TRILOBITES AND TRAILER LIGHTS

An example of the Trilobites we found.

The trailer sagged and the lights shown downward onto the ground as we pulled out of Delta, Utah, on the last leg of the journey to Quartzsite.   The car was full of them, the back of the van was full of them.   And the buckets that wouldn’t fit in either the car or the van were stuffed into the back of the trailer so precariously that an avalanche would occur if we opened the door again.    We pulled into Delta, Utah several days before, intending only to change a tire, grab some lunch, and then get back on the road.   But then the Trilobites happened.  

Looking around at the seeming “nothingness” of Delta, I had casually mentioned that the desert in this part of Utah was chock full of fossils.   Trilobites, to be exact, the ancient ancestors of today’s lobsters and crabs.   Enough said.   We were off to find some of these little prehistoric sea creatures for ourselves.    Three days and many aching muscles later we had more trilobites than we had places to put them.   

Artist's rendering of Trilobites

Trilobites are members of the phylum Arthropoda, which includes modern animals such as insects, spiders, scorpions, ticks, crabs, lobsters, and centipedes.  They belong to an extinct class of marine organisms called Trilobita which means three-parts, and refers to the three segments of the trilobite’s exoskeleton.   More than 500 different Trilobite species have been found in a band of Cambrian Period limestone, siltstone, and shale that extends across the Northwestern portion of Utah.    During that time period, about 550 million years ago, western Utah was covered by a shallow sea with slow moving rivers carrying sandy sediments into it.   The land we now refer to as Utah was located closer to the equator at that time, and the water in this shallow sea was warm.   It was in this warm, shallow, and nutrient-rich water that the Trilobites lived, crawling on the bottom while scavenging or grabbing passing prey. 

The Wheeler Shale in the mountains of the House Range in Millard County is known as one of the top collecting locations for Trilobites in all of Utah.    Here, the Trilobites are located in a 15 feet thick layer of shale and mudstone throughout the mountains southwest of Delta.    We dug in several locations, and found two that produced quite prolific concentrations of Trilobites.   One of the locations was a light gray and reddish mudstone, and the other was a dark gray shale.   We found about 5 different species of Trilobites over a two day period.    We found both full trilobites and imprints in both locations, as well as plates and partials.    Other fossils found with trilobites include crinoid stems and spiral-shelled animals similar to ammonites. 

Trilobites are found by splitting the layers of the rock.   In the mudstone layers, the rocks split somewhat easier, but they are also softer and more fragile.   In this location we found the fossiliferous layer about 5 feet beneath the surface of the foothills of the mountains.   We dug out slabs of mudstone and split it with the rock hammer or a chisel.    Many times the split along the cleavage would reveal the Trilobites, but other times the split would damage them or only reveal them partway.   The mudstone Trilobites break more easily, so it is important to use a little more care when removing layers of rock from the mudstone deposits.   We also found trilobite imprints in the tailings while walking around the collecting areas.

U-Dig Site, Delta, Utah

In the harder dark gray shale, the work was more difficult.    Here we used pry bars to lift up sections of the shale layers, and then used a maul to break the sections into smaller, more manageable pieces that we could then split with the rock hammer and chisel.   The positive side of the harder shale is that the Trilobites are less delicate, however, it is also more difficult to control the break so many of the Trilobites were only partially exposed or broken.   We also found fossils which had a calcium layer of the exoskeleton intact, but it was very brittle and disintegrated when exposed.  Another plus to the shale, is that often whole trilobites will erode out of the rock and can be found by sifting through the dirt and shards left behind in the pockets from where slabs of rock where removed.    That was a great way to take a break from the heavy work of hard rock mining, yet still be productive in recovering the fossils.  

Though hard physical work, the experience of digging trilobites is a fun and exciting activity the whole family will enjoy.    Older folks and young kids can enjoy finding the loose trilobites in tailings and dirt pockets while the more fit people in the group do the heavy work.   Older kids who can use a rock pick will find themselves content to chip at smaller pieces that are dug out by someone else, or cleaning and sorting fossils dug by their group.   

