HAVE YOU GOT SOME EVIDENCE TO GO WITH THAT?

CRINOID FOSSILS:

Rock hounds have stated at least two hypotheses.  One is blasting holes, which will be covered below and that the star holes are crinoid (sea lily) fossils.

Some fossil crinoid fossils are tubular with a hollow star shaped interior. The crinoid fossils I have seen are all much smaller that the star holes, but there certainly could be larger versions.

FACT: Limestone is a sedimentary rock that sometimes contains large quantities of crinoid fossils. 

FACT: If the above was TRUE then star holes could only be found in sedimentary rock.

FACT: Star holes have been found in non-sedimentary rock including igneous rock such as granite.

FACT: Star holes cannot be crinoid fossils.

If you wish to see more crinoid photos, just Google “crinoid images” will find quite a few images.

Crinoid Fossils	Crinoid Fossils	Crinoid Fossils.	Crinoid Fossils	Crinoid Fossils

GAGE PREQUEL:

Monson quarries (Flynt quarries) Monson, Hampden Co., Massachusetts, USA
According to L. Everts (1879):"The stone is a beautiful stratified gneiss. It is chiefly of a grayish tinge though other shades appear also, free from oxide of iron and other mineral impurities, and is easily wrought by the process of wedging, no blasting being necessary."
The largest stone ever quarried there was 354 feet long, 11 feet wide, and 4 feet thick, taking 1104 wedges to split it." (source)
The area with the star holes in Google Earth and it is close to the edge of the quarry, and from the contour it does look like it has ever been quarried.

PENTAGONAL STAR HOLES AT THE FLYNT QUARRY, MONSON MA

On James Gage's website " Stone Structures of the Northeastern United States". in the Star Holes section there is a page entitled “Pentagonal Star Holes at the Flynt Quarry, Monson MA”. In this post Gage claims:
1. The star holes at the Flynt Quarry are the remains of blasting bore holes created for quarrying.
2. Gage also purports the genesis of the star holes to be: "Basically, the rifled star holes are the result of the drill bit chattering in the hole. The chattering was most likely the result of several factors including the vibrations caused by the drilling machine, a dulling bit, metal fatigue in the drill rod, and the rotational speed of drill. The rifling was an unintentional and undesirable side effect of excessive vibration during the drilling process."

GAGE'S EVIDENCE CONSITS OF THREE PHOTOS AND A PAPER BY WALTER R. CRANE.

GAGE'S PHOTOS:

The first 3 photos are Gage's photos, the 4th is a Crane included by Gage. The 5th is a photo from Gage's site picturing star bits Gage claims made the star holes.

Gage photo of a star hole.	Gage photo of a star hole.	Gage photo of "rifling".	Crane photo used by Gage.	Photo from Gage's site showing star bits used for blasting holes

Crane, Walter R. 1917  “The Rifling of Diamond-Drill Cores.” Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers vol. IV pp.98-115. New York, NY: Published by the Institute.

THE CRANE PAPER:

Below is just my brief synopsis of the Crane Paper which covers with an early 1900's CORE drilling vibration problem. 

The problem was that core drilling rigs would on occasion, without warning start to vibrate.  The vibration would last for a while and then stop and drilling would go back to normal.

Cores from the wells showed the following:

1. The cores from depth where the vibrations were generated were being scored and at times the core shape would change shape from round to pentagonal. PHOTO.

2. "The cutting medium could only be the diamond bit itself."

"It seems clear that the cutting medium which causes uniform threading must be the diamond bit itself. The deep, regular rifling of such dense rocks as granite and norite for long intervals admits of no other reasonable assumption." pg. 109

3. "Rifling occurs in many different rocks, both hard and soft, but in all instances noted there is one feature in common: the rock is homogeneous over the extent of the rifling". pg. 109

 

Both the Crane Paper and Gage's post are available below for download

CRANE

GAGE

	DESCRIPTION:
VIBRATIONS:	Occasionally vibrations would occur when the diamond drill bit would hit a new rock layer.  The vibrations would end when that layer was finished and the drill bit was into the next layer.
THREADED OR RIFLED CORES:	CORES from the problem layer would show unusual circular markings that were referred to as "RIFLED CORES" and later "THREADED CORES". (see Photo 1 below)
PENTAGONAL CORES:	PENTAGONAL shaped cores were reported but no pictures were included.

CRANE PHOTOS:

Threaded core samples.	Two bits and a core. This was the only Crane photo used by Gage.	Close up of threading.	Close up of threading.

Close up of threading.	Scored diabase hole wall recovered from Isabella Mine.	Pipes used in a lathe to try and duplicate the conditions necessary to scoring.	Inside a documented star hole.

CAUSES:	DESCRIPTION:
diamond BIT:	The DIAMOND BIT was the cutting medium. Discussion page 109.
DRILL ROTATION SPEED:	The rotation speed was a COMPONENT because if rotation speed was DECREASED or INCREASED it would help dampen the vibrations.
ROCK TYPE:	ROCK TYPE was a COMPONENT because only certain layers of rock did the vibrations happen in.  This problem was caused only by certain types of rock and this group included both soft and hard rock.

CONCLUSION:	CAUSE:
RESONANCE:	The scoring and the pentagonal cores were the result RESONANCE between CERTAIN ROCK TYPES, the DIAMOND BIT and the ROTATION SPEED.
RESONANCE DEFINITION:	WIKIPEDIA. Here is my simplistic definition:, When the input frequency of the rotating DIAMOND DRILL BIT is Synchronized with the natural frequency of a ROCK LAYER it creates strong vibrations. cOOL Chart:
RESONANCE EXAMPLE:	An example of the power and selectivity of RESONANCE is the 1985 Mexico City Earthquake.  Check out section 3.1 Localization of the damage

GAGE STATEMENTS:

	Therefore, the research on core drilling is applicable to quarry star holes.
	Although blast hole drilling and core sample drilling used two very different types of drill bits, both have produced similar types of rifled holes."
	"Like the quarry blasting holes, the spiral occurred only on a short section of the core. The remainder was your typical round drill hole."
	"Basically, the rifled star holes are the result of the drill bit chattering in the hole. The chattering was most likely the result of several factors including the vibrations caused by the drilling machine, a dulling bit, metal fatigue in the drill rod, and the rotational speed of drill. The rifling was an unintentional and undesirable side effect of excessive vibration during the drilling process."

EARLY 1900'S TECHNOLOGY: CORE DRILLING VS. STAR BIT DRILLING

CORE DRILL	STAR DRILL
NEWER TECHNOLOGY	OLDER TECHNOLOGY
DIAMOND TIPPED BIT	SOLID STEEL STAR BIT
HOLLOW - CREATES A CORE	SOLID, NO CORE
DEPTHS TO THOUSANDS OF FEET	DEPTHS TO FEET
ROUND HOLE	ROUND HOLE
ROTARY DRILL	PERCUSSION DRILL
FINESE	BRUTE FORCE (HULK LIKES)
DRILLS MULTIPLE layers of ROCK	ONE ROCK TYPE per hole