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President’s Corner
Paul Boni
Oh, can you feel it? It’s slowly getting warmer. I’m already looking
forward to digging holes for buried treasure. Gabbie and Anita are working
hard at organizing field trips even now. In order to have a full collecting
season, they’ve asked for volunteers to lead field trips. Trips can be
weekend jaunts, day trips, or even a couple hours on the Platte River
gravel bars. Anita and Gabbie will gladly help coordinate and organize. All
it takes is a few people, with a collecting site in mind, to lead the way.
While we’re collecting fabulous
treasure, please remember that the club needs specimens to fill grab bags.
We label and bag thousands of samples every year. Grab bags are then sold
and the proceeds fund scholarships at the Colorado School of Mines in
Golden. What else are you going to do with a five gallon bucket of
fossilized wood chips or a flat of jasper flakes?
Our Silent Auction is coming up
in April. This is a great opportunity to thin your collections and make
room for the next collecting season. It’s not too early to start sorting
and labeling. We’ll have tables heaped with treasure, something for
everyone. There will be special tables reserved for the youth. Then comes
the fun part, bidding on the cool stuff everyone else brought. This is our
second largest fund raiser of the year. Proceeds help fund our general
budget and “keep the lights on”.
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Spring 2010
Schedule
Mar
11--March's talk is going to be given by Doug Bamforth. He's the CU anthropologist who recognized
the Clovis era tools found at the foot of Flagstaff and got them tested for
the protein residue! He'll be
talking about the cache and the work on it. Another very different and
interesting talk! See the article in
last month’s (Jan-Feb) Flatirons Facets.
April
8—Annual Silent Auction—see President’s Corner, this page, and attached bid
slips.
May
13—Program to be announced
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March Field Trip to
CU Museum Fossil Collections
Our first field trip of 2010 will start at 10 AM, Saturday, March 27, at
the Museum Collections Building (MCOL) on the CU campus to look at fossils
from our own Florissant Shale in Colorado and from the world-famous Burgess
Shale of Canada. Dr. Kathy Hollis,
Diane Brown and Mel Barton will be our guides.
The
shale beds near Florissant, CO contain a great variety of fossils from the
Eocene (34 mya). The area used to be
a lake and plants and animals that fell in were buried in the recurring ash
falls and beautifully preserved. If
you can come on our trip to Florissant in June, you can see what we will be
looking for. If you can’t make to
Florissant, you can see what you’ll be missing!
The
collection at CU includes fossils from the Burgess Shale of Canada. In the Cambrian (half a BILLION years
ago), the Burgess Shale was mud at the bottom of an undersea cliff. Oodles of animals from that time were
very nicely preserved there and produced fossils not to be found anywhere
else.
In
addition to the more familiar brachiopods and trilobites, CU’s Burgess
Shale collection includes Marrella, which were cute little critters with an
excess of spines, antennae, and legs and Hyoliths, which had conical shells
capped with an operculum and a couple of “feeler thingies”. Last, but not least, we will see
Anomalocarid, a large marine animal with a face that looks like two shrimp
hanging off of a pineapple ring.
Yum!
The
Museum Collections Building is located along Broadway across from College
Ave., northwest of the Henderson Museum of Natural Science. Parking is available at the Euclid
Autopark for $3 (north side of Euclid near UMC). If you are interested, the Henderson
Museum is open from 9-4 on Saturdays and is free (donations welcome).
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Jr. Geologists
At
March’s meeting on the 18th, we’ll complete our study of Earth Resources,
learning about where things come from.
At future meetings, we’ll be learning about gemstones, plus we’ll be
using computers to learn more about rocks and minerals.
On
Saturday, April 10, the junior geologists can go on a field trip to visit
Haystack Mountain. We will meet at
the Haystack Mountain Golf Course at 5877 Niwot Road at 10AM and look for
fossils. No collecting of fossils is
allowed, so we will be collecting data (notes, photographs, videotape) for
our upcoming badge: Rocking on the
Computer. We will have a picnic
lunch, then head to 5239 Niwot Road for a tour of the Haystack Mountain
Goat Farm.
The
Jr. Geologists program is open to all Flatirons Mineral Club families. Each month we learn more about geology,
plus earn badges for different earth science activities. For information
about the Jr. Geologists program, please contact Dennis Gertenbach.
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2010 Field Trips
Greetings from Your 2010 Field Trip Coordinators!
Anita Colin and Gabi Accatino
Plans
are in the works for spring, summer, and fall trips. There will be museum visits, easy day
trips, and weekend trips for those with real stamina!
