There’s gold in them there hills, folks! LOL 😀
Actually, yes there is! There are gold claims all over the bluffs of southeast Minnesota and yes, people even come here to pan for gold in our many creeks and rivers! But, to date, there have been no mother lodes of the precious ore found; just enough to entice the adventurous souls willing to get out and dig, pan and dream of riches.
So when I was out fossil hunting, guess what I found?
Pyrite in southeast Minnesota
I have to admit that my heart beat a little faster for a few seconds! What is it? The site I was at was showing flecks of occasional gold on and in the rocks. Hmmm, I decided to bring a rock home and see if anyone could answer the question for me on thefossilforum.com
Here is a shot of the rock for scale:
And Auspex, an oh so knowledgable administrator on TFF gave this bit of advice to tell the difference between pyrite and gold, “Do a streak test (on the unglazed back of a ceramic tile, or the bottom of a toilet tank lid). Pyrite will streak black; gold streaks gold.”
Go here: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/49596-pyrite-gold-or/
for a few more comments on encountering pyrite, or gold, while fossil hunting!
Very interesting!