Mudstone Trilobite Deposit

There are several locations near Delta, Utah, to dig for trilobites.    For less experienced people who want to be assured of finding trilobites, a great experience is the U-Dig Fossil site.   U-Dig is a pay-to-dig location about 35 miles west of Delta.   To reach the site, take Hwy 50 west out of Delta for approximately 15 miles until you see a well maintained gravel road heading off north into the desert.   The road will have a sign saying "U-Dig" with an arrow.   Follow this road and the signs leading to U-Dig through the desert for about 20 miles.   You will be heading into the mountains at the later portion of the road.  At the approach to the U-Dig site you will see gray shale tailings piles, some heavy equipment, and a small gravel parking area off to the right.    The folks at U-Dig are friendly and knowledgeable.   You can use their buckets and rock picks, or use your own tools.  The staff will show you where to look for the trilobites and will start your group out by breaking out a section to begin working on.  For more information on U-Dig go to their website.    

Antelope Spring

If you don't want to go to a pay-to-dig site, there is a nice mudstone site that we found which produced nice trilobites.   To get to this location, take the road to U-Dig about 12 miles to the junction with the gravel road to Marjum Pass.   The junction is marked by a Spring called Antelope Springs, which is underground, but has a pipe and faucet inserted into it.    The water flows out of the faucet into a narrow gully that has been dug to carry the water to a cattle watering station just to the left of the road.  Turn left at Antelope Spring onto the road to Marjum Pass.   Travel down that road for about 6 miles.  Just before getting into the mountains you will see diggings along the side of the road, a pit and a wash, and tailings piles.

  A few hours in this location should produce several of the mudstone trilobites.

It is a good idea to check other areas like washes and gullies, or even canyons where shale layers are exposed.  We found one nice trilobite imprint near a canyon, but there didn't seem to be very many at that location, or they were not very easy to find.    It is possible we didn't look long enough to find the layer that contained them.   Another area where we looked, unsuccessfully, was a dig site called "The Community Dig".   There are lots of exposed layers of shale there, but after sampling in several places, we found no sign of trilobites or any other fossils in the

exposed rock or any tailings.

We are open in Quartzsite so you can come by to see and purchase Trilobites that we collected, or get books, maps and everything you need to go out and have some exciting prospecting adventures of your own here or elsewhere.    We are open 7 days a week from 10am to 6:30pm, at A37 Rice Ranch in Quartzsite, 605-376-8754, and 24/7 at RocksInMyHead.com

U-Dig Site Outside of Delta, Utah

GOLD, DINOSAURS, & GIANT SEQUOIAS

Badlands near Havre

We were leaving North Dakota and heading west on Highway 2 through Montana.  Looking at the map, it
appeared that it would be a quick trip.   Not much to see along the way, we thought; a few sites here and there, a couple of small town museums, and vast expanses of farmland.   Now, a week and a half later, we were still just a couple hundred miles into the state, and boy were we wrong about Northeastern Montana. 

Southeastern Montana is known for its beautiful agates.   Southwest Montana is famous for its gold and copper mines, towering mountains, and amazing geologic wonders of Yellowstone National Park.   Northwest Montana has Glacier National Park.  And that vast, flat and seemingly uninteresting stretch of Highway 2 in Northeast Montana has way more than initially meets the eye.   We followed the Lewis and Clark trail, the Milk River and the Hi-Line- a railroad line that, along with the Great Northern Railway, was responsible for connecting the remote northwest with the rest of the world and establishing towns in this portion of Montana.  We visited Forts, Indian Reservations, some Native American Sites, and historic towns with buildings dating back to the 1890’s.  

