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Spring/Summer 2009 Meeting Schedule

May 14: Gem Cutting and lapidary arts demos—many different skills and types of equipment will be demonstrated—learn how to use a Genie and a faceting machine—don’t miss it!

June 11: Dr. Pete Modreski, USGS on the topic of Gems of Colorado (tentative).

July 9: No meeting in July—time to be out in the field finding treasures!

Aug 22 (Saturday)—Annual picnic, North Boulder Park, 11:00 am.

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North Table Mountain Field Trip

Nice specimens! Great weather! Good time! These are just a few words to describe the April 11 field trip to collect zeolite minerals at this world-famous location. Club members were joined by the North Jeffco club and over 50 people enjoyed the day collecting at the base of the cliffs on North Table Mountain. Here are some pictures from this year’s trip.

Collecting on North Table Mountain
 

Dylan Sellers with one of the specimens he found


A nice analcime specimen


Analcime with a large calcite crystal.



A Mesolite specimen
 

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Upcoming Club Field Trips

Elbert County for fossil wood. Date: Saturday, May 9. Trip Leader: Shaula Lee, 720-494-2606 or shaula_lee@hotmail.com, by Friday, May 8, 3pm. This trip is to a private ranch, where fossil wood may be found.

McCoy for Paleozoic fossils. Date: Saturday and Sunday, June 6-7. Trip Leader: Dennis Gertenbach (gertenbach@comcast.net or 303-709-8218). This site, located along the Colorado River between Vail and Steamboat Springs, has Pennsylvanian fossils, including crinoids, brachiopods, snails, and even an occasional shark tooth. We will be collecting both Saturday and Sunday at several spots in the area. The fossils are abundant, making this a great place for kids to collect.

Contin-Tail, Buena Vista. Date: Saturday, August 8. Let’s get a road trip going to see this annual big outdoor tail-gate show at the Buena Vista Fairgrounds. Contact Shaula Lee, 720-494-2606 or shaula_lee@hotmail.com.

Lake George for amazonite and smoky quartz and/or Badger (near Hartsel) for Peridot. Date: Saturday, Sept. 12. This trip will be with the CSMS, Colorado Springs, to their claim. 4WD may be required. We should work out car-pooling in advance. Contact Shaula Lee, 720-494-2606 or shaula_lee@hotmail.com.



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Denver Gem & Mineral Show Mini Report Spring 2009
Judy Knoshaug

The Denver Gem & Mineral Show is only a few short months away. Remember the dates September 18 – 20th and the theme “Fossils – Windows to the Past”. Are you ready for the show? Have you planned your exhibit or the exhibit for your club? Do you know what you will be doing at the show? The volunteer signup sheets and job descriptions are out. Your club representative should have them and they should be circulating at your meetings. Please read over the job descriptions and select where you would like to help at the show. There are many easy and some sitting jobs. Whatever you decide to do please remember that every volunteer is appreciated and valued. And many are needed – about 400+. That’s a lot of people! And that’s why we need YOU!

There are probably many other people from your club volunteering so if you have never done it before, tag along with one of them. They will help you out. You will have fun and experience something new. The show is a grand one but cannot operate without the volunteers.

Some new people have joined the committee lately. Terrance Yee is the new Exhibits Chair, and April Pullen is his assistant. Lloyd and Pat Ferguson will be in charge of the show program. These four are all from the North Jeffco Gem & Mineral Club. From the Littleton Gem & Mineral Club, Joe Gierczak will be helping with Set Up and Richard Parsons with Tear Down. The Set Up and Tear Down positions are under Martin Hannu, Buildings & Grounds. The Show Committee can always benefit from new talented people. If you are that special person who would like to be more involved with the show, contact your club representative or the Show Chair, Barb Melby, at 303-423-5876.

