Rockhounding Texas is a complete guide to finding, collecting, and preparing Texas' gems & minerals. With this book anyone can learn where to find unusual mineral displays, fossils, jasper, agate, and petrified wood—not to mention more obsidian than one rockhound could possibly collect in a lifetime. An outstanding resource for experts and novices alike, Rockhounding Texas points the way to the state's best rockhounding sites, including popular and commercial areas as well as lesser-known sites on public land. Look inside to find: • Maps and detailed site descriptions with directions and GPS coordinates • Suggested tools and techniques • Land-use regulations and legal restrictions • Contact information for land managers • Additional information on rock shops, attractions, and local history

Provides descriptions of over seventy sites for rock viewing and collecting in Texas, each with information on the land type, elevation, best season, land manager, material, tools, vehicle access, accommodations, special attractions, and rockhouding opportunities.

Presents a comprehensive guide to over fifty rock hunting sites in six geographical areas of Texas and includes an insert of rock, fossil, and mineral specimens, site locator map, descriptive text, and black-and-white photographs.

A complete guide to Idaho’s best sites for collecting rocks, minerals, gems, crystals, fossils, and gold.

Rockhounding Colorado takes you to 81 of the best rockhounding sites in the state. Search for amethyst and quartz at the Crystal Hill Mine, check out the view at Douglas Pass while looking for leaf imprints and insect fossils, or head to Saint Peters Dome to uncover green, white, and purple fluorite.

Rockhounding Colorado takes you to 100 of the best rockhounding sites in the state. Search for amethyst and quartz at the Crystal Hill Mine, check out the view at Douglas Pass while looking for leaf imprints and insect fossils, or head to Saint Peters Dome to uncover green, white, and purple fluorite.

Take a guided tour of more than 15,000 years of life in Texas Mr. Marcom has authored a volume that makes the incredibly diverse archaeological record of Texas accessible to interested laypersons and beginning avocational archaeologists.

Earth's outer crust Geologists Time and rock units Geologic map What are rocks and minerals? Chemical elements Minerals Rocks Igneous rocks Extrusive or volcanic igneous rocks Intrusive igneous rocks Sedimentary rocks Soils Sedimentary rock materials in broken fragments Sedimentary rock materials in solution Cementing materials and chemical sediments Sedimentary rocks formed by plants and animals Metamorphic rocks Static metamorphism Contact metamorphism Dynamic metamorphism Occurrence and properties of minerals How minerals occur Crystalline minerals Crystals Imperfect crystals Amorphous minerals Some distinguishing properties of minerals Color Luster Transmission of light Hardness Streak or powder Cleavage Parting Fracture Specific gravity Effervescence in acid Some special occurrences of minerals Cave deposits Concretions Geodes Petrified wood Collecting rocks and minerals Rock and mineral identification charts How to use the mineral identification charts Key to mineral identification charts Mineral identification charts How to use the rock identification charts Rock identification charts Descriptions of some Texas rocks and minerals Anhydrite Asbestos Barite Basalt Calcite Cassiterite Celestite Cinnabar Clay Copper minerals (chalcocite, chalcopyrite, malachite, azurite) Dolomite Feldspar Fluorite Galena Garnet Gneiss Gold Granite Graphite Gypsum Halite Hematite Limestone Limonite Llanite Magnetite Manganese minerals (braunite, hollandite, pyrolusite) Marble Mica Obsidian and vitrophyre Opal Pegmatite Pyrite Quartz Quartzite Rhyolite Sand and sandstone Schist Serpentine Shale Silver minerals (argentite, cerargyrite, native silver) Sulfur Talc and soapstone Topaz Tourmaline Uranium minerals (carnotite, uranophane, pitchblende) Volcanic ash (pumicite) Composition, hardness, and specific gravity of some Texas minerals Books about rocks and minerals Nontechnical books for beginners Textbooks and other reference books Selected references on Texas rocks and minerals

More than a third of New Mexico is public land that holds untold quantities of mineralogical treasure. With this book anyone can learn where to find unusual mineral displays, fossils, jasper, agate, petrified wood—not to mention more obsidian than one rockhound could possibly collect in a lifetime. The array and quality of such materials just waiting to be found in New Mexico are almost mind-boggling. Rockhounding New Mexico describes 140 of the state's best rockhound sites, covering popular and commercial sites as well as numerous little-known areas. This handy guide describes where and how to collect specimens, includes maps of each site as well as directions, and provides reliable recommendations for accommodations, camping, and other special attractions. It is, in short, a complete and outstanding introduction to the many sides of a fascinating hobby.