Up for sale is an awesome rare collection of Yellow Cat Redwood from Utah. This material was used by Tiffany in the 30′s to make jewelry before the mine was closed. All funds raised by this sniper sale will be used to help with medical costs of a old rockhound who had a massive heart attack a few weeks back. He has loads of stuff and we are helping out with this sale. The sale starts at 8pm Eastern Standard Time this Sunday, simply log onto www.elegantcabs.com at 8pm and have at it .

Sunday Feb 28 at 8pm Eastern Standard TIme
AT: http://www.facebook.com/l/05455;www.elegantcabs.com
log onto the site now and preview what will be available

Tags: lapidary rough, lapidary supply, petrified wood, rock and gem hunters, rockhound calendar, rockhounds, Yellow Cat Redwood from Utah

HAWAII TSUNAMI — (for general info about Tsunamis, please see my comments to the last post.)

USGS WARNING for HAWAII TSUNAMI
EVALUATION

A TSUNAMI HAS BEEN GENERATED THAT COULD CAUSE DAMAGE ALONG
COASTLINES OF ALL ISLANDS IN THE STATE OF HAWAII. URGENT ACTION SHOULD BE TAKEN TO PROTECT LIVES AND PROPERTY.

A TSUNAMI IS A SERIES OF LONG OCEAN WAVES. EACH INDIVIDUAL WAVE CREST CAN LAST 5 TO 15 MINUTES OR MORE AND EXTENSIVELY FLOOD COASTAL AREAS. THE DANGER CAN CONTINUE FOR MANY HOURS AFTER THE INITIAL WAVE AS SUBSEQUENT WAVES ARRIVE. TSUNAMI WAVE HEIGHTS CANNOT BE PREDICTED AND THE FIRST WAVE MAY NOT BE THE LARGEST. TSUNAMI WAVES EFFICIENTLY WRAP AROUND ISLANDS. ALL SHORES ARE AT RISK NO MATTER WHICH DIRECTION THEY FACE. THE TROUGH OF A TSUNAMI WAVE MAY TEMPORARILY EXPOSE THE SEAFLOOR BUT THE AREA WILL QUICKLY FLOOD AGAIN. EXTREMELY STRONG AND UNUSUAL NEARSHORE CURRENTS CAN ACCOMPANY A TSUNAMI. DEBRIS PICKED UP AND CARRIED BY A TSUNAMI AMPLIFIES ITS DESTRUCTIVE POWER. SIMULTANEOUS HIGH
TIDES OR HIGH SURF CAN SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE THE TSUNAMI HAZARD.

THE ESTIMATED ARRIVAL TIME IN HAWAII OF THE FIRST TSUNAMI WAVE IS

1105 AM HST SAT 27 FEB 2010

Please note that this huge quake has sent shock waves headed for all Pacific coastlines. These waves have been measured between an inch and 7.3 feet. If you live in any pacific coastal area you should be taking precautions at this time. It is not the day to enjoy the beach – trust me on that one.

Since my last post there have been 8 more 5.2 – 5.5 mag quakes in Chili. Only one of the 5 mags quakes so far today have been in another location – which was the Rukuyu Islands of Japan where a 7.0 magnitude quake was experienced just yesterday (2/26). One of the subsequent 6 magnitude 6 quakes was also in Argentina rather than Chile, but is most probably resultant from the Chili occurrence.

IN OTHER NATURAL DISASTER NEWS — VOLCANOES

There are at the time 25 Volcanoes at Code Orange, alert level 3 are active globally at the time

There is also one Volcano at Code Red, Alert Level 5 is now active — Chaiten on the Gulf of Corcovado has been code red since the 18th of February.

About Alert Codes and Alert Levels:

ORANGE = Volcano is in eruption or eruption may occur at any time.
OR Alert Level 2
Alert Level 3 = Significant local eruption in progress.
Alert Level 4 = Hazardous local eruption in progress.