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Ruby Mountain Alert
Leslie Trexler, Arkansas River Valley resident

Hershey is proposing to put a water bottling plant near Ruby Mountain.  If you would like to protest or comment, contact the Chaffee County zoning board, which held a special meeting about this past March 18th.  See http://www.salidacitizen.org/, http://www.nestleinchaffee.blogspot.com/, http://www.chaffeecounty.org/

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Jr. Geologists Activities


Treasure Hunt
Learn how to read topographical maps during an evening treasure hunt on Thursday, May 21. We’ll meet at Charlotte’s house at 6:30 to begin the hunt. Don’t miss it.

 

Earth in Space Badge
During the past three months, the Jr. Geologists have been learning about our solar system and how the other planets differ from earth. We have also learned about meteorites and even collected micrometeorites that continually fall to earth. Fourteen juniors completed the requirements for the Earth in Space Badge, including Charles Mock, Eva and Andy Klauber, Sage Preston, Nico Caballero, Preston Daley, Maria Furney, Katherine Codrescu, Stefan and Max Rosenboom, Perry Chesebro, Nicholas Erickson, Dylan Sellers, and Darcy Traynor. We congratulate the juniors on their achievement.



Gerry Naugle shows Nico Caballero, Maria Furney, and Sage Preston different types of meteorites.

Micrometeorites, as well as comet dust in the form of “silica balls” (see Science Daily, April 21, 2009: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090421080504.htm), may be found in the fine sediment in the gutters on any roof, and identified by microscopy.

The juniors looking for micrometeorites collected on their roofs.

The Jr. Geologists program is open to all Flatirons Mineral Club families. We meet on the third Thursday of each month at 6:30, plus have special weekend activities from time to time. For more information about the Jr. Geologists program, please contact Dennis Gertenbach.

 

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Learn About Colorado Landslides

As most of us know, Colorado is still a geologically active state. Evidence of this can be found in the numerous landslides and rock falls that have taken place in our state. In the last 10 years, rock slides have closed I-70 in Glenwood Canyon, US-6 in Clear Creek Canyon, and Colo-133 near Paonia. Large rocks have destroyed homes in Glenwood Springs and Vail in recent years.

Learn how the Colorado Geological Survey detects areas of potential rock fall damage and what can be done to mitigate possible danger to humans and property in the most recent Rock Talk newsletter, now available at http://geosurvey.state.co.us/Default.aspx?tabid=71. Back issues of Rock Talk on a number of topics covering Colorado geology are also available on the site.
 

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Fossils in the News
Dennis Gertenbach
 

Ancient Wounds Reveal Triceratops Battles
For years, paleontologists have debated what horned dinosaurs used their horns for (although it seems to me that any 8 year old could answer that question). Were they used in combat against other horned dinosaurs or were they and ornament to impress the other horned dinosaurs. If triceratops fought others with their horns, wounds from these battles would be preserved on the skulls of the animals. Researchers searched museum collections for injuries on skulls of both triceratops and a closely related dinosaur, Centrosaurus. They found that the bone that makes up the frill on triceratops was injured 10 times more than in Centrosaurus, with the injuries most likely from other horned dinosaurs. The researchers caution that they still could have used these horns for defense or display, as well as combat.

Largest and Smallest Dinosaur Predators Found
Within one week, paleontologists announced two separate discoveries – the largest and smallest dinosaur predators found to date. Predator X was marine reptile with a skull more than 10 feet long and was over 50 feet long and weighed nearly 50 tons. Its huge jaws, with foot-long teeth, would have been capable of swallowing a great white shark whole, This newly discovered pliosaur would have ruled the seas during the Jurassic period, 147 million years ago. A Miniraptor was discovered with similar features as velociraptor, including sharp teeth and claws, but only stood 19 inches tall and weighed perhaps 4 pounds. Hesperonychus elizabethae would have preyed on birds, small mammals and baby dinosaurs.

