Any geology type folks here?

[Cambertree]

Thought you all might like to see some cross sections of actual meteorites. (Sorry for the poor quality pics.)

These were taken in the Ulster Museum in Belfast.

[The Mastiff]

That area historically had no rail lines but was between the canal and a cable car route. The rail line was almost a mile away. Back before there were companies that bought slag and made bricks and such the slag was dumped around and sometimes carted away to put down on footpaths and driveways and sidewalks. I've also read about old lots that had low spots filled in with slag carted in and a hundred years later it is found during someones landscaping causing the owners to think they have a a toxic waste dump in their back yards.

[ChrisinHove]

It’s amazing how industrious scavenging types can be. I’ve seen loads of hospital supplies in private homes, a roof void sprayed with blue asbestos fibre ( :eek: left that one pretty quickly) and even a railway carriage in someone’s yard....

[The Mastiff]

People generally are pretty industrious. More so in our grandparents day even but when I was a kid I saw a lot of old great depression survivors living as modestly as they had when they were young. We burned and buried and ran mulch piles and had almost no trash like today. Ash was spread in the garden as was the finished products from our carefully tended mulch piles. We never once bought fertilizer that I saw on the farm. The neighbors had a horse farm and would allow us to haul away the manure for fertilizing our fields. It worked out for both families and gave the kids more stuff to do to keep us out of trouble. :) The neighbors never asked us for money but come time the vegetables came in they always got some too. We would take care of their horses if they had to go away too. I don't even know my neighbors name here in the city now.

Joe

[JD Spydo]

Speaking of Meteorites I've heard that Werner Von Braun of all people while doing his rocket research went looking for them in "Antarctica" of all places and did indeed find a few there. I've often wondered why Antarctica of all places is an ideal place to find them>> but according to my rock hound friend it's about the best place on earth to look for them.

[ChrisinHove]

Deserts, as well. Apparently meteorite hunting can be quite lucrative! You have to wait until they land, though ...

[Evil D]

Played around with some coal today on a bike ride. We have a bike trail here that follows over top of an old railroad so there's all kinds of cool stuff to find along the sides, and lots of coal.

[The Mastiff]

Good pictures/photography. It's amazing how clear the last one is.

When I lived with the rail line through my back yard it naturally became the pathway for our hikes. We would go 5 miles or more then back just for the heck of it. There was always some of whatever they carried along the tracks. That line was used to carry coal and coke north and taconite and limestone south going from the ports on Lake Erie to the steel plants and the coal came from southern Ohio and West Virginia up to the coal power plants and steel plants among other things. . There was enough taconite and coke laying around to run my own blast furnace. Over a period of 50 years or so enough leaked out of the passing trains to make it seem that it occurred naturally.

The ore docks on lake Erie where this stuff was unloaded and shipped to local Cleveland mills, Youngstown and even Pittsburgh steel producers. https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/68

I used to fish off the breakwater near those "Hulett unloaders". It was like watching huge dinosaurs ( link to explain the unloaders which were so vital to our economy then) http://www.clevelandmemory.org/glihc/hulett/index.html My father worked at "Republic steel" while getting his degree so they fed our family for a while anyways. Like Republic steel those giant unloaders are gone replaced with self unloading ships.

The railroad going through my backyard is now the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad https://www.cvsr.org/route/

All that is left of our farm. https://www.google.com/maps/@41.2981925 ... 384!8i8192

[The Meat man]

Played around with some coal today on a bike ride. We have a bike trail here that follows over top of an old railroad so there's all kinds of cool stuff to find along the sides, and lots of coal.

I like what you've done to that Caribbean David. Nice job.

[Cambertree]

I'm enjoying your reminiscences Mr Mastiff. Those are some interesting links on Whiskey Island and the Hulett Unloaders. Looks like nice country where your family farm was.

JD, that's interesting about Antarctica and meteorites. It's an amazing feeling camping in the Australian desert at night, far from any light scatter, watching meteorites streaking across the sky and burning out...

That Caribbean looks great D. You prompted me to finally pull the trigger on one, after seeing your dye job. Looks so much better, and the more 'Wharncliffy' nose job is much more appealing to the eye as well.

[The Mastiff]

I'm enjoying your reminiscences Mr Mastiff. Those are some interesting links on Whiskey Island and the Hulett Unloaders. Looks like nice country where your family farm was.

Thank you. I was fortunate to be able to grow up there and have as much space to hike and camp and fish as I needed. I had a cousin that lived in Cleveland proper and though it was only maybe 15-17 miles away it was like night and day. I'd go there for the weekend sometimes and I learned then I wasn't a big city type and would never be.