Trips
to collect fossilized leaves, wood, insects, and marine invertebrates are
all in the works. In the summer
months, for you gem and mineral lovers, we will be heading to Calumet Mine
and Mount Antero.
Two
trips are already on the calendar:
On April 17, Dennis Gertenbach will lead a trip to North Table
Mountain to collect zeolites and August 12-15, we will head to Buena Vista
for the annual Contin-Tail (“cottontail”? – no – “continental tailgate”)
super rock show gathering. (Like
“Burning Man”, but in the mountains…with rocks!)
Volunteers
to lead trips and suggestions for trips are always welcome! Contact us.
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Cave of Giant
Gypsum Crystals
By Dennis Gertenbach
Cueva
de los Cristales (Cave of the Crystals) is one of the most spectacular
caves ever discovered. Located in
Chihuahua, Mexico, it was discovered in 2000 as miners at the Naica Mine
were excavating a new tunnel at the mine.
The cave is 980 feet deep and is lined with gigantic selenite
crystals, some of the largest crystals ever found. The cave's largest crystal found to date
is 36 feet long, 13 feet in diameter, and weighs 55 tons. Exploration of the cave is extremely
difficult, as temperatures in the cave can reach 136oF with the humidity at
90-100%. Special productive clothing
is necessary to explore the cave.
The
cave is horseshoe shaped, about 100 feet long and 35 feet wide. Huge crystals jut out from the floor and
walls. The cave has been underwater
until the mine operations began pumping to dewater the mine.
The
Naica Mine, a rich silver-zinc-lead deposit, lies on an ancient fault. Several miles below the cave is an
underground magma chamber, which heats the ground water. This hot ground water becomes saturated
with minerals, including large quantities of gypsum. The hollow space that
makes up the cave was filled with this mineral-rich hot water and small
crystals precipitated out of the ground water. The cavity continued to be replenished
with hot ground water for about 500,000 years, allowing the crystals to
grow to immense size over time.
Photos
of the cave and the giant selenite crystals and a
short video of the cave can be seen online.
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Denver Council Grab Bag Chair
Needed
Ray
Story, our past grab bag chairman has been very ill. He cannot continue in his job. Those of you out there who think that you
can't take on the job and probably he will continue need to know that he
cannot continue. BUT THE GOOD NEWS
IS: WHO EVER TAKES OVER THE
CHAIRMANSHIP WILL HAVE AN EASY TIME.
Ray said he would be there for support. He has a list of volunteers to call, in
fact he had so many he had to turn some away last year. IT IS A FUN JOB AND YOU GET TO MEET LOTS
OF FUN CHILDREN AND ADULTS. PLEASE CALL BARB MELBY, 303-423-5876 AND
VOLUNTEER.
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Kids
at the Towel Show in January
Malachai
Ertl shows off some of the specimens from his collection.
Charles
Mock explains some of the fossils he found last summer.
Beth
Simmons talking about Arthur Lakes at February meeting
Dr.
Beth Simmons was our guest speaker in February. She talked about Arthur Lakes, an early
geology professor at the School of Mines and discoverer of the dinosaur
bones found on Dinosaur Ridge, outside of Morrison. Beth and co-author Katherine Honda, have
written the book The Legacy of Arthur Lakes.
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Fossils in the News
Dennis Gertenbach
New
Dinosaur Species Found In Utah
A new
species of sauropod has been found in sandstones at Dinosaur National
Monument, dating back 105 million years ago. Sauropods were long-necked plant-eaters,
the largest animals to roam on land.
The new species is called Abydosaurus mcintoshi. Paleontologists believe they have
uncovered the remains of at least four dinosaurs at the site. All appear to
be juveniles and were likely around 25 feet long. The fossils are on temporary display at
BYU's Museum of Paleontology.
Fossil
tracks of Oldest Land Vertebrates
The footprints of the oldest tetrapods (four-legged animals with backbones)
to walk on land have been discovered in southeast Poland. These fossils,
dating back about 397 million years, even show the toes on the animals’
feet. The tracks of many animals
were found at the site, indicating that they were scurrying on a tropical
muddy shoreline. The spacing between
the tracks indicates that some of the animals were up to 6 feet long. The
age of these tracks pushes back the time that animals emerged from the sea
and walked on land by 18 million years. Research indicates that these
tetrapods lived in a coral lagoon.
Paleontologists speculate that as the tides receded twice each day,
dead animals washed up by the tides remained on shore at the tide line. These tetrapods ventured on land to feast
on the remains of these dead animals.
