Geology Log #1
Areas covered: Payunia,
Aconcagua, Uspallata, and
Sierra de las Quijadas Crystals Found: Payunia is an area in western Argentina that has 800 volcanoes in
450,000 hectares. Volcanoes do not usually have conditions for crystals
to form, but we still found some small lavender calcite geodes while on a
guided tour. Aconcagua has been the best place for crystals so far.
There were huge chunks of worn down calcite and Emily even found a
beautiful azurite
specimen. In Uspallata Alex and Tim went on a grueling bike ride out to
the surrounding mountains to look for crystals. They were successful
and came back with some interestingly shaped quartz
crystal clusters. Sierra de las Quijadas is a desert mountain range where we found pieces
of gypsum and every color of
quartz you could possibly imagine. Also, on a hike, we found a vein of
a yet unidentified mineral (photo 1). Overall, crystal hunting has been
very good so far. Fossils Much to Tim’s disappointment we learned that you are not allowed to collect or buy fossils in Argentina. We still went to two geology museums and to one dinosaur fossil workshop. Hopefully we will be allowed to buy fossils in Chile. |
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