Dugway Geode Beds

The Dugway Geode Beds are a Rockhounding hotspot. The most common mineral found within the geodes is quartz in various colors: clear (rock crystal), purple (amethyst), and pink (rose). Geodes are usually found below the ground surface. The best place to look for geodes is in areas that have been previously excavated. You will find geodes by digging in the mostly soft gray unconsolidated materials that underlie this area. Geodes can also be found in some of the harder material, look for rounded shapes, you may need a pick and hammer to separate them. Geodes are typically dark gray in color, hard, spherical in shape and range from 2 to 4 inches in size. Methods for opening geodes include the following: *Breaking and smashing: You can place a geode in a cloth sack or similar and smash on a hard surface. This may break the geode into many small pieces. *Hammer and chisel or center punch: This will open your geode with a rough or uneven edge. *Sawing: You can cut a geode with a rock or similar saw. Most tools with a carbide tipped blade will cut a geode. This works well if you also want to polish it. *Pipe cutter: You can use a tool called a soil pipe cutter which uses chain with blades to cut the geode as if it were a pipe. Tools like this can sometimes be rented from home improvement stores. **Please be careful while digging, the soft material you are digging in can collapse at any time. Tunneling is unsafe and not permitted.