Earliest Land Animals Carried Shells
By carrying shells with them onto land, some creatures may have been able to leave the ocean for the first time. This would have allowed them to carry a bit of the sea with them inside the shell, preventing their gills from drying out. Fossil trackways left on ancient tidal flats 500 million years ago in Wisconsin hint that some ocean-dwelling arthropods walked on land carrying shells. Anthropods, which include today’s crustaceans, scorpions, and insects, have tough exoskeletons, which would have prevented the creatures from drying out quickly and their legs would have been strong enough to carry their weight on land. However, scientists have puzzled about how they could have kept their gills moist. The evidence of shell-bearing animals in the trackway is from impressions scraped into the sand as the animal turned. If an appendage on the animal, such as a tail, made the scrapings, the impressions would extend farther opposite the direction that the animal turned. However, the scrapings made by these animals were always farther to the left of the footprints, regardless of which way the animal turned, indicating that the animal was carrying something like a lopsided, coiled shell.

What Started the Cambrian Explosion?
One of the biggest mysteries of life on Earth is why fossils of creatures suddenly appear 530 million years ago in what is known as the Cambrian Explosion. Within a very short time, animals diversified into nearly all of the phyla found today. Scientists have long puzzled over what were the precursors that this diversity of life evolved from. Paleontologists from Harvard have discovered a possible answer. Microfossils from Australia, previously thought to be algae, may actually be a specialized type of egg case, laid by animal precursors living in the Precambrian just before the Cambrian. These unusual microscopic fossils, known as acritarchs, have hard shells, spines, hairs, and other protrusions and look much different to modern algae. This study found that they more closely resemble a much smaller version of crustacean egg cases that are in a dormant stage formed as the environment dried out. This finding suggests that these fossils may be the missing link to the fossil diversity found in the early Cambrian.


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Geologic Discoveries
Dennis Gertenbach

Acid Rain from the Tunguska Catastrophe Supports Meteorite Theory
On June 30, 1908, one of the biggest natural disasters of modern times happened in a remote area in Siberia. One or more explosions took place near the Tunguska River that flattened an estimated 80 million trees over an area covering more than 700 square miles. A number of different theories have been advanced about the cause of this event. However, the majority of scientists assume that it was due to a cosmic event, such as the impact of a meteorite, asteroid, or comet.

A new study lends support to the meteorite theory. As the meteorite entered the atmosphere and became extremely hot, it caused the oxygen in the air to react with nitrogen, forming nitrogen oxides. These nitrogen oxides formed an acid rain that covered the area. Researchers from Russia, Italy, and Germany sampled peat deposits in the Tunguska area and analyzed them for nitrogen and iridium. They found elevated concentrations of both of these elements at the 1908 permafrost boundary, with the highest concentrations at the impact area and along the trajectory of the meteorite. The only explanation for these observations is that the Tunguska event was caused by a meteorite, most likely from the asteroid belt.

Opal on Mars Indicates Water on Mars
Scientists still puzzle about how warm and how wet Mars may have been and if life was once present on Mars. Using mineralogical evidence, researches have recently reported in the journal Geology that widespread deposits of opals and similar minerals are on the surface of Mars. Opals are a hydrated silica that contain water molecules in the mineral and can only form in the presence of liquid water. Even more intriguing is that the opal deposits lie in areas that appear to have formed only about two billion years ago. Geologists have previously found clay minerals, also indicative of water, but in areas that are at least 3.5 billion years old. The opal mineralization indicates that Mars was at least occasionally wet during its first 2 billion years. Does this indicate that life once existed on Mars? No, but it does indicate that water, one of the key requirements for life, was present.
 

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Using the Post Office to Ship Your Finds
Free Boxes and Cheap Postage
by Gabi Accatino

So you flew somewhere and went rockhounding. Now, what do you do with all those rocks? How do you get them back home if you don’t want to put them in with your clothes in your luggage?

I ran into this dilemma recently when I went to Tucson, Arizona for a week of rockhounding. The unexpected solution came with a suggestion by the guy behind the counter at the Post Office. It turns out that the Post Office has several free boxes that have a flat rate - no matter how much they weigh!