But hidden treasures also abound in this stark yet incredibly beautiful portion of the state.   Besides the Lewis and Clark trail, there is also the Dinosaur Trail.   Besides plains and grasslands, there are badlands and mountain ranges where fossils, interesting rocks, and amazing scenery abound.  Northeast Montana is famous in paleontology circles for having produced some of the most complete dinosaur skeletons in the entire world, including a “mummified” dinosaur fossil named “Leo” who was fossilized with skin, muscles, and stomach contents intact.  (Go to http://www.mummydinosaur.com/ for more info on Leo).  Along the Dinosaur Trail are some wonderful museums housing both replicas and actual dinosaur fossils, along with numerous “dino digs” where Dinosaur fossils are still being recovered.  Go to http://mtdinotrail.org/ for all the details, maps, and locations of sites along the Dinosaur Trail.   One of the best museums we went to was the Great Plains Dinosaur Museum and Field Station in Malta, where actual dinosaur and other fossils are housed and studied as they are brought in from the digs.   The website for the Malta Dinosaur Museum is  www.greatplainsdinosaurs.org.  There are lots of great photos there of  dinosaur and other fossils found in Northeast Montana.  

Leaf Fossils from Fort Peck area.

In the badlands around Fort Peck, Malta, and Havre, fossils abound.   Besides dinosaurs, other fossils found throughout this area include ammonites, baculites, and marine fossils like crabs and lobsters.  The petrified wood of the MetaSequoia (an ancestor of the giant Sequoia) is found in several locations, as well as plants of the Late Cretaceous period.   We collected leaf and plant fossils from several of these areas, as well as some interesting iron oxide and silicate concretions and lots of petrified wood.  Another great location for fossil hunting is Fossil Hill in the Little Rocky Mountains.    Crinoids, shellfish, brachiopods, and even dinosaur fossils have been recovered there.    

Old Pegasus Mine by Zortman

South of Malta, rising up out of the plains to nearly 7000 feet are the Little ^th century, miners Pike Landusky and Pete Zortman struck gold in this corner of the Little Rockies.  Mining continued there throughout the 1900’s.  Pegasus Gold Corporation was formed in 1979 and heap-leach mined in the Little Rockies until the late 1990’s when the mines were shut down due to environmental pollution from cyanide spills.   The closed down Pegasus mines that sit above the townsites are currently undergoing reclamation, but there is still plenty of gold to be found in the streams around Zortman and Landusky.  Both Swift Gulch and South Bighorn Creek near Zortman contain placer gold washed down from the now closed
Pegasus Mine.  There are some claims located along Swift Gulch, but other spots within the national forest are open for panning.  
Rocky Mountains.   In addition to fossils, the Little Rocky Mountains boast beautiful forests, the old mining towns of Zortman and Landusky, and Montana’s easternmost gold deposits.  In the late 19

To get to the Little Rocky Mountains and Zortman, take 191 South for approximately 60 miles.   The road to the GPAA claim is currently washed out and inaccessible, but there are areas to access the streams in the National Forest behind Zortman.    This area is currently in reclamation due to cyanide leaching contamination, so be careful where you pan.    

The Pegasus Mine in Landusky

Also, in Landusky, just west of Zortman on the other side of the Little Rockies, there are a few streams containing placer gold runoff from the closed Pegasus Mine location in Landusky.   We spent the day panning for gold at Montana Gulch in Custer National Forest near Landusky.  There is a nice National Forest campground there, right at the beginning of town which provides nice sites with easy access to the stream.  We didn't find any color that day, but it was cold and late in the afternoon, so we only panned for a very short time.   I'm sure we would have found a little color if we had spend more time there.   

The Lobby of the Zortman Hotel

Fossil hill is located behind the Zortman dump and is full of  oysters, belemnites, crinoids, ammonites, and other small marine fossils.   Portions of this land are private property, but it is easy to secure permission to look for fossils there.   The proprietors of the Zortman Hotel are friendly and knowlegeable.  They will be willing to help. 

