy recently that I hardly find time for my own child, not to mention my blog. So lads, forgive me...

Laharran Quarry is well known for producing world class wavellite specimens. It is quite easy to find and easy to access, but you definitely need a pair of rubber boots! You can spot the hole in the ground from the main road, but only if you drive slowly and look carefully :)

Wavellite can be found in the left corner of the quarry in clay. We had been told we would probably find mostly rosettes but we only found one such and the rest were beautiful, green spheres! Water dripping from the rocks straight on our heads wouldn`t discourage us, and so wouldn`t thorns of rasp(black?)berries and horse shitite around. It took us a while to locate a pocket, but when we finally succeeded, we were able to take out a good dozen of spheres.

I will show you only one close up photo, as till now I have been able to take only one relatively good shot. This photo has been edited by Thomas for me, without him I wouldn`t be able to show you my specimen.  Thank you, Thomas.
I am currently learning mineral photography and I can tell you one thing- IT`S HARD!!!!! I have ordered lenses for my phone, a tripod and three lamps, I`m waiting for delivery.

There is a photo showing all MY specimens (Klaudia has a few as well).

The rosettes are in the side of the slim rock, not really visible in the poor photo.  The big piece on the top hosts twins, very nice. See below

I am going to return there one day to look for bigger spheres. The site HIGHLY recommended!

Cotterite

Today I`m going to write about a very rare mineral that was found in 1874 by Miss E.Cotter in the town of Mallow, county Cork, Ireland. Mallow is my current home and this is unlikely to change in the nearest future, if ever. Only FOUR specimens of cotterite have been found to date, and the mineral is referred to as a one time occurrence.  The area of Rock Forest where it was found is now farmland and finding another specimen would be like winning a lotto.

Together with Klaudia, we have recently had this opportunity to see this beautiful mineral at University College Cork, thanks to a fellow-collector`s kindness. It was taken out of the safe especially for us :D

Here are some photos

Klaudia with cotterite :)

Me with cotterite :)

Cotterite

Cotterite

Cotterite

Cotterite

Cotterite

Cotterite

Cotterite

 Cotterite is a quartz variation. Regular quartz crystals are covered with coating of pearly/opalic luster. You can see it very well in the above photo.

Cotterite

Cotterite bottom with a label

The above specimen is the type specimen. This means that if you think you have found cotterite, it has to be compared to THIS specimen :)
A nice one, huh?

Glandore Mine

On Wednesday we had something that in Ireland we call a pet day- a single day of good weather in a stretch of cloudy, rainy days. We used this opportunity and jumped into a car. We had had this trip planned before, we were just waiting for the right time!
First, we went to Laharran Mine to collect some wavellite and indeed, we found a few beautiful specimens. But about this I will tell you the next time :) Happy, we quickly ate our sandwiches, loaded energy with something sweet, changed shoes and singing out loud drove to Glandore. On our way, totally by accident, we saw a small quarry. We quickly turned the car and asked the only person there, a guy on a tractor, if we could have a quick look at what they have there. He said the boss wasn`t there and told us to work away ;) With no tools, in the wrong shoes, off we went- as fast as we could, afraid that he could change his mind. Klaudia`s "crystal nose" did a good job again, as it smelled beautiful, clear quartz crystals! I will post pictures in the next post (about Laharran), as I still have to take some decent ones. My New Year`s resolution is to learn how to take good photos of minerals :) Back to the crystals- as I told you, we didn`t take tools with us, so Klaudia literally tore the crystals out of the rock with bare hands! Her palms were cut in ten different places and bled, but I don`t think she minded at all! :D
When we finally got to Glandore, it was already late and just about to get dark. We decided we would have a look at the place, see what we would need the next time there and leave soon. We were trying to find the old adit level (see video on YT about Glandore Mine, where it is marked), as we were told stuff was found there. By "stuff" I mean Corkite- Glandore being the type locality for it! Corkite is only interesting under the microscope, so this is something Klaudia definitely would not enjoy. Other interesting minerals can be found there, for example goethite, malachite, rhodochrosite, or cuprite. We found the adit but it is now heavily overgrown and one wouldn`t be able to check it without a decent shovel. And a pick axe ;)

Old adit level

Then we went up to see the engine house and the shaft, which is a verrrrry deep hole! I would never ever even try to check the bottom of it.

