It is with a bit of sadness that I write my last President’s Corner.  I have really enjoyed serving you as club president these past two years.  We’ve had great meeting programs, a wide range of field trips, and two outstanding club shows.  Elsewhere in this newsletter, you will find a list of candidates to serve the club next year. Elections will be held at the November meeting.  There are still several open positions that we need to fill, and I would like to ask everyone to consider serving the club. The jobs are not overwhelming – there are many club members that will help.  If you are interested, please let me know.

The November 10th meeting is the annual Towel Show, where members are asked to bring their best finds and best lapidary projects to show others.  Just bring along a towel and spread out your specimens.  Ribbons are awarded to the best displays. The December meeting has been moved one week to December 15th.  It’s our annual Holiday Party, and everyone is asked to bring a wrapped present for the gift exchange and goodies to share with others.  Details on these meetings are found elsewhere in this newsletter.

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Club Meetings
West Boulder Senior Center, 9th & Arapahoe

Annual Towel Show, Thursday, November 10, 7:15 p.m.  It's that time of year, again, time to start planning for the annual towel show, or the "Show and Towel" as it has been jokingly referred to.  Members are urged to display mineral specimens that they have collected and lapidary projects that they have completed during the year, gaining a chance to win either one of the traveling trophies or a blue ribbon. Prizes will also be awarded for the best junior exhibits.

Awards will be made in the following categories: (1) specimens acquired on a club field trip, (2) specimens collected on a personal trip, (3) lapidary and jewelry arts, and (4) most important of all, the UGLY ROCK award.  Bring your specimens, and a towel to display them on.  Remember, it's quality, not quantity, that counts. And, we may once again be making an award for the most interesting towel, so be prepared.

Annual Holiday Party, Thursday, December 15, 7:15 p.m.  As we have done in the past, our meeting for December will be the annual Holiday Party.  Everyone needs to bring two things.  The first is a wrapped gift, related to our hobby.  This could be a special specimen, equipment for rockhounding, something you have made, or anything that will help someone enjoy rocks and minerals.  The gift cost should be under $10.  The second thing that we would like each family to bring is some refreshment to share with others.  This could be cookies, punch, or some other munchies – even something healthy, if you choose.

Our gift exchange is quite special.  All of the wrapped gifts are placed on a center table.  Every person is given a number.  The person with number one selects any gift from the table, unwraps it, and shows off their gift.  The person with number two may either take the gift from the first person, or select an unwrapped gift. If person number one has been relieved of their gift, he or she may select a new one or relieve a gift from another person.  And so it goes until everyone has a gift.  Two additional rules:  You cannot steal your gift directly back from the person who took it from you.  Also, if you have been relieved of a gift three times and get it back again, it’s yours to keep and cannot be taken away again.

Guests are welcome, but please be sure that there is a gift for each person who comes.  Join us for a fun evening of sharing gifts and great holiday food.

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Jr. Geologist Meetings

At our meeting on November 17th, we will continue to work on the Showmanship badge, getting ready for a display at the Club Show in December.  Everyone should bring the specimens they plan to display, so we can talk about pointers to make a great display.  Also, we will continue planning for the kids’ activities at the show.

For December, plan to attend the club show, December 9-11.  There will be lots to see and do, and we will need your help running the kids activities. For more details about our Jr. Geologist program for club families, please contact Dennis Gertenbach.

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Officer Candidates For 2006

Below is a list of officer candidates for 2006.  Elections will be held at the November 10th meeting.  As you can see, we are still seeking candidates for several offices. If you are interested in serving the club next year or co-chairing a position, please contact Dennis Gertenbach.

President - Open

VP- Program - Terry O’Donnell, Ray Horton

VP- Field Trips - Dennis Gertenbach

VP – Club Show - Ray Gilbert

Secretary - Open

Treasurer - Gerry Naugle

Board of Directors (3 elected) - Alex Cook, Paul Ralston, Open

Volunteer position available at Denver Council

The Denver council is looking for a secretary, Contact James F Hurlbut or Alex Cook for more information.

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Freebies On The Web

The Colorado Geological Survey publishes a quarterly newsletter entitled Rock Talk. Past issues have discussed Colorado coal, oil, gold, and molybdenum, plus earthquakes and avalanches.  The website, http://geosurvey.state.co.us/Default.aspx?tabid=71, has past issues back to 1988.  You can sign up at the site to get an email when the next issue is available.

A list of paleontological sites in Colorado, entitled Dinosaur Remains, is available from the Colorado Historical Society.  This publication, 1555, can be found at http://www.coloradohistory-oahp.org/publications/archaeo.htm and lists addresses, phone numbers, and operating hours for over a dozen sites in the state.