That area was taken over by the government and turned into a national park. They didn't give us any choice in the matter and they set the price they would pay. There were some who were wealthy or connected who got to keep their land on a lease that was good until they died but reverted to the Government then instead of passing down to the heirs. That is as best as I can recall with a lot of time gone by making details fuzzy. That created some strange stories when whole towns and villages just became ghost towns overnight creating other legends which simply weren't true like: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/helltown-ohio The reality was tragic enough for all the families involved. It spread mine to the winds and things were never the same for us. It's funny for all the things my family left only the barn dated 1898 is left. It has a history like most old barns do. :)

Joe

[ChrisinHove]

Very interesting links, Joe. Those unloaders were something else.

My very elderly father still recalls having to run from the police in the mid 1930’s, carried by his miner uncles, as foraging for scraps of coal from the rail sidings and slag heaps to heat their cottages was most definitely considered theft (by those who didn’t need to heat their homes with scraps of coal, anyway).

[Cambertree]

Thanks Joe, I was lucky to have a similar childhood in the Australian bush, a similar distance away from a large city, but a world away in terms of lifestyle.

It must be a wistful feeling looking at that barn now, with all those memories attached to it.

I had a look around that area on Streetview.

ChrisinHove: that’s shocking, mate, sounds like a scene out of a Ken Loach film.

An interesting article on meteorite fossicking in Australia:

https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2019-09- ... s/11485924

The Wedderburn meteorite mentioned in the article, apparently contained the first known instance of a naturally formed iron carbide mineral, which was previously only known to occur in iron smelting:

https://amp.theage.com.au/national/vict ... 52mhg.html

[JD Spydo]

Thanks Joe, I was lucky to have a similar childhood in the Australian bush, a similar distance away from a large city, but a world away in terms of lifestyle.

It must be a wistful feeling looking at that barn now, with all those memories attached to it.

I had a look around that area on Streetview.

ChrisinHove: that’s shocking, mate, sounds like a scene out of a Ken Loach film.

An interesting article on meteorite fossicking in Australia:

https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2019-09- ... s/11485924

The Wedderburn meteorite mentioned in the article, apparently contained the first known instance of a naturally formed iron carbide mineral, which was previously only known to occur in iron smelting:

https://amp.theage.com.au/national/vict ... 52mhg.html

It truly does seem like you guys in the Southern Hemisphere get better views of the stars and universe at night time and like you mentioned you have far less light pollution too. Also I'm wondering just how many different types of rocks and minerals out there have good abrasive properties to where you can use them to sharpen your cutlery? Starting with the "Moh's Scale" is a great place to see where they all rate at.

[The Mastiff]

My very elderly father still recalls having to run from the police in the mid 1930’s, carried by his miner uncles, as foraging for scraps of coal from the rail sidings and slag heaps to heat their cottages was most definitely considered theft (by those who didn’t need to heat their homes with scraps of coal, anyway).

I'm sorry I didn't see these earlier.

This reminded me of something. When I was a child and visiting my fathers side of the family in Pennsylvania it was a mining town surrounded by giant slag heaps that were burning inside and that went on for years. Everything in the house was soaked in a sulfur smell that was impossible to get away from. My Grandfather was a miner in the anthracite mines and died young from black lung. We used to go hike the slag hills. I recall my father being genuinely afraid of the mines private police. They were sluggers hired for their ability to scare and hurt miners when needed. Strikebreaker types. THey had actual police powers on mine property IIRC until a scandal in the state where they essentially held a guy for a few days and beat him to death. ( years earlier than when I was there). The legislature stripped them of some powers after that. They were always feared though.

It must be a wistful feeling looking at that barn now, with all those memories attached to it.

It makes me sort of sad. I've lived here longer than there because I'm old now but I still miss it a lot. It sure looks different now. All the cleared and tilled areas and lawn look pretty much like forest with the only difference being the trees are smaller because they aren't as old. The large tree in front of the barn is still there. It's an Osage tree planted there in the late 1920's and it's getting big. When I left there was a broken Datsun 2000 roadster behind the barn rusting away. I wonder what happened to that. :)

Joe

[ChrisinHove]

My Grandfather was a miner in the anthracite mines and died young from black lung.

The only one of my great uncles I ever knew was saved from having to work down the pit after WW2 by disability’s from his injuries received in the battles of Caen and the Rhine. He had to take lesser paid work above ground, but lived far longer as a result. Ironic, to say the least.

[JD Spydo]

Hey I don't mean to de-rail this interesting thread but for you guys who are textbook knowledgeable on this fascinating subject of "geology" I'm wondering if there is any 101 or maybe even a 102 or 103 level book on the basics of "geology" that any of you guys could recommend. I did take a 101 level course of geology in college but it's been a few decades ago and you know the old saying >> " If You Don't Use It, You Lose It".

I'm wanting to learn to identify more rocks that can be used for a primitive sharpening stone. We all know about novaculite, coticules, obsidian along with a few others we've used in the past. Also I'm going to search out a viable "Moh's Hardness Scale" on certain rocks and their hardness and/or abrasive properties. But if any of you know of a good textbook or just a book on the bare basics of geology I would sure like to know a title and author.