In the Fort Peck area, head south on Route 24 into the Badlands to find fossil collecting areas.    This area is BLM land dotted with

Badlands near Fort Peck

privately owned ranches.    We drove about 12 to 15 miles south of the Fort Peck Dam, and then turned on a gravel road that went back into the badlands.   We searched several different locations.   A few produced nice petrified wood of the Metasequoia, and one site yielded nice plant fossils of leaves and reeds.  The plant fossils were in a reddish shale.  We had to break open the layers to expose the fossils.   The petrified wood here is pale grays and whites with streaks of brown and black and pretty pockets of quartz crystals.    It is found on the surface where it has eroded out of the volcanic tuff, and in some places it is concentrated at the bottoms of washes.  

Montana Petrified Wood

Northeastern Montana holds many surprises for those who are willing to look beyond its seemingly
uninteresting landscape to discover its secret treasures.   We will be open Quartzsite at Space A37 in Rice Ranch shortly, so watch the paper for the announcement.  We will have rocks, fossils, and petrified wood from Northeastern Montana, and more, for sale.  Meanwhile you can order through the website, by email, or by phone at 605-376-8754 until then.   See ya in Quartzsite and hope you have many happy prospecting adventures along the way!

Badlands near Fort Peck

Panning in Montana Gulch, Landusky

Washes like these yield good petrified wood.

Plant fossils we found in the Badlands near Fort Peck

Badlands near Fort Peck where we found alot of Petrified Wood.

  

THERE’S GOLD IN THEM THAR BLACK HILLS

Yesterday, we were collecting agates in the agate beds along highway 44 in South Dakota.    A car pulled up and some well-dressed people got out.  Well- dressed for rockhounding in the agate beds on Buffalo Gap Grassland, that is.  They looked over and spotted me searching the ground, and the man said “Are you finding any gold?”  Shocked, I looked at him and replied, “Uh, no, not here.”   He seemed surprised and said, “Well, there’s lots of gold here in South Dakota”.   I laughed.   “Yeah.” I said, “but it’s not found here in the grasslands.    You need to head about 80 miles west to find gold in this state.” 

Homestake Mine, Lead, SD

It is true that there is alot of gold in South Dakota.   But, as with any place where gold is found, it is located in specific places not just randomly scattered throughout the state.   And here in South Dakota, the gold deposits are found in the Black Hills, in the West Central portion of the state.    Gold can be found from Lead and Deadwood, throughout the Black Hills all the way to Custer.   In fact, there are several gold mines located in this area, with the largest and most famous one being the Homestake Mine in Lead.  

Mining i n  Deadwood

In 1874, during General George Custer’s expedition into the Black Hills, gold was first discovered in French Creek.  Shortly after that, South Dakota’s gold rush started and mines were opened in Custer, Keystone, Lead, and Deadwood.    The Homestake Mine in Lead was the most productive mine, producing 30 million troy ounces of gold until it was closed in 1992.   Today, the open pit can still be seen in Lead, and the visitor center has a map of the immense underground system of shafts and tunnels which underlies the entire town of Lead and goes down 8000 feet into the granite bedrock.

Though the major mines of South Dakota are no longer in operation, there are still plenty of opportunities for the recreational miner to find gold in South Dakota.    There are both lode and placer deposits distributed throughout the Black Hills.  Nearly all of the Creeks and small tributaries in the Black Hills of Custer County, Lawrence County and Pennington County contain placer deposits.    Gold can be found in the stream gravels as well as the bench and terrace gravel deposits.   

French Creek, Black Hills National Forest

When mining in the Black Hills, be aware of claims.   Many of the easily accessible areas, especially along French Creek west of Custer, are private property or full of claims, but with a little patience and persistence, one can find a place to pan.   Many times a claim will be well marked, but often times it isn't.  Look for wooden posts or pvc pipes with claim markers on them.  Some claims are marked with brightly-colored streamers on the tree branches.  Also, 50 feet on each side of a road is public right of way, so you can pan in any stream at a road crossing.   Often times, culverts under roads offer excellent opportunities for panning, as the riffles in the culvert act as a natural sluice.   

