 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
. |
Sugar Bowl Thundereggs Sugar Bowl Mine, Florida Mtns, Luna Co., New Mexico |
. |  |
|
 |
 |
|
|
 |
The name "Sugar Bowl" refers to the sugar-like quartz
crystals lining the white geode centers within the thundereggs' dark colored
agate cores and any agate in the thundereggs come in white, gray and black
colors. Several mining attempts (including backhoeing) were made at the
Sugar Bowl Mine only to discover that the pockets of thundereggs was very
small and scattered, and because of that, that area is abandoned and open
to rockhounding. There is a great view to the east that even the most western
mountains of New Mexico, Texas and Mexico (150 km / 70 miles away) can
be seen from the mine.
I explored the dumps that have been dumped by the backhoe and found a number of good thundereggs as if they have been overlooked by the previous miners. One dump (from one pocket) produced some thundereggs containing interesting type of reddish to yellowish sagentite taking on the forms of plume, blades, ferns, and moss. After finding few thundereggs at random locations around Sugar Bowl mine, I think that it is possible to locate more of such small pocket if one is willing to keep digging (or better back-hoeing) to find them. |
 |
 |
| Typical thunderegg from Sugar Bowl Mine area.
with poorly silicified shells, March 2006 |
April 2006 |
 |
 |
| My first find at Sugar Bowl,
Has some shadowing effect, March 2006 |
Slab of Sagentite agate,
March 2006 |
 |
 |
| Reddish and plume-like sagentite agate, March 2007 |
|
Another sagenite thunderegg, March 2007
Large reddish sagenite thunderegg, March 2008