FIELD TRIP TO BLACK HAND
GORGE & FLINT RIDGE
On Saturday, 14 May 2011, the OSUN Geology Club took a
field trip to Black Hand Gorge for a short picnic. The area consists of
cliffy-weathering quartz sandstones of the Black Hand Sandstone (Lower Mississippian),
an incised valley fill deposit.
After lunch, we went collecting at Nethers Flint
Quarries at Flint Ridge. A relatively new pit has been dug out
near the road. Pinstripe flint, turgite,
chalcedony-filled fractures, oolitic flint, megaquartz-lined fractures with
rock crystal + smoky quartz + citrine, flint breccia rottenstone, oolitic
rottenstone, peloidal flint, and multicolored flint were in abundance.
Rain stayed away at Black Hand Gorge and most of the
time at Flint Ridge. One short rainshower briefly interrupted collecting.
Locality:
Nethers Flint Quarries, in the woods just west of the house at 3680 Flint Ridge
Road, northwestern Hopewell Township, western Muskingum County, east-central
Ohio, USA.
Stratigraphy & Age: Vanport Flint, Desmoinesian Series, upper Middle
Pennsylvanian.