If you are a GPAA member, several claims are located along Rochford Rd. in the National Forest and one is near Lead.  If you are not a GPAA Member and would like to become one, we have memberships available for purchase.  Go to http://rocksinmyhead.biz/Club-Memberships_c119.htm.    Memberships come with a gold pan and accessories, the Mining Guide full of GPAA claims locations, and lots of instructional materials. There is also a local Gold Prospecting Club in Rapid City that has claims throughout the Black Hills.  Their phone # is  605-341-0483.   

There are many places within the Black Hills National Forest between Hill City and Lead where camping is permitted also.   We have been to a couple of places around Mystic, along Rapid Creek and Castle Creek where we could camp right next to the Creek where we were panning.   These areas are primitive sites only and rather remote, so be sure to bring everything you need if you plan to camp there. There are also lots of campgrounds located in and around the Black Hills that are just a short drive away from panning locations if you don't want to boondock.   

No permit is needed to pan within the National Forest, however other mining activities such as sluicing and hibanking require a permit or a Notice of Intent.   It is best to check with the Forest Service Office in the area you wish to prospect to be sure of the regulations in that location.

Several companies also have fee mining opportunities.   The Big Thunder Gold Mine in Keystone offers group trips for hibanking, sluicing, and panning on their private claims.    They also give a mine tour which comes with a free panning lesson and session.   You can keep any gold you find. Their website is http://www.bigthundermine.com/index.php.  

Castleton Ghost Town, SD

The mining history of the Black Hills is very colorful and interesting.   If you are heading through the Black Hills, it is worth it to check out the Homestake Mine Visitors Center and some of the other mines in the area. Hill City and Keystone have rich mining histories.  The Museum of Mining in Lead provides an interesting look at mining history in the area.   Round out your travel experience by doing some gold panning for yourself while you are in the Black Hills.  There are also some ghost towns scattered throughout the Black Hills.  An interesting website with lots of archival photos of mining in the Black Hills is http://www.miningartifacts.org/South-Dakota-Mines.html.

For gold prospecting equipment, books, maps, supplies, and more, visit our website http://rocksinmyhead.com.   Happy prospecting!

Badlands, Buttes, and Banded Agates- Collecting Agates in South Dakota

South Dakota is known for its amazing geology ranging from Badlands buttes rising up out of the vast grasslands to massive limestone and granite formations covered with Ponderosa Pine in the Black Hills.   But South Dakota is also home to an amazing, and equally exciting, variety of gemstones and minerals including several beautiful kinds of agates.    In fact, the state gemstone of South Dakota is the gorgeous and rare Fairburn Agate.

Fairburn Agate

Agates develop as silica deposits in cavities or pockets caused by trapped gases in (typically) volcanic host rock.  As the host rock cooled and hardened, small cracks developed that allowed the gases to escape.  Later these cavities filled layer by layer with fluids that were rich in dissolved silica (chalcedony or quartz) and other minerals.  The colors and arrangement of these microcrystalline bands are influenced by pressure, temperature, and mineral content that occurs during the formation of the agate.   If the pressures and temperatures changed while the agate was forming, bands and patterns would also change, or another form of silica, macrocrystalline quartz (quartz crystals) would then fill in the remainder of the cavity.  

Prairie Agates 

Agates in and of themselves are amazing.   Unlike other gemstones, each agate is unique.   Even slabs cut from the same stone will vary in design, color, and pattern.  The most common and distinctive type of agate pattern is called a fortification, where the bands crystallize into concentric layers that follow the shape of the cavity.  Some other patterns of solid agates are waterline, tube, eye, plume, and seam.  Agates in South Dakota  contain all sorts of colors, ranging from earth tones to bright reds, oranges, and purples. 