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Obituary

Our sympathy is extended to the family of member Judd Payne who died at age 73 on October 19, 2005.  Mr Payne worked at the US Department of Commerce Boulder Labs from 1960 until his retirement in 1986.  He was interested in geology and gemstones and made jewelry from the gemstones. Judd's name will be entered in our scholarship memory book.  If you would like to contribute to the memorial fund, please send your check made out to Flatirons Mineral Club to Carl Bird, 718 W. Aspen Way, Louisville CO 80027.  Carl will send the family a letter.

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An Elephant Never Forgets!

 A friendly reminder that the annual dues to the FMC become due on October 1st, 2005.  The dues are still only $15 per individual  (or) family.  You can pay in two ways:

SEND A CHECK TO:        Flatirons Mineral Club (made to "FMC")

                                       P.O. Box 3331

                                       Boulder, CO   80307

(or) pay Gerry Naugle, Treasurer (or) Trick Runions, the Membership Chair at any FMC monthly meeting.  One of them is at the sign-in table upon entering the room for the monthly meetings. Your receipt is your new annual membership card. If you pay by CASH at a meeting, the receipt will be your new 2005-06 FMC membership card issued to you.   Please do not send cash to the Club P.O. Box 3331 by regular mail.

Remember you can receive electronic or paper club newsletters containing the general meetings information, guided club field trips information, annual show opportunities, silent auction opportunities and an annual club summer picnic when you are a member of the Flatirons Mineral Club.

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Flatirons Mineral Show
Alex Cook

Preparations are well under way for the 2005 Flatirons Mineral Show, to be held December 9 to 11 at the Boulder County Fairgrounds in Longmont. Flyers will be available at the next Flatirons club meeting on November 10 or from Gerry Naugle. Give him a call if you do not get flyers at the meeting. All members are requested to take as many flyers as possible and see that they are disseminated in stores and offices and any other public places.

A great deal of help is going to be needed if this show is to be successful, so  when the list comes around at the November meeting, please sign up. Help will be needed for set up of tables, which will take place Thursday, December 8, and then again at the close of the show on Sunday, the 11th.  We will also need help in selling tickets, parking lot patrol, and with the children’s tables, also to help with security. A few sturdy backs will also be needed to help Gerry get the display cases from their Denver location and load tables at the home of Paul Ralston on Thursday morning.

We are going to need a lot of signs to promote our show, so there will be a meeting at Charlotte Morrison’s home at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, November 5th, to prepare signs under the leadership of Gerry Naugle. You don’t have to be a professional sign maker to help at this meeting.

There will be one more meeting of the show committee on November 15th, and we are hoping that as many as possible can attend. Place of the meeting will be announced.

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New Fossil Discoveries
Dennis Gertenbach

Two exciting new paleontological discoveries are being reported at the Geological Society of America’s conference this month.

Dinosaurs with Four Wings

One of the earliest winged dinosaurs to be discovered is the chicken-sized Microraptor gui, which lived in the early Cretaceous period 140 million years ago in what is now part of China.  The Chinese paleontologists who found this fossil were amazed that this dinosaur had four wings, with long flight feathers on its arms and feet. The discoverers assumed that this dinosaur flapped its four wings in tandem, much like a dragonfly.

New analysis of this fossil by Sankar Chatterjee of Texas Tech University suggests that these creatures swooped from tree to tree with a biplane-like wing configuration, much like the Wright brothers’ first plane.  This conclusion was based on the fact that the legs of Microraptor, like on any other dinosaur, could not be splayed sideways, thus, they could not extend their hind wings directly behind the front wings like a dragonfly.  Instead, they had to hold their feet wings lower than their arm wings, looking like a biplane.

This result may settle a century-old controversy over how the first feathered creatures achieved flight – did flight begin in trees or on the ground.  The “ground-up” theory says that the first feathered fliers got into the air by running and hopping along the ground, furiously flapping their wings, while the “trees-down” theory has the creatures gliding down from high above.  The wings of Microraptor, the earliest  winged dinosaur discovered, had to glide down from elevated heights.  

Based on computer models, the researchers speculate that after reaching a high branch or treetop, this dinosaur would hop off, diving head first until it picked up enough speed to create lift on its wings. Once it had lift, it could swoop upwards and land in the branches of another tree some 15 to 20 feet away.  However, Microraptors were probably pretty clumsy on the ground.   For an artist’s illustration of what this dinosaur might have looked like, go to the website  http://www.geosociety.org/news/pr/05-38_Fig2.htm.

Creeping Crinoids

Crinoids or sea lilies are animals that look like plants, with a flowery head, a stalk, and root-like appendages at the base of the stalk.  Although there are still living crinoids today, they were most prolific during Paleozoic times, long before dinosaurs evolved.