We had gone to the store the night before and bought boxes and tape and boxed-up our treasures. It turned out, when we got to the front of the line at the Post Office, that if we shipped our rocks by regular mail, by their weight, it would have cost more than using the free flat rate boxes.

We ended up popping our boxes into the flat rate boxes that cost $13.95 each to ship by Priority Mail. They arrived the same day we arrived home! It was great! Our boxes weighed 20 to 25 pounds each. These flat rate boxes that we used could easily have fit 30 to 35 pounds of rocks.

Flat Rate Boxes are available in multiple sizes and shapes (note: these rates may change with the rate increase on May 11):

8-5/8” x 5-3/8” x 1-5/8” $4.95
11” x 8-1/2” x 5-1/2” $10.35
13-5/8” x 11-7/8” x 3-3/8” $13.95
12-1/4” x 12-1/4” x 6” $13.95

The Post Office restriction states: “Contents must reasonably fit within the Priority Mail packaging, and weigh less than 70 pounds.”

Seventy pounds of rocks shipped for $14! Imagine that! The Post Office even sells tape and padding and is open on Saturday mornings. Next time I’ll get the boxes ahead of time and fill them as I go!
 

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Upcoming Events, Nearby & Elsewhere

Sat. May 9, 10 am to 4 pm, slab sale benefitting North Jeffco Gem and Mineral Club. Close to 100 flats containing polished and unpolished slices and slabs of all types of agate, geodes, Eden Valley wood, etc. Prices will be wholesale or below. Place: Barb Melby, 8169 Pierson Ct, Arvada. 303-423-5876. Directions: From 80th and Wadsworth go west past Kipling about 1/2 mile. Pierson Ct. only goes to the north.

Sat., May 9, a second "Earth Day" nature hike on Green Mountain, led by geologist Pete Modreski and others. Sponsored by the Green Mountain Civic Association, but open to anyone would like to come. Meet at 9 a.m. for an easy 2-hour hike, at the cul-de-sac at the end of W. Exposition Dr., 5 blocks west of S. Alkire St., Lakewood [turn west from Alkire on W. Exposition, opposite Foothills Park; cross Beech, Baum, Bristol, and Cole Streets and to where Exposition ends]. For more info please contact Pete at pmodreski@usgs.gov, or 303-202-4766.

Sat. May 16, 1 pm to 3 pm, The Colorado Chapter of the Friends of Mineralogy will hold its annual silent auction of mineral hobby items at the Clements Community Center located at 1580 Yarrow (near Colfax and Wadsworth) in Lakewood, Colorado. This auction features reasonably priced minerals, faceted stones, books, and mining paraphernalia to the general public. There will be a special verbal auction at 2 pm of museum quality specimens donated by special dealers.
Admission is free. All interested sellers and buyers are invited to phone Larry Havens at 303-757-6577 for further details.

May 16-17 (Saturday and Sunday) is the Colorado Mineral Exploration Seminar at the Western Museum of Mining and Industry, Colorado Springs; cosponsored by WMMI, Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society, Gold Prospectors of Colorado, and Lake George Gem and Mineral Club. The Colorado Mineral Exploration Seminar is a hands-on forum for understanding mineral prospecting and enjoying this hobby. The program is perfect for new members and for those who want to learn even more. Learn about the wonders gold panning, prospecting, and mineral collecting, filing a mineral claim, leasing mineral property, and buying mineral lands outright at Colorado tax sales. There will be presentations on the geology of the Pikes Peak region, the gold mine in Cripple Creek, and on fossils. 8:30 am - 5:30 pm. Cost is $15. Call 719-488-0880 to register.

Sat.-Sun., May 16-17, Cheyenne Mineral, Gem & Fossil Show; Sat. 9 am to 6 pm, Sun. 10 am to 4 pm; American Legion Post # 6, 2001 E. Lincoln Way,
Cheyenne, WY. For more information please contact Donna Durako, 307-634-4229.

