Introduction and Yesterdays Trip Options

[Laughing_Guest]

Hello all. My name is David, but you may refer to me however you please. I once was an avid fossil and mineral hunter, but for one reason or another fell from the hobby. Recent investigations have re-sparked my interests so I made the decision to become more active in finding and researching minerals, fossils, and geology.
After much research and waiting for the right time to come my girlfriend and I took a trip just above boulder and investigated some road cuts. Bingo! We found countless cephalopod fossils and molds, but most were crushed and/or undefined. The makeup of the site was mostly shale, but had two features that we could not identify; The first feature we could not figure out was an orange layer between layers of shale that had small crystal clusters of some kind growing in the middle. The second and most baffling to us was an entire layer of thin crystal (fibres?) terminating from a plane directly in the middle of the layer. Our first assumption on the latter was serpentine group mineral, but we are not convinced. If there is any interest I will upload some photos of the finds tomorrow.

[MikeS]

Hello David, welcome to the forums!

Be careful when prospecting in Boulder County. This county is not very friendly to prospectors. It would be wise to ensure you are on Federal Public Lands within this county.

The fibers you describe sound like Gypsum (satin spar). I may be able to identify better with some pics.