The most famous, and also the least common and most valuable, agate found in South Dakota is the Fairburn Agate.  Fairburns are fortification agates and occur in just about every color combination imaginable.  Other agates found in the Grasslands and buttes of South Dakota are Prairie Agates, Water Agates, and interesting “Bubble Gum” Agates.  Prairie and Water Agates are seam agates, while Bubble Gum Agates are eye agates.   The primary area for these agates to be found is a wide band just outside the Black Hills that extends from just east of Rapid City through the Buffalo Gap Grasslands along the White and Cheyenne Rivers into Nebraska.  The fabulous TeePee Canyon agate is a fortification agate found on the eastern edge of the Black Hills.

Fairburn Agate Beds

Fairburn, Prairie, Water, and Bubble Gum Agates all can be found in agate beds scattered throughout the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands.   Here, multicolored hills and buttes of volcanic badlands rise up out of the prairie, covered with pebbles that have been left behind as the surface layers erode away.   Amidst all these pebbles can be found Prairie, Water, and Bubble Gum agates, as well as the elusive Fairburns.   Beautiful quartz, rose quartz, and smokey quartz pebbles can also be found here, along with an occasional fossil.  Three of the most productive locations for Fairburns and their counterparts are the Agate beds at Fairburn, Railroad Buttes, and Kadoka.  

Railroad Buttes

We also spent some time collecting in agate beds located along Hwy. 44 just west of Interior.  Here we also found some fossil agates and some petrified wood.   The fossil agates we found were of three different types. Some had imprints of shells in them, some had agatized fossils embedded in them, and we also found some absolutely gorgeous petrified and agatized corals.  The petrified wood we found at this site was mostly black, white and gray with some pinks and oranges mixed in.  Some of the pieces had obvious bark on one side.  There were other pieces that were solid black.    This site on Highway 44 is especially picturesque with multicolored hills comprising the landscape and the peaks of the Badlands in the distance. Camping is allowed on the site so it makes for a really memorable excursion.   

Heading west from the Badlands, TeePee Canyon Agates are fortification agates found in the eastern edge of

TeePee Canyon Dig Site

the Black Hills near the SD/Wyoming border.   TeePee Canyon agates are characterized by intense patterns of purples, reds, and oranges encased in a chocolate brown limestone host rock.   TeePee Canyon agate nodules are found in exposed seams of rock in the TeePee Canyon area of the National Forest just off of Highway 16 west of Custer.  Unlike Fairburns and other Grasslands agates which are found on or embedded in the surface of soft tuff, TeePee Canyon agates are located several feet down within the brownish limestone and must be chiseled, chipped, dug, and otherwise broken free.    The extra effort is worth it, though, for the sheer beauty of these stones.  

TeePee Canyon Agate

If you are heading through the western part of South Dakota, your trip would not be complete without stopping to collect some of these beautiful gemstones along the way.    To get to the Fairburn Agate Beds, take Hwy. 79 North from Hot Springs or South from Rapid City and Custer areas.  There is turn off for French Creek Road, Hwy 18, which is marked with a sign for the town of Fairburn.   This is a gravel road, but well maintained.   Once in the town of Fairburn, head through town to where the road heads out of town to the east.   Travel this gravel road NE for twelve miles out to the Badlands, the agate beds, and Buffalo Gap National Grasslands French Creek Campground.  The Agate Beds are located behind the campground and across the creek.   Follow the 4-wheel drive road to the rock collecting area.   

Agate Beds off Hwy. 44 

The Railroad Buttes collecting area is located east of Rapid City off of Highway 44.  Take Hwy. 44 east to the intersection for New Underwood.   Turn south onto this road, and travel it across Rapid Creek and through the small town there.   You will see Railroad Buttes rising up in the distance from Hwy. 44.  Keep traveling on this gravel road until you arrive there.   There is a large flat area for parking or you can drive into the agate beds.   Two other agate beds are located off of Hwy. 44 near Interior.   Contact us through our website for information on these locations.  

