Gravel boulders?

[Influence Waterfowl Calls]

I have another potential earthcache site but I can not find any thing about gravel boulders anywhere! This place has a bunch of them! Some just look like gravel stuck together and others look kind of like a sand stone boulder but where it broke you can see it is full of gravel! Anyone know anything about these?

[Neos2]

Look up "Concretions" --especially Limonite Concretions or Gravel Concretions. That sounds like what you are describing.

 

The loose rock already existed, and then was cemented together. There are two main types--pervasive and concentric. See our earthcache on a similar place.

 

I almost never recommend a wiki article, but this one is a good place to start

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concretion

Edited August 5, 2008 by Neos2

[ATMouse]

Olean Conglomerate

 

This rock also looks like quartz pebbles stuck together. We have several Earthcaches in our area that explore the bigger outcroppings of them.

[Neos2]

Olean Conglomerate

 

This rock also looks like quartz pebbles stuck together. We have several Earthcaches in our area that explore the bigger outcroppings of them.

That layer is exactly what the rocks in the area would have looked like before erosion created the boulders. Here's a shot that shows what that rock layer *might* look like if it underwent shoreline erosion.

[Influence Waterfowl Calls]

Here are a picture of what I need info on. They are big chunks of gravel found in a gravel pit that are stuck together!

 

[Neos2]

Yes, the inclusions can be any sort of material--sharp or rounded, fossils, gravel, mixtures--and the matrix can be the same material or different. So you can have limestone gravel in sandstone, or shell fossils in mudstone, etc... Here are some other photos of random concretions:

 

If it isn't some sort of brecciated (sharp gravel) or conglomerate (rounded gravel) naturally cemented together, then what do you think it is? Do you have a close up of the material?

 

 

 

 

 

The one we made an earthcache about is made of fossils shells and conglomerate in sandy-limestone.

[Neos2]

Here are a picture of what I need info on. They are big chunks of gravel found in a gravel pit that are stuck together!

Just another thought. While you are asking the gravel pit owner for permission, you could ask them about the source of those boulders.

Edited August 7, 2008 by Neos2

[Influence Waterfowl Calls]

Yea I need to get some close up! Around here, western KY, the gravel used for driveways and roads are smooth rounded stones that are a rusty red for the most part. These boulders are just a bunch of that stuck together!

 

They are at a place that was a place to catch fish and they clean them and weigh them and you pay by the pound. They were placed as decoration. Now the new owners put a restaurant there and plan to have go carts, put put golf, a petting zoo, catch and release fishing, and more! The restaurant has a burger they call the Thunder Berger which is 1.5 lbs of Angus beef on a 12" bun with all kinds of fixings! So they know nothing about the boulders!