Flint Ridge Chert (2024)

FAQs

Can you take flint from Flint Ridge? ›

Flint collecting is not permitted at the Flint Ridge State Memorial or the Flint Ridge Ancient Quarries and Nature Preserve, but collectors are always welcome at Nethers Farm, four miles east on Flint Ridge Road.

Flint Is A Variety of Chert

Although there is a lot of confusion on this, chert refers to cryptocrystalline or polycrystalline quartz that usually forms as nodules in limestone. Flint is reserved for such material that forms in chalk or marl. Flint is simply a type of chert.

Wikipedia says: "Hauled prices for chert of less than $10 - $15 per ton are not uncommon in many parts of the U.S.", so, unless you live close to one of the consuming industries and can keep transport costs low, it doesn't sound like a very profitable operation.

The most famous deposit of flint in Ohio is an area in eastern Licking and western Muskingum Counties known as Flint Ridge. The Vanport flint of Pennsylvanian age covers a ridge top area of about 6 square miles. The flint deposit ranges in thickness from about 1 foot to 12 feet.

Chert and flint occur as individual nodules or layers of nodules in limestone or dolomite; they are common in rocks of all ages (notably in the Cretaceous chalk of England). Hard and chemically resistant, the nodules become concentrated in residual soils as the surrounding carbonate rock weathers away.

Flint Ridge Ancient Quarries and Nature Preserve is a Native American flint quarry located in Hopewell Township, Licking County, Ohio, about three miles north of Brownsville at the intersection of Brownsville Road and Flint Ridge Road. Old quarry pits are visible, and a museum is located on the site.

However, the stone will quickly wear out a crusher because it is harder than steel. Chert occurs as nodules, lenses, stringers and irregular masses.

Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey or black, green, white, or brown in colour, and has a glassy or waxy appearance. A thin, oxidised layer on the outside of the nodules is usually different in colour, typically white and rough in texture. The nodules can often be found along streams and beaches.

Chert: (quartz) made of microcrystalline quartz, therefore it is very smooth, has conchoidal fracture and is harder than glass.

Chert was a main component of the day-to-day lives of Native Californians, as it is perfect for making stone tools such as arrowheads and other projectile points, or bead drills.

What do people use chert for? ›

Chert is not very abundant on Earth and is found in seabeds, the bottom of lakes, hot springs, and in some parts of Earth's surface. It is used to produce weapons, sharpen steel tools, produce fire, and as a construction material.

Uses. In some areas, chert is ubiquitous as stream gravel and fieldstone and is currently used as construction material and road surfacing. Part of chert's popularity in road surfacing or driveway construction is that rain tends to firm and compact chert while other fill often gets muddy when wet.

Ohio flint was highly valued by Native Americans, who quarried it from multiple locations within the Upper Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) rocks exposed in the eastern part of the state. They came in great numbers to Flint Ridge (Licking County) to quarry the colorful flint of the Vanport Limestone.

Upper Mercer flint or Upper Mercer chert is a type of flint, or a pure form of chert, found in Coshocton, Hocking, and Perry counties of Ohio. Made of forms of silica and quartz, the hard and brittle stone was used by prehistoric people to make tools and weapons.

You can search along the freshwater shores or riverbeds. Flint is very durable and resistant to chemicals, so it often collects in the remaining soils as surrounding carbonate rocks erode.

You can strike a flint rock against another stone or other hard object to create sharp edges, which will enhance your ability to make good sparks with the stone. High-carbon steel works best because it is soft and produces large sparks easily.

Obtaining. Flint Rocks are throughout the world next to rock piles. (these piles are found everywhere! Dont need to look far.)