Gravel Pit Fun

Pomßen Gravel Pit Thunderegg

Several new specimens from the various German gravel pits have been uploaded to the gallery now, including the first specimens from the Pomßen and Baden Baden pits.

Baden Baden Gravel Pit Thunderegg

Rather than being locations in their own right, the gravel pits in germany are areas that were dumping grounds for thundereggs carried in from elsewhere by river systems. The result is a hodgepodge of different rocks, sometimes with an identifiable source, sometimes not. Exactly how to process these stones is always going to be a bit problematic – sometimes you can say with some certainty where a rock may have originated, sometimes not – and they are usually tagged depending on the location of discovery rather than origin. As a result, the images presented here will be almost useless for ID purposes since stones of the same type can turn up in many pits and many types can turn up in one pit.

Pomßen Gravel Pit Thunderegg

One thing that does set them apart though is their water-worn exterior.  Many from the gravel pits are incomplete, broken or worn down and for me, who has rather a thing about completeness, that is a bit of a problem!  That also means that my gallery might be a bit less than totally representative of what you usually get out of the pits.  But whole eggs do turn up, and these ones here are the ones I have managed to trace recently.  There’s a few more awaiting polishing as well, which will have to wait for a future update!

Exterior shot of eggs from Pomßen, Otterwisch and Baden Baden showing water-worn exterior.  Sometimes there is little about them to suggest ‘thunderegg’.

One thing to add is that I am currently awaiting the arrival of a specimen from the Erfurt Gravel Pit, which is essentially a water-worn Seebachsfelsen.  It will be interesting to see how this compares with the locations from other parts of Germany.  Will have to post that later though!

Finally, I know I have shared this before, but here’s another look at my favorite of all the gravel pit eggs, this complex white beauty from Otterwisch!

Otterwisch Gravel Pit Thunderegg

Curious Lower Hole / Testhole specimen

A new specimen from the new Lower or Testhole bed at Richardson Ranch.  These are interesting eggs because they do seem to show some differences to the other eggs in the area, with their pleasing simple and slightly stretched looking matrix.  This is only the second I have seen but it’s a location to keep an eye on, I think.

Exactly what is going on here, and how that bizarre ‘peeled off’ mineral layer formed, i am not sure.  It’s not quite like any egg i have ever seen before.

Click here to see the one other specimen on the gallery!

An American Onion

As a prelude to a major update that I really must do soon to the Washington State thundereggs, here is a curious specimen that I recently came across.  Onion Ring formations, where the rock splits into very fine layers are quite common in a few specific locations (Lierbachtal and Esterel spring to mind – and, interestingly enough, the British t-eggs from Sadgill) but in thundereggs as a whole are very rare.  Here though is an onion ring specimen from Naches River Bed 1 in Washington State – a lovely pale specimen with cloudy waterline agate.

I have several new locations to launch on the gallery from Washington – including more from the Naches River – so I hope I will find time to do that soon!