We have planned a field trip to go rockhounding around the Coca Cola Drive area.

Deep Run forms the border between Howard and Anne Arundel Counties from here north to the Patapsco River.

We are planning to meet at my house (6425 Abel St, Elkridge MD 21075) at 9am and caravan over by 9:30am. There are about 6 of us going so far. If you are interested you can call me on my cell phone[masked] or just show up at my house by 9am.

We plan to spend about 4-5 hours working along Deep Run. There is some really cool stuff there. The heavy rains and flashflooding for this area have been cancelled because they moved quickly over to the Eastern Shore. It looks like it is going to be a great day to hunt.

The link below has some pictures of the area.

http://patapscofriend.smugmug.com/Other/01-07-2012-Deep-Run-Recon-near/20934540_mW7gLt/1662948234_QSz2tKb#!i=[masked]&k=QSz2tKb

Here is an excerpt about Deep Run from The Potomac Formation written around 1900:
An excellent proof that there is really no stratigraphical distinction between these underlying clays and the sands is found in the fact that the transition from silicified wood to lignite always occurs here, and in at least one case, on the Neabsco Creek in Virginia, a trunk was found passing through from the one into the other, of which the lower portion, embedded in the clay, was liquidized, while the upper portion, embedded in the sand, was silicified.

In some parts of Maryland, especially within the Patapsco drainage, the Rappahannock series assumes a somewhat anomalous character. This is the region in which the Iron Ore Clays attain their maximum development, and the high rounded hills in which the iron pits occur have been supposed to consist entirely of these beds. A recent careful examination of this region has shown that this is not the case, but that the Iron Ore Clays are confined to the upper portion of these hills and overlie very heavy beds of the Rappahannock series. The iron from these beds, in the form of an oxide, has filtered down through the underlying sands to a great distance, staining them with a deep, lively red color, which often makes it difficult for the unpracticed eye to distinguish between the two classes of beds. Here, also, the Rappahannock sands contain clay seams and large masses of clay. The iron infiltration is arrested at these clay seams and thoroughly permeates them, often imparting to them very brilliant hues. These deeply stained clay layers in the Rappahannock sand under the Iron Ore beds are universally known as "paint stone." They often consist of very sandy clay, upon which the effect of the iron has been to form a more or less indurated crust, sometimes a true rock. At places the quantity of this kind of material is very great and forms large masses which have special economic value and are extensively quarried for the manufacture of paint.

At certain points, especially in the An excellent proof that there is really no stratigraphical distinction between these underlying clays and the sands is found in the fact that the transition from silicified wood to lignite always occurs here, and in at least one case, on the Neabsco Creek in Virginia, a trunk was found passing through from the one into the other, of which the lower portion, embedded in the clay, was liquidized, while the upper portion, embedded in the sand, was silicified.

In some parts of Maryland, especially within the Patapsco drainage, the Rappahannock series assumes a somewhat anomalous character. This is the region in which the Iron Ore Clays attain their maximum development, and the high rounded hills in which the iron pits occur have been supposed to consist entirely of these beds. A recent careful examination of this region has shown that this is not the case, but that the Iron Ore Clays are confined to the upper portion of these hills and overlie very heavy beds of the Rappahannock series. The iron from these beds, in the form of an oxide, has filtered down through the underlying sands to a great distance, staining them with a deep, lively red color, which often makes it difficult for the unpracticed eye to distinguish between the two classes of beds. Here, also, the Rappahannock sands contain clay seams and large masses of clay. The iron infiltration is arrested at these clay seams and thoroughly permeates them, often imparting to them very brilliant hues. These deeply stained clay layers in the Rappahannock sand under the Iron Ore beds are universally known as "paint stone." They often consist of very sandy clay, upon which the effect of the iron has been to form a more or less indurated crust, sometimes a true rock. At places the quantity of this kind of material is very great and forms large masses which have special economic value and are extensively quarried for the manufacture of paint.

At certain points, especially in the valley of Deep Run, a tributary of the Patapsco, these "paint beds" are underlain by very thick deposits of other materials. The strata next below the paint, for a thickness of 20 or 30 feet, are generally of a coarse gravel, scarcely differing in any respect from the true Rappahannock sands as they occur at many points in Virginia. Below these are the lignite beds already mentioned; only here they attain a very great development, sometimes 40 or 50 feet in thickness. The special peculiarity of these beds is that within them are found embedded immense quantities of nodular ingots of carbonate of iron, the "white ore" of the miners. This ore is greatly superior to the " brown ore " found in the true Iron Ore Clays, and the most extensive and valuable of the iron mines of the State of Maryland are those of the white ore, or " steel ore," as it is sometimes called, in the dark, carbonaceous, lignite-bearing clay of the Rappahannock series, 50 to 75 feet below the base of the Iron Ore Clays.
These "paint beds" are underlain by very thick deposits of other materials. The strata next below the paint, for a thickness of 20 or 30 feet, are generally of a coarse gravel, scarcely differing in any respect from the true Rappahannock sands as they occur at many points in Virginia. Below these are the lignite beds already mentioned; only here they attain a very great development, sometimes 40 or 50 feet in thickness. The special peculiarity of these beds is that within them are found embedded immense quantities of nodular ingots of carbonate of iron, the "white ore" of the miners. This ore is greatly superior to the " brown ore " found in the true Iron Ore Clays, and the most extensive and valuable of the iron mines of the State of Maryland are those of the white ore, or " steel ore," as it is sometimes called, in the dark, carbonaceous, lignite-bearing clay of the Rappahannock series, 50 to 75 feet below the base of the Iron Ore Clays.