For over 150 years, crinoids were thought to be anchored to the sea floor with finger-like appendages off of the stalk.  However, this view of crinoids has now changed.  Videos taken from a submersible research vessel show a modern sea lily, Endoxocrinus parrae, creeping along the ocean floor, apparently to escape from predatory sea urchins. These extraordinary videos, taken and analyzed by Tomasz Baumiller of the University of Michigan and Charles Messing of Nova Southeastern University, were shot off the coast of Grand Bahama Island at a depth of 1,410 feet.  The video shows sea lilies behaving similarly to their close relatives, the feather stars, which also move about and even swim to escape slow-moving sea urchins.

While reviewing hundreds of hours of video shot than a decade ago, the researchers came across footage that offered an explanation of how they propel themselves and why they might get up and go.  The videos showed sea urchins lurking in gardens of sea lilies, surrounded by sea lily appendages.  Previous research showed that sea urchins do not eat bits of dead sea lilies found on the sea floor, but bite pieces right off their prey.  The video show sea lilies shedding their stalks and fleeing by pushing the ground with their flowery tops, using the same escape strategy

as a lizard losing its tail.  The researchers are now studying fossil crinoids to determine if they have the same structures as these modern sea lilies that would allow them to move.

A portion of their video showing a sea lily moving along the ocean floor can be found at the University of Michigan site, http://www.umich.edu/news/?Releases/2005/Oct05/crinoid.

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Fairburn Agate Swap, Crawford, Nebraska
By John Hurst

Did you miss the Crawford Fairburn Agate Swap on Labor Day weekend?  If so you can kick yourself, because you missed a really fun weekend.  Be sure to put it on your 2006 calendar—Labor Day weekend, with the early birds showing up on Thursday.

Show Chair, Wade Beins, managed to fit 70 to 75 dealers into the Crawford City Park. There were Fairburn Agates that came out of the woodwork, selling from $2.00 up to 4-digit territory.  There were Dryhead Agates, Laguna  Agates,  Teepee Canyon Agates, Lake Superior Agates, Kentucky Agates, Montana Agates, Prairie Agates, and the list goes on.  You needed to see each dealer before the material was picked over.  There were spheres, walking sticks, fossils (some in the 4 digit territory, too), flint knappers, youngite, petrified woods, jade, wire wrappers, used machinery---dare we use et cetera?

The Saturday night potluck was followed by a fun auction of items donated by the dealers—even the Rocky Ford Geode (i.e. watermelon) went for a cool $22.00 to Dave Pape, an agate dealer. Wade also lined up field trip leaders for each day of the show.  A couple of first timers even found a Fairburn Agate of credible size.

Would you believe it?  Two of our FMC members won Crawford’s first prize for their display of “Favorite agates”.  Guests at the October FMC meeting had a chance to check out the winning display.

Perhaps best experience of all was simply to see a variety of Crawford Show visitors’ favorite agates.  You know the ones, those agates that are not for sale….all the agate collectors can do is admire them and drool.  Barry will try to include the photo of the Fairburn Agate known affectionately as “Baby”.  Rumor has it, the owner keeps it with him 24/7, hence the name for the agate.  The “Baby” will make a guest appearance at the Oct. 29-31 Munich Show.  If you miss it in Munich, you can catch a glimpse of it at the Tucson Show in February 2006.

Be forewarned, agate peeping is addictive and can lead to a serious collecting syndrome, for which there is no known cure.  We hope to see you in Crawford 2006! 

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Prehistoric Journey Symposium

In celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science’s Prehistoric Journey exhibit, the Museum is holding a special symposium.  Dinosaur expert Dr. Paul Sereno will give the keynote lecture on Thursday, December 1.  Dr. Sereno is a professor at the University of Chicago, a National Geographic explorer-in-residence, and the president and cofounder of Project Exploration, an outreach organization dedicated to bringing natural science education to girls and city kids.  He has made major dinosaur discoveries, including discoveries in Argentina that have changed paleontologists thinking about dinosaurs. He and his team also discovered the 40-foot-long Super Croc that made the news several years ago.  His lecture will include the discoveries made by his teams and their scientific significance to better understanding dinosaurs.

On Saturday, December 3, seven leading paleontologists will present some of the latest findings about marine invertebrates, marine vertebrates, dinosaurs, mammals, and early hominids.  Featured speakers include Drs. Jonathon Bloch of the Florida Museum of Natural History, Linda Ivany of Syracuse University, Zhe-Xi Luo of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Ryosuke Motani of the University of California-Davis, Chris Sidor of the University of Washington, David Strait of State University of New York at Albany, and Jeff Wilson of the University of Michigan.  The cost of the symposium is $50 for museum members and $60 for non-members.  For more information go to www.dmns.org or call 303-322-7009.

