Crystals & Rocks Observed

Have you ever seen a Volcano erupt? Mount St. Helen's a Composite Volcano Erupted in last in 1980 , and my mom was 12 years old and living in Washington when it occurred. Her friend and her were outside playing in the yard that morning, when her friend suddenly asked, "what is that?" pointing into the sky. She looked over there was a giant smokey plume in the sky.  She later remembers finding out that Mount St Helen's had erupted, and the hearing the news discuss how big the crater that occurred and how much damage was accounted for in the surrounding areas. Although, they lived 2 hours north of the Volcano, in Olympia , a thin film of ash covered everything that, to her, seemed to last forever. Probably from the wind that kept blowing deposits of ash around. However most of the wind at the time blew south resulting in giant "piles and mountains of ash" on the side of the road the closer you got to the volcano. Similar to today, those who lived close to M...

                   Today, I went out in the hills behind my house to try and find some mineral examples and there were just as many cool rocks as I remembered there being when I was little. Among the Limestone, shale, and other rocks we found a few good ones.  Here are some the treasures from this excavation (little dramatic word since we picked them up off the dirt trail leading up the hill): Farthest left: there seems to be some sort of crystalline structured mineral on a rock. Almost seems to be a partial piece of a geode that had been broken up.  Back right: shows some fun sedimentary lines that seem almost rusted which makes me wonder if it has striations of iron or some other metallic element that has a chemical reaction with water and air to create Rust. Also, may be a sheet silicate with how smoothly the layers would break off. Although I fount it interesting that it broke off perpendicularly from the sediment...

 Hello!  I am Aly! I'm 25. I live in Eagle Mountain, Utah. And yes, there are eagles that nest here in our Mountains ! & I shall be narrating this blog, mostly relating the findings I have in my area based on the information I learn in my Geological learning journey!  A little about me: I have a cute cat who adores me. I love collecting cool rocks, I love my cute nephew, and I started an Etsy shop where I design and sell Graphic tee's (Aly Wein Design). I'm actually an Applied Tech major doing Web development & Graphic Design!                                         I am here because of my admiration and fascination with rocks. I usually find myself climbing or exploring cool rock features like in this photo from down in St. George.  I've always loved them! We would go "crystal and geode hunting" in the hills behind our house here in Eagle Mou...