Esoterizona Stones 43

 

Fluorescent and phosphorescent tremolite (white-blue) with "eyes" of an unidentified green fluorescent mineral outlined in white-blue. 6"x3.5"x1" (Maricopa County)

Same, white light.

Close-up of the green "eyes".

Fluorescent white-blue tremolite rosettes on a freshly split face. 4"x2.5"x1"

Same specimen, white light.  Rosettes this large were not easy to find.

Smaller tremolite rosettes with orange and yellow fluorescent caliche. 5"x5"x2"

This piece was weathered on the surface, allowing the secondary caliche to form.

Last Stop

Bullet-riddled, rusting chassis of an early 1950s Dodge pickup.

A late '40s - early '50s era school bus, also bullet-riddled.  Unable to determine the exact make and year, although it shares characteristics with models from the period such as Studebaker, International Harvester, & Dodge, most notably the 2-panel divided windshield, the size and placement of windows on the swinging doors, and the modular body styling.  The fact the bus is missing the entire engine compartment and front grill makes identification that much more difficult, unlike with the truck pictured above.

The side rear emergency exit door seems to be a product of the 1950s, although I could find no matches with any make or model of school bus for the uniquely styled rear windows, nor for the rounded transom windows above each passenger seat.*  

*GM did use such windows on their commercial passenger coaches in the 1950s.

Slickensides

Boulder with slickenside markings in a quarry near Tucson.

Slickensides are created by friction and pressure at the fault lines of the earth's crust as immense plates of rock slowly grind past one another, leaving distinctive parallel grooves.

Here is a fault with slickensiding, dipping at a steep angle down into the earth.

A boulder section with beautiful, well-defined slickensiding.

Close-up of the slickenside grooves.

These faults also create space for the growth of secondary minerals ...

.. which often have potential for fluorescence.

Esoterizona Stones 42

An outcrop of rhombic calcite crystals, most visible above left of the hammer handle.

Crystal plates chipped out of these boulders fluoresce red, (calcite), yellow-white (caliche), and green (unknown). 8"x5"x2"  There were literally thousands of crystalline calcite rocks at this quarry, but these were the only ones with a fluorescent response.

The purple-pink tones on the left side of the specimen are lamp reflection over the red.

Same specimen, white light.

Calcite (red), caliche (yellow), and gray-blue unknown mineral. 9"x5"x2"

Same specimen, white light.

Well-formed calcite crystals (red), with yellow caliche. 4"x3"x2"

Same, white light. The large crystal in the center measures 0.5"x1".

Odd Booth

This strange little structure in the desert ..

.. turns out to be the weirdest phone booth I've ever seen.

Railroad Relics

I stumbled upon this collection of rusty tubs in the foothills of some mountains near Tucson.

As it turns out, they are actually coal-cars for an old railroad line - the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad out of Colorado.  The line was established in the 1880s, appropriated by the federal government during both WWI and WWII for the war efforts, was named an historic landmark in the 1960s, and now operates in a museum capacity.

(see D&SNGRR)

An example of a coal-car and associated 480 series locomotive in a stock photo.

Standing on top of the abandoned car, looking down into the interior compartment.  The small structure on the back of the car in the previous photo looks like it might have been placed over this opening - would have to revisit and measure to be certain.

There were four coal-cars altogether.  The far one in this picture still has old railroad tracks emerging from underneath the front end.

This one still has extra wooden rails along the coal bin.

It's a mystery to me how they ended up here in Arizona.  There is no record I could find that the line ever operated this far south of Colorado.  A number of nearby mines were operational during WWI and WWII, but none seem large enough to warrant a rail line, much less one from Colorado.  Interesting pieces of history, not going away anytime soon.

Copper Cut

Copper-lead mining cut in the Santa Rita Mountains.

A nice vein of secondary copper minerals, about 18" wide and 10" high.

Working the pocket for specimens. Photo courtesy of the Yeti.

Pulled out this nice plate of azurite (blue), malachite (green), chrysocolla (aqua), limonite (mustard yellow), hematite (dark brown), and quartz (brighter yellow). 8"x6"

The quartz occurs as tiny hexagonal crystals in the yellow-lined vugs. FOV=4"x2"

Cactus Blooms