RED = Significant eruption is occurring or explosive eruption is
expected at any time.
OR Alert Level 5

It seems that the current crustal shift is playing some havoc. Those in volatile areas may want to start keeping track of what scientists are saying about prospects for disasters in their own areas, and start learning to prepare for them as well.

Tags: Chile Earthquake, earth science, Earth Watch, Earthquake watch, Earthquakes, Geology, Geology events, Natural Disasters, Tsunami Warning

Over the last few weeks earth has been showing signs that there is crustal shifting – 10 km deep quakes have been occurring globally. These quakes were accompanied by the recent deadly quake in Haiti and have been occurring with frequency since….although not always at notable magnitudes.

Last night Chile was hit by an 8.8 magnitude quake that is sending a wall of water toward Hawaii. It is expected to hit the Hawaii coast in a few hours – around 11:00. They have updated that time recently -the water is moving faster than they had first realized.

On the 26th a 7.0 magnitude quake hit just off of Japan at 22km depth – sparking tsunami watches.

As of the magnitude 8.8 quake that hit Chile last night at a depth of 35km, there have been six magnitude 6 quakes at 35km depth – on 6.9 quake which is very nearly the size that just toppled Haiti.

For perspective on the wall of water headed for Hawaii – it is about three times the size of the 2004 Tsunami in Indonesia.

There have also been 28 after shock quakes of 5.0 – 5.9 magnitude at depths of 35km in the region of Chili since that time.

We will update you on this event with more information about quakes and current geological states of the earth today.

If you are living in a coastal area, you might just want travel in shore a ways today even if you are not in Hawaii.

Tags: Chile Earthquake, Earth Watch, Earthquake watch, Earthquakes, Geology, Natural Disasters, Tsunami Warning

If you are new to gold prospecting, here’s a head’s up for you. You have probably heard a lot of tips about how to prospect gold, but rarely have I seen anyone mention gold trapping, although I know many prospectors practice trapping.

During run-off season water is rushing too fast to do any panning. You can however set “traps” in areas you think might produce gold. By doing so you can save much time later in deciding where is and where isn’t a great place to pan. As any experienced prospector knows, just because a spot on a creek looks good to prospect doesn’t mean it is, and knowing which ones are productive ahead of panning season is a great help.

To set a trap you will still want to find areas in the waterways that current is slowing down enough to drop small particles of gold. Just under small waterfalls is a great place to put a trap. A sluice box is a good item to use for a trap under a small waterfall. As the water flows over the edge of the fall and into the sluice box, the gold which would have usually fallen onto the streambed and worked it’s way underneath will be caught at the bottom of your sluice box instead. Later you can just pan through your sluice box to see if it contains gold. If it does, you know where to pan for all the gold that has been dropped in that area before you got there to check things out.

If you see an area in a creek that a rapid current slows significantly enough to drop gold particles, you will want to place the trap right where the current begins to slow. a ribbed sluice will do the trick for many areas. You will want to put something at the front of the trap that will will slow the water hitting it and redirect the current around it. A sheet of metal or a rock will serve this purpose. Gold will hit the blocade and fall into the trap as the water is slowed. Later in the season as water levels fall and slow down you can pull that trap out of the water and check it for gold particles.

When panning season comes around you will only need to pull your traps to find which areas will be productive places to begin your panning or dredging. You get to spend your time panning the gold instead of searching for places that you might find gold if you pan. You should place at least three or four traps in varied locations. The more you place, the more likely you will be to find a productive location to begin prospecting later. Check your traps periodically and if you find they are not producing any gold, move them to a different location.

A last note about placing traps, though, is that you want to place them where others are not likely to run across them before you get back to them. Find spots that you can monitor with ease. Whenever possible, set the trap in a way it won’t be noticed by someone just walking by the trap. Your aim is not to help someone else locate the mother lode.

To find the best gold prospecting equipment at prices that won’t claim your whole cache – CLICK HERE.

Tags: gold panning, Gold prospecting, gold traps, rock and gem hunters, rockhound supplies, rockhounds