Where to Find Specific Types of Rocks and Minerals

Where to Find Specific Types of Rocks and Minerals Rocks and minerals are all around us. You can pretty much find interesting specimens in almost any natural environment but you have to know where to look and what to look for. If youre new to geology, there is no substitute for examining as many different rocks as possible to familiarize yourself with whats out there. This guide will give you a good idea of some of the best places to get started. Hunting Rocks: Beaches and Riverbeds Whether youre a kid or a grownup, one of the best hunting grounds for rocks is a beach. Ocean beaches boast a wide variety of specimens and since theyre spread out across large areas and renewed with every tide, youre pretty much assured of finding something interesting. Beaches are beginner-friendly. Just bring along some sunscreen, water, something to put your finds in, and youre basically good to go. Beach rocks tend to be of the harder rock varieties (igneous and metamorphic). They get a good grinding in the surf zone, so they tend to be fairly clean and smooth. However, since its not always possible to pinpoint their source of origin, beach rocks are known by geology fanciers as stones without context. A stone on the beach may have fallen from cliffs along the shore or have broken off of a submerged underwater outcrop; it may have even traveled downstream in a river from a great distance inland. River rocks are much more likely to originate near the riverbed and banks. River rocks tend to include more of the softer rock types, and the farther upstream you can go, the truer this is. If you plan to hunt river rocks, be sure to wear sturdy footwear and make sure youre not trespassing. Bedrock: Exposures and Outcrops While beaches and rivers are good places for beginners to launch their education in rock collecting, for a  more serious study of rocks, youll need to find exposed bedrock. Bedrock- or living rock- is an  intact formation that has not been broken away from its original body. A place of any kind where bedrock is lying out in the open ready for your hammer is called an exposure; a naturally occurring exposure is called an outcrop. Outcrops may be found at the beach or along a river bank. In fact, in many geographic regions, these are the only places to find them. For more, youll need to visit the hills or the mountains. If you take manmade sites into account, exposures are quite common. Building sites with their excavations are plentiful all over the country. Mines and quarries offer excellent exposures as well, and they have the advantage of being more permanent than excavation sites. The best bedrock exposures are generally found in road cuts, and amateurs and professionals alike rely on them heavily for their best finds. In civil engineering jargon, a cut or cutting  is the area from which soil and rock are removed to facilitate the building of a road. Road cuts have many good features: Theyre clean, especially when newTheyre easy to visit, alone or in a groupIf theyre on public property, hammering is generally not forbiddenThey expose rocks well, even soft rocksThey expose rocks in their context, including features and structures not visible in a hand specimen Hunting Minerals Minerals can generally be found wherever rocks are found. Thats a good starting point, but a mineral hunter needs to know more geology than the rock hunter. For instance, the mineral grains in rocks such as shale or basalt are too small to be viewed with a magnifier but even these rocks offer possibilities to those who know where to look and what to look for. Minerals grow in several main settings: Primary minerals form during the solidification of a melt.Evaporitic minerals form by precipitation out of concentrated solutions.Diagenetic minerals form at low and moderate temperatures during the consolidation of rock from sediment.Vein minerals form during injection of deep hot fluids.Metamorphic minerals form in solid rocks under prolonged heat and pressure. If you can recognize the signs of these settings, you can expect to find the typical minerals they give rise to. Even a plain-looking mudstone may have zones of alteration or contain veins or partings that reveal mineral nodules that formed during diagenesis. Rock Hunting Etiquette Unfortunately, many of the best places for rock and mineral hunting are on private property or in protected parks. Although many beaches are public parks, where collecting is prohibited, no one is likely to prosecute you for discreetly picking up a few pebbles- but use discretion. Road cuts are off limits wherever parking is not permitted, such as along a freeway. Railways are private property and should be avoided. Likewise, when visiting road cuts in a park- whether national or local- you should generally leave your hammer in the car. Most federal public lands, such as national forests, can be explored freely by amateurs, however, its forbidden for anyone to deface or remove any natural features- this includes rocks, and this includes you. For all other areas, the best rule of thumb is to leave the rocks looking no worse than you found them. Most excavation sites and rock quarries are on private property so youll need to get the owners permission before you start your collecting expedition. Due to liabilities, fear of property damage, and other concerns, the person who owns your hunting ground may have more reasons to say no than yes. Experienced, organized groups generally have the best shot at gaining admittance to private property, so if youre really serious, you might want to think about joining a club.