It`s hard to see in the picture, but the tree has its roots in the hole.

View from the other side of the shaft, the hole not so deep but still too dangerous to go inside.

The engine house

The mine worked for copper from 1811, then for manganese and iron from 1840, and closed completely in 1910.

View of the fields around

Fields around

I picked up some yellow stones hoping they could be corkite, but still haven`t checked them. We didn`t do any collecting on that day there, but it still was a nice history and geology lesson- definitely worth it! We will go back to Glandore one day!

"The Calcite Quarry"

We did it again ;)

25.10.2015, afternoon.
The quarry is located about 15 km from Mallow.

After a dangerous, 20 min long walk along a busy road, we were finally able to go in. But first, we had to face nettle and mud. Klaudia tripped and landed in the nettle but did it discourage her?- noooo! Just the opposite- we had a great laugh and the situation made the adventure even better! :D

We didn`t expect to find real treasures, we knew Iceland Spar was found there years ago, only in one corner of the quarry, but we didn`t know which corner it was. In this case getting to know the place and learning this and that about the geology had more meaning than the calcite.

Gaining entrance took more time than expected and we could only stay there for a short hour, as it was going to get dark soon. One day we may go back and look for the Iceland Spar...

Nettle... ouch!!! Klaudia ready to fight it!

The part of the quarry we checked

Our first finding- a huge boulder of calcite. We broke it and managed to extract a few clean pieces

This place was full of calcite, it was everywhere

Klaudia on her way to check the most interesting looking rocks

A weathered goniatite (left)?

A good view for the quarry

Earlier mentioned clean calcite pieces. Parts of them very clear.

And bye-bye! As you can see it was windy (and a bit rainy, too). Not the best selfie in the world :P

See you next time!

Ballyhass Lakes... again... :)

My.Life.Is.Busy.


On Monday I`m starting a new job. I`m excited, happy, positive and I can`t wait! For that reason we had to buy another car, which made us both busy (looking for a new car, travelling for a new car, fixing some things on the new car, paperwork for the new car...) and broke :P BUT!- right now I don`t depend on my boyfriend`s car anymore and I have more freedom (and comfort). I used it yesterday. My son was sleeping at my mom`s place and Klaudia and I had a short and quick trip to the Ballyhass. The damp (or heap) of soil was washed by heavy rains and we were hoping to find some goodies revealed by that. And we did indeed.

We found lots, and lots of fossils!
The most interesting is probably this one

This is a massive block of about 8-10kg with numerous crinoid stems. 

Crinoid stems

My sample needs good cleaning and trimming ;) I was thinking of careful cleaning with a small brush, so I could reveal more stems. Unfortunately, I have no air brush or water pressure cleaner (yet).

Then, there is this one. I still don`t know what it is but I will let you know as soon as I find out.
Edit (02.12.15): I know what it is now- it`s a brachiopod, Productus (Thanks, Richard!) 

 

Another one is that one. Small shells. I already have a similar sample from Ballyhass. 

 And I also found a few blocks with thick stems, but I only took two ( I may go back for the rest)+ the syringopora coral block of 20kg ;) that I left there before

It was very windy and rainy that day, and the wind was cold. My hands were freezing. We stayed there for maybe 45 minutes and only checked the surface, no digging. Having enough of being soaking wet I exclaimed "Klaudia, let`s go!" and the moment I did it I found this!

A beautiful, large quartz crystal. The tip a bit broken, but the size is impressive! Now imagine, if THIS was on the surface, what`s underneath?! They are planning to plant some grass on that damp early spring next year, so we have to be quick with checking it out! We will definitely go back there!

And the last one. The tip is intact and very clear, see through, but much smaller in size

There will be another post soon, so keep checking!
Monika