Minerals and Rocks, Pond Life

Screen box is an important tool for rock hounds to separate rocks from small particles, such as sand or mud.  During screening, the small particles fall through the screen while the larger particles stayed in the box. When collecting rocks from creeks (creeking), you can use dig up sediments and place it in the screenbox and allow the stream to flush away the dirt.  The rocks that are larger than the size of the mesh will retain in the box.  You can also use it during digging.

After years of numerous field trips, you might have accumulated thousands of specimens collected from all over the world.  Now, your fellow rock hounds want to see what can be collected from a site that you visits years ago or wanted to exchange some specimens with you.  You vaguely remember that you have the specimens but you don't remember where you put them.  Back to the old days, we wrote our collection on notebooks but it still takes a long time to flip through the pages.

Sand is a naturally occurring fragmented material comprised of tiny particles of decomposed rocks, shells, or corals.  Their grain sizes ranges between 0.06 and 2.0 mm in diameter.  It is very easy to collect and prepare sand specimens for microscope observation.  All you need is zip lock bag, a pair of scissors and  a piece of adhesive tape.  Here is how to make it:

1. Collect some sand from the field with a zip lock bag.