To get to the TeePee Canyon site, drive west on Hwy. 16 to Forest Service Road 282, about 3 miles west of  Jewel Cave National Monument.   Turn north on 282, and drive about a mile or two.  Dig sites are located on the slopes of the hills in the National Forest.  

Hwy.  44 Agate Beds

Camping is allowed at all sites in the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands.   French Creek Campground has fire pits and a pit toilet, however Railroad Buttes and the other sites on the Buffalo Gap Grasslands are primitive camping only with no facilities.    Be sure to take plenty of water, food, and gear as this is a harsh and rapidly changing environment.  There is no shade, and temperatures can get into the 100's on a summer or early fall day.   It is not recommended to drive or camp on these sites in wet weather.   The roads become soft clay and will bog down even the best of 4-wheel drive vehicles.    

Bubble Gum Agates we collected

To purchase South Dakota agates and other rocks, minerals, and gemstones, go to our website www.RocksInMyHead.com.  We have a nice selection of  Fairburn and TeePee Canyon agates, as well as Prairie, Water, and BubbleGum agates.   We will be open in Quartzsite  in November at A37 in Rice Ranch, but you can order over the phone (605-376-8754) and by email through the website until then.   Happy prospecting and see ya in Quartzsite!

Fossil Agates we collected

Badlands Petrified Wood

Sunset over the Agate Beds

CANNONBALLS, POTTERY, AND OLD PLANTS

One of the most intriguing places we have been this summer is the Badlands of North Dakota.   It also was a place that held many surprises for people like us who love rocks.  We have been to the Badlands in South Dakota, in Utah, and in Nebraska, but the Badlands of Western North Dakota were different.   Here in this arid grassland, where buttes of multicolored layers of sedimentary rock and volcanic tuff rise majestically above lush prairie, there are abundant examples of how diverse and fascinating rocks can be.

View of Badlands, South Unit

The Paleocene landscape in the North Dakota of 60
million years ago was swampy bottom-land covered with thick vegetation and dense forests of sequoia, bald cypress, and other water-loving trees.  Ancient rivers carried sediments of mud, sand, and silt off of the newly forming Rocky Mountains and deposited them in layers.   Volcanoes in Montana and Idaho erupted and spewed huge amounts of ash into the swamps and rivers of Paleocene North Dakota.   It was during these conditions that some of the most interesting rocks that I have ever seen were formed.  And that’s saying something, because I sure have seen a lot of interesting rocks in my lifetime.

Petrified Wood

To begin with, fossils and petrified wood erode out of badlands buttes in abundance.   Some sequoia and cypress stumps that have been found here are enormous specimens over 12 feet in diameter.  While petrified wood can be found in many places, a type unique to the North Dakota Badlands is called Teredo-bored because it contains the fossilized remains of holes bored in the wood by little ancient clams called Teredos.

Another interesting formation is the layer of lignite coal that is found throughout the badlands.  Lignite coal is younger, geologically speaking, than harder, higher grade bituminous coal.  It is the lowest rank of coal with the lowest energy content.  It is formed from peat and plants, like other coals, but lignite coal is formed at shallower depths and with less heat and pressure than other coals.   It is softer than bituminous coal and has a higher moisture content.  It is also volatile.  It burns easily

Lignite Coal Vein (black streak)

and has a tendency to spontaneously combust.  Lightning strikes and prairie fires often ignite seams of lignite coal.