Use of Spanish Subjunctive With Impersonal Es Phrases

Use of Spanish Subjunctive With Impersonal Es Phrases Learning when to use the subjunctive mood in Spanish can be a challenge, so to help you get started, this lesson looks at a particular type of simple sentence, one that starts with Es adjective or noun que. The English equivalent is It is adjective or noun that, and the usage is common in both languages. These sentences provide a good introduction to the subjunctive for Spanish students because the verb mood depends on how the verb is used rather than requiring memorization of particular phrases. The general rule about the use of mood in Spanish requires that Es _____ que would be followed by a verb in the indicative mood if the initial phrase expresses certainty- but in the subjunctive, if it expresses doubt, uncertainty, desire, probability, or an emotional reaction. The phrase can be thought of as a trigger; some phrases trigger one mood, some phrases another. The following list is far from complete, but learning them should help give you a feel for which mood will be triggered by other phrases. In the examples below, the verbs triggered by the it is statement are in boldface. Note that the that in the English translations before the verb is optional, but the Spanish que is mandatory. Es ... Que Phrases Triggering the Subjunctive Examples of the subjunctive being used to express lack of certainty: Es probable que (It is likely that): Es probable que las temperaturas mà ­nimas se acerquen a los 20 grados bajo cero. (It is likely that the low temperatures will approach the minus 20s.)Es posible que (It is possible that): Es posible que un religioso sea deshonesto. (It is possible that a religious person be dishonest.)Es imposible que (Its impossible that): Es imposible que el mundo termine el 2021. (Its impossible that the world will end in 2021.)No es cierto que (It isnt certain that): No es cierto que la medicina inyectable cause cncer. (It is not certain that the injectable medicine causes cancer.)No es seguro que (It is not certain that): No es seguro que el cliente tenga capacidad para devolver el prà ©stamo. (It is not certain that the customer has the ability to pay off the loan.) Examples of the subjunctive being used in giving advice: Es importante que (It is important that): Es importante que comiences una dieta sana. (It is important that you begin a healthy diet.)Es aconsejable que (It is advisable that):  ¿A partir de quà © edad es aconsejable que un nià ±o tenga mà ³vil? (Beginning at what age is it advisable that a child has a cellphone?)Es necesario que (It is necessary that): Es necesario que todo cambie. It is necessary that everything change. (Note that in this instance and the following two, the English translation explicitly uses the subjunctive mood.)Es preciso que (It is necessary that): Es preciso que Amà ©rica Latina reduzca la pobreza. (It is necessary that Latin America reduce poverty.) Examples of the subjunctive being used in expressing personal reactions: Es (una) lstima que (Its a shame that):  ¡Es una lstima que no està ©s conmigo! (Its a shame that you arent with me!)Es bueno que (It is good that): Es bueno que tus clientes te sigan en Twitter. (It is good that your customers are following you on Twitter. Note that the statement following que is factually true; the subjunctive is used here because the sentence is an evaluation of that fact.) Es ... Que Phrases Triggering the Indicative The indicative is used in these examples because of the expression of certainty, even though that certainty may be an opinion rather than factual. Es cierto que (It is certain that): Es cierto que solo dos personas conocen la formula secreta. It is certain that only two people know the secret formula. Es obvio que (It is obvious that): Es obvio que Miley Cyrus es mà ºchisimo mejor que Selena Gà ³mez. It is obvious that Miley Cyrus is much better than Selena Gomez. Es seguro que (It is certain that): Es seguro que el cliente tiene capacidad para devolver el prà ©stamo. It is certain that the customer has the ability to pay off the loan. No es dudoso que (It is not doubtful that): No es dudoso que ests obligado a restituirla. It is not doubtful that you are obligated to pay her back. (In real-life speech, however, it is fairly common to use the subjunctive after no es dudoso, despite what the rules of grammar say, possibly because Es dudoso que is always followed by the subjunctive.) Es verdad que (it is true that):  ¿Es verdad que los elefantes temen a los ratones? Is it true that elephants are afraid of mice? Key Takeaways A Spanish sentence beginning with es ____ que (it is _____ that) can be followed by a verb in either the subjunctive or indicative mood.The indicative verb is triggered by es ____ que phrases that express certainty.Subjunctive verbs are triggered by es ____ que phrases that indicate uncertainty, give advice, or provide an emotional reaction.