Concretions & Ojito Wilderness

Back to Ojito! Take I-40 north to Bernalillo, follow 550 west for 29 miles, turn left onto Cabezon Road for 4.5 miles and you are in the heart of the hills and hoodoos. 

For this trip, we are looking for concretions! A concretion is sedimentary rock that has been cemented together with minerals. They typically form when a mineral precipitates (in which the liquid of a super-saturated solution evaporates and a solid remains) and cements a sediment around a nucleus. 

The word concretion comes from the Latin con meaning "together" and crescere meaning "to grow". 

Concretions grow around a nucleus and are commonly calcium carbonate or iron carbonate. The nucleus is often organic, like a leaf, tooth, shell, or fossil. They can have sediment bound up as they form, giving them a rough sandy look.  

A complete concretion. A nucleus. An open concretion. You can find so many variations!  

Concretions can look very unnatural due to there spherical nature. When seeing one for the first time, they can look man made or off worldly! 

Did you know that a geode is a concretion? As well as a Septarian Nodule! We found calcite, septarian nodules, and a fossil on our walk to find the concretions ...

The calcite was uv reactant (so cool!!).

The Ojito Wilderness is certainly a place to visit and there is no way to see it all in one trip!@

More information on Ojito Wilderness.