This tendency of lignite coal to combust creates another of the curious types of rock found in the North Dakota Badlands – a reddish rock called scoria.  Scoria is baked and fused clay, shale, and sandstone.  Scoria forms in thick layers or massive chunks of fused pieces of sandstone and clay.    These reddish layers and masses of baked material formed in areas where seams of lignite coal burned.  The heat
produced from the burning coal baked nearby sediments into a natural

Scoria (Clinker) Outcrop

form of brick.  Scoria is also called clinker, probably due to the fact that the pieces clink like pottery when they hit against each other.  In fact, broken pieces of scoria look, feel, and sound like pottery shards.

By far the most interesting rocks we saw in the North Dakota Badlands were large spherical formations called Cannonball Concretions.  Concretions are hard, compact masses of sedimentary rock formed when a mineral precipitation occurs around some type of nucleus, similar to how layers of minerals build up around a center core to form a pearl.  Many shapes and sizes of concretions exist in the world, but the ones in North Dakota known as Cannonball Concretions are among the more unusual ones.   Cannonball Concretions are made up of dissolved minerals of calcium carbonate cemented

Cannonball Concretions

with siderite, or iron carbonate.  Cannonballs up to three feet or more in diameter can be found in several places in Western North Dakota.   The wide variety of shapes of concretions is based on composition and cementing agent of the concretion, as well as the composition and hardness of the enclosing sediment.  The Cannonballs are able to form in an enormous spherical shape because the soft bentonite clay sediment in which they form did not constrain the growth in any way.

There are several different ways to explore the rugged badlands of North Dakota, however the easiest way is to visit Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  The South Unit is just off of Interstate 94 and Hwy 85, near Belfield.  There are two sections of the South Unit:  The Painted Canyon Overlook and the main area of the park.   Painted Canyon offers a Visitor Center, expansive views of the Badland wilderness, and access to trailheads that take the visitor down into the canyon.   The main section of the South Unit is a few miles west of Painted Canyon near Medora.   The South Unit of the Park has a scenic drive, many trailheads, access to backcountry trails, 4-wheel drive roads and wilderness areas.  There is a very nice campground in the park, but it is first-come, first-served and it typically fills up quickly.   There is a both a tent camping area and a section with pull-through sites for larger RV's.

The North Unit of the Park is approximately 65 miles north of the South Unit on Hwy 85.  While similar in

geology, the North Unit is different than the South Unit and worth exploring as well.   There are many opportunities to experience some of the very unique rock formations, like the Cannonball Concretions, up close on some of the trails or just off the road.  The North Unit offers several hiking trails, backcountry and wilderness experiences, and a scenic drive which begins in the canyon and ends up on the rim with expansive views of the badlands below.   There is also a small campground located inside the North Unit with both pull-through and back-in spaces.   Both the North and South Units offer Ranger Progams and the South Unit provides a ranger-guided tour deep into the heart of the wilderness to visit the Petrified Forest- a unique geological area consisting of some of the largest petrified trees in the world.

There are also abundant opportunities to see wildlife in both the north and the south unit.  We saw several herds of wild horses, buffalo, and antelope, as well as deer.  There are also quite a few prairie dog towns, some of which are right along the road providing excellent opportunities to sit and enjoy the antics of these cute little creatures.  Because of the abundance of vegetation and trees, birds, butterflies, and the like abound as well.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park is truly a natural and geological

Buffalo in the Missouri River

treasure, and well worth the trip to this remote section of the United States.   Whether just traveling through,  or spending several days, the North Dakota Badlands holds spectacular surprises for all who visit.  To get more information on Theodore Roosevelt National Park go to their website here.    For more information on Rockhounding sites in the North Dakota Badlands go here.


 Meanwhile, to follow all our adventures, and to see all our new exciting products, go to our website RocksInMyHead.com.  From there you can access Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Flickr, and more! We will be open in Quartzsite at A37 in Rice Ranch in November, but you can also order by phone, email, or online!  And don't forget, Life is Short!  Go outside and Play.

Rock Formations along the Buckhorn Trail, North Unit

Rock Formations, North Unit

Rock Formation created by a "Waterfall"

Petrified Wood with "Knot" from a limb