Rockhounding Essay

Rockhounding is the recreational collecting of rocks and/or mineral specimens from their natural environment. It is the activity of searching for and collecting rocks, fossils or mineral materials. Rockhounding is amateur geology– looking for interesting rocks and formations that illustrate part of the long history of our planet. This exposed bedrock of the superior lets a rockhound see parts of history that are buried deep beneath the surface on much of the rest of the planet. Recreational gold planning is a popular type of rockhounding in California and the Mother Lode. All you need is to detect and recover gold from a stream bed. Washington has an extraordinary variety of rocks and fossils. Collectors have the opportunity to find beautiful
Serious rockhounds haunt the rocks and mineral shows, trade specimens and own their own cutting and polishing equipment. Casual collectors on the other hand are a whole breed of rock collectors. They seldom know the name of the rock they are holding and categorise their collection by names. They collect during their walks in the desert or on the beach, and pick up anything that strikes their fancy. Getting started in rockhounding is easy; a collection can begin with a single “pretty” rock. Finding out where, how and what you can collect can be complicated. The rock collector will learn quite a bit of petrology, mineralogy and geology in their search. The most definitive characteristics of a rock or a mineral is its hardness, which you can determine by comparing it against the standardized Mohs Scale of Hardness. Many states regulate the collection of some rocks and minerals, even on public lands, so it is advisable to read up on local news before prospecting. Rock and mineral collecting is prohibited in national parks. There are few useful tools that a rockhounder must always carry with them or in their