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Your Help Please

The American Federation of Mineralogical Societies is attempting to attain gemstones on U.S. stamps.  We ask you to actively support and promote the project by continuing letters or notes to the USPS.  You do not have to be an AFMS member to write.  Please write a letter of support and send it to:

The Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee
Stamp Development
US Postal Service
1735 North Lynn St., Room 5013
Arlington VA 22209-6432

Competition is stiff with about 50,000 proposals to the USPS annually. We are convinced that gem stamps, would be attractive.  Don’t you agree? Here is a sample letter of support:

To Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee:

I support the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies’ efforts to try to get gemstones on American stamps. Gems have never appeared on U.S. stamps, and would be attractive. We and the public would all enjoy their beauty. They would not be controversial. American gems would continue the theme of America’s Mineral Heritage.

Signed:______         Date:_______

Address:______

City, State, ZIP

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Dave Bunk Minerals Open House
December 3-4, 2005
Saturday 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Sunday 11:00 AM to 5:00 Pm

Dave has acquired four collections of Colorado mineral specimens that we will be premiering for the first time at our annual December open house.  This includes the Colorado portion of the Don Belsher collection.  This is probably the best selection of Colorado minerals that we have ever had available for sale. 

Dave Bunk Minerals
1441 W. 46th Ave., #8
Denver, CO  80211
www.davebunkminerals.com

Renz Collection Sale

Half-price or more. Everything must go! Betty Renz, 303-429-2689 (by appointment)

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Colorado's Coal

By Gary Raham

Scientists with the Colorado Geological Survey devoted the entire Summer 2005 issue of Rocktalk, their organizational newsletter, to Colorado's coal resources. This publication is free for the asking, by the way, by phoning the CGS at 303-866-4762 or visiting their website at http://geosurvey.state.co.us. They define coal and  coal quality, discuss the geology of coal in Colorado compared to elsewhere, look at the history and details of coal mining, and discuss the possible future of this resource in our state. Below you will find some "coal factoids" that may inspire you to look up more information about this relatively abundant fossil fuel.

What is Coal? Coal is black sedimentary rock that burns. While coal is mostly carbon, it also contains hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, sprinkled with various percentages of sulfur, arsenic, mercury, cadmium, zinc, and other trace elements, depending  on the details of its formation. Coal results from old swamp habitats decayed to peat and compressed and heated over time-lots of it. Coal could be considered "undercooked diamond." Coal is ranked in terms of carbon content (a function of depth and length of burial) and its energy value (as measured in British thermal units, or Btu's). Lignite coal possesses the least energy content, followed by subbituminous, bituminous, and anthracite coal. One pound of Colorado coal will produce 10,000 Btu's-enough energy to heat five pots of coffee.

How important is coal as an energy source? Coal fulfills 50% of the nation's electricalenergy needs. The U.S. has far more coal than oil or natural gas and more coal reserves than any other country. Coal provides 80% of the electricity used in Colorado and coal-bearing formations underlie 28%, of the state. Every person in the U.S. uses the equivalent of 7,643 pounds of coal per year.

What's special about Colorado coal? Colorado's coal was formed over the last 100 million years or so during the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods. Swamp forests and vegetation growing adjacent to the Western Interior Seaway that covered or bisected Cretaceous-age Colorado ultimately produced the carbon that became coal. Mountain building processes during the following Tertiary baked and "upgraded" much of this coal from bituminous to anthracite, especially in areas like Crested Butte, Somerset, and Walsenburg. Colorado coal tends to he low in sulfur and mercury so that it can be burned without expensive processing.

Eastern coal formed from the remains of much older (300 my) Carboniferous-age swamp vegetation that was subsequently covered by oceans relatively high in sulfur content. Coal tends to snatch up trace impurities, which is why carbon filters work so well. Colorado coal is often used to "dilute" eastern coal to meet EPA standards.

How long will our coal reserves last? In 2004, coal was produced in eight counties: Delta, Gunnison, La Plata, Garfield, Moffat, Montrose, Rio Blanco, and Routt. Gunnison county produced the most: 13.14 million tons. Overall, 12 mines produced 40 million tons of coal, or 4% of the nation's total. Colorado has a potential 434 billion tons of coal beneath her, but only a fraction can be recovered. Some coal is too deep to reach; some is beneath cities, roads, towns or wilderness areas. Thus Colorado's Demonstrated Reserve Base is about 16.4 billion tons. If Colorado extracts 40 million tons per year for a hundred years and 80 million tons per year thereafter, supplies should last for 225 years, or until 2230.

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Websites for Kids of All Ages

The following list of websites was compiled by Jim Brace--Thompson, AFMS Junior Activities Chair. Get a complete listing from Jim at jbraceth@adelphia.net

Fossils:

www.isgs.uiuc.edu/dinos/

www.paleoportal.org

Minerals and Earth Resources:

www.usgs.gov

www.mii.org

www.womeninmining.org 

www.theimage.com

Lapidary Arts:

www.rockhounds.com

socrates.berkeley.edu/-eps2/

www.tradeshop.com/gems/

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Updated 4/14/08