May 23 (Saturday), long-time club member Jordan Sawdo will be leading an Exhibiting and Judging Seminar, 10:00 am to 3:30 pm (bring a sack lunch),
Adams County Museum, 9601 Henderson Road (Adams County Fairgrounds). Learn about preparing a display for the 2009 Denver Gem and Mineral Show and/or assisting with judging displays at the show. There will be hand-outs, websites for downloading, and hands-on activities. Benefit from 45 years of judging and exhibiting experience and have some fun in learning new skills that will improve your collection. First time and noncompetitive exhibitors, this is a great opportunity for you. The seminar is open to all varieties of collectors with the afternoon emphasis on judging. Confirm with Jordan at jordanruth@msn.com or 303-452-7792.

June 20, Rock Fair at the Western Museum of Mining and Industry, Colorado Springs; booths with mineral displays, dealers, activities, learning about minerals and gems, etc. More info will be forthcoming.

Aug. 6-9, "Contin-Tail" rock swap, Buena Vista, CO

Aug. 14-16, Lake George Gem & Mineral Show, Lake George, CO
 

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Rocky Mountain Micro Mineral Association

On August 10, 2008 The Colorado School of Mines Geology Museum hosted a special event drawing 20 micro mineral enthusiasts for an afternoon of conversation, distribution of surplus micro material, and exploration of the potential for an ongoing group. At this meeting the Rocky Mountain Micro Mineral Association (RMMMA) was formed. The RMMMA is a fellowship whose purpose is to promote micro mineral study, the preservation, mounting and cataloging of specimens, education and good will among its members. Members are encouraged to share knowledge, techniques and supplies with other members.

The monthly Association meetings, hosted by the Museum, are very heavily oriented towards the hands-on use of microscopes. It is common to see small groups of people assembled all over the room discussing and attempting to identify their latest acquisitions. You will find most of the more experienced members willing to identify (or at least pass an opinion) on samples.

The RMMMA may periodically have field trips to locations known for micro minerals. The RMMMA may also, in conjunction with the Museum, sponsor events such as a spring Micro mineral symposium. This is an informal group—no dues, no officers, no newsletter. The group meets on the second Sunday of the month from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Colorado School of Mines Museum. The meetings are informal but will have programs on topics concerning microminerals (the January program was entitled “Crystal Symmetry 101”, presented by Richard Parsons).

Microscopes and free microminerals are available at the meetings. Although it would probably be helpful to have a microscope, there is no requirement to do so. Anyone is welcome to attend and discover the amazing world of microminerals. If you are interested or wish to broaden you mineral horizon, please come. For further information, contact Richard Parsons, 303-838-8859.
 

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Sphere Making DVD Offered

Dragon Spheres is offering a new DVD by Kurt Goodgame on sphere making. Short clips may be viewed at http://www.dragonspheres.com/misc.htm.

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Calendar of Events

May 14 - FMC Club Meeting, 7:00 PM, West Boulder Senior Center, 9th & Arapahoe, Boulder. Hands-on workshop for faceting and lapidary skills.
May 21 - Junior Geologists Meeting, 6:30 PM, Charlotte Morrison’s house, Boulder. Topic: Treasure Hunt with topographical maps.
June 1 - FMC Board Meeting, 7:15 p.m., Alex Cook's house, Boulder.
June 6-7 - Field trip to McCoy for paleozoic fossils, Dennis Gertenbach, leader.
June 11 - FMC Club Meeting, 7:00 PM, West Boulder Senior Center, 9th & Arapahoe, Boulder. Pete Modreski on “Gems of Colorado”
June 18  - Junior Geologists Meeting, 6:30 PM, Charlotte Morrison’s house, Boulder.
June 29 - FMC Board Meeting, 7:15 p.m., Charlotte Morrison’s house, Boulder.
Aug. 8 - Field trip to the ContinTail in Buena Vista, Shaula Lee, leader.
Aug. 22 - FMC Club Meeting, Annual Picnic, North Boulder Park, 11 a.m. Details t.b.a.

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Updated 5/10/09