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Colorado Prospector - Gem and mineral prospecting and mining forums _ Prospectors and Rockhounding Field Work _ elevation coincidence

Posted by: prospect4fun Aug 22 2017, 06:13 PM

Hello, total noob question here:
I've done some gold prospecting so I know how to look for it, but I am totally new to gems. Something I've noticed is that some sites which produce smoky quartz and amazonite, appear to be around 8500'. The diggings around Devils Head, Sentinel/Specimen, StoveMtn, StPetersEureka, even Lake George and Tarryall, all appear to be around that elevation. There's probably many more sites around that elevation that I don't know about, those are just the front range ones I do know of.
Coincidence elevation wise?

Also my recent interest in gems has grown since I started dirtbike riding, which has allowed me to get back in places rarely visited and see some really cool stuff!




Posted by: nate Aug 22 2017, 09:25 PM

not a coincidence at all. it has to do with the history of geology and how the mountains of colorado formed, reformed and had intrusions. elevation is something i have heard a lot of chatter about and have been trying to look more into. for the pegmatic minerals you are talking about, most of them are found in elevations > 8000. also heard of directly at 8000 being good.Causing this, there was an initial magma flow a billion or so years ago that was later displaced by other magma flows. This formed a system of concentric rings with the higher mineralizations. its not going to be the same across the pikes peak batholith, but within each intrusive center you should find that the productive areas are close in elevation. (i.e. At crystal peak, most of the mines are around the same elevation zones. i would suggest reading more into the formation of the mountains. there are some good reads on crystal peak and why it is such a hot spot. I am currently looking over maps for possible areas that match this....knowledge is power.

Posted by: Crusty Aug 23 2017, 07:16 PM

8000-8500 seems to by the sweet spot where I go.

I've got a big adventure bike and always say I'm gonna ride it in to the back country, but haven't managed to yet lol

Posted by: prospect4fun Aug 23 2017, 09:07 PM

Thanks guys! Elevation was about the only thing I could think of that the sites have in common....but something else has started to dawn on me, some of the places I've also noticed a lot of surface quartz, think this is referred to as 'float', which is really obvious around the diggings at DevilsHead, but I've also seen 1950's trails driven right up to quartz outcroppings(along gold camp & 381), tons of milky quartz, but no crystals, and some thorium/uranium ore.
Riding some places is more work than fun, like 672 over Mt.Rosa...once is enough for me.

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