First Land Animals Borrowed Shells
Another recent discovery of tracks indicates that the first invertebrates
to venture on land brought along an empty shell, similar to today’s hermit
crabs. These tracks were found in a
Wisconsin sandstone formation, dating 500 million years old. The tracks show regular impressions
between the footprints, similar to the patterns created by modern hermit
crabs as they drag their shells across the sand. An early lobster-like arthopod,
Protichnites, is thought to have made these tracks. Amherst College geologist Whitey Hagadorn
speculates that Protichnites probably used the shells to keep their gill
moist, allowing them to breathe and forage on land for longer periods of
time.
The Color of Dinosaurs
Microscopic
examination of the feathers from dinosaurs discovered in northeastern China
have found coloring molecules still trapped in the feathers. The team of researchers, led by Fucheng
Zhang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, reported that early flying
dinosaurs had russet-colored feathers, while ground dinosaurs has black and
orange ones. The dinosaurs examined
during this study included Confuciusornis, Sinosauropteryx, and
Sinorithosaurus, among others, dating from 131 to 120 million years ago.
Oldest Animal Fossils Uncovered
The
fossil record has long puzzled paleontologists. Clear evidence of animals seems to
instantly appear during the Cambrian Explosion, about 555 million years
ago, with no record of earlier animals.
More recent DNA studies indicate that creatures living today had a
common ancestor 800 million years ago.
Two recent discoveries are helping to resolve this discrepancy. A steroid compound only produced by
sponges has been found in sediments dating back 675 million years. Another team of researchers have found
mesh-like patterns on rocks from an 850-million-year-old algae reef that
were likely formed by sponges.
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Denver Gem & Mineral Show Mini Report
January 2010
Judy Knoshaug, Show Secretary
The
Greater Denver Area Gem and Mineral Council and the Denver Gem &
Mineral Show Committee would like to report to the club members that the
“profit” from the 2009 show is $26,026.
This profit could not have been made without the help of all the
people who volunteered at the show.
Again we sincerely thank you.
We hope you enjoyed your time at the show and will come back again
for 2010. The Council, sponsor of
the show, will use the money for grants to other non-profit
organizations. The Council’s purpose
is to promote exhibition, exploration, and education in the earth sciences;
for the discovery, development, and preservation of minerals and mineral
deposits; and for the advancement, encouragement, and utilization of the
principles of art and craftsmanship as applied to gems and minerals. Now that is a mouthful, but it is the
stated purpose of the Council and to these ends grants will be made by
Council from show proceeds. There
have been many worthwhile projects that have received grant money in the
past.
The
Show Committee would like to again extend an invitation to join us to any
club member interested in the show.
The next meeting is Tuesday, April 6th. The meetings are held at the Denver
Museum of Nature & Science at 7:30 p.m. Find a fellow club member who is on the
committee and tag along. He or she
can fill you in about the committee. There are over 30 committee members so
there is surely someone on the committee that you know.
Presently
there is a need for a Grab Bag Chair.
This person is responsible for the grab bag, pin and poster sales
area. This is an easy and fun job
because you interface with all those wonderful children who buy grab bags
and the charming adults who buy pins and posters. This is also an important job because the
proceeds from the grab bags provide a scholarship to a Colorado School of
Mines geology student. We really
need to fill this position so hopefully someone (maybe YOU) will volunteer. We will help you learn this job and
assist you as much as needed.
Please consider it.
Respectfully
submitted,
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Greater Denver Area Gem & Mineral Council
Report to Denver Gem & Mineral Clubs
2009 Approved Grant Requests
Janie Bennett –Council
Secretary
The Council receives, evaluates and approves grants twice each year, in
March and September. This report is
sent to all eights who are now members of the Greater Denver Area Gem &
Mineral Council.
1.
Friends of Dinosaur Ridge received $5,000 in total grants for the following
projects: Dinosaur Ridge Discover Day, August, 2009 they received $500. The
grant helps partially fund the expenses for their monthly educational open
house and tour. The Council and Show
Committee members staff a table to promote the upcoming Greater Denver Gem
and Mineral Show in September. A $4,500 grant to help with new signs and
posters for Dinosaur Ridge and Triceratops Trail.
2.
Bessemer Historical Society – The Pueblo museum received $2000 for mineral
storage cases for their large mineral collection.
3.
Colorado School of Mines Museum- requested $5000 to be used to expose,
move, and install, in a cradle, an estimated 80 foot fossilized log. The Council approved this request. The School of Mines Museum later returned
the check when the project was cancelled.
4..
Todd Shannan – science teacher at Silver Creek High School –Longmont –
received $500.00 to support the physical science curriculum. The money would be used to purchase
supplies and specimens for classroom use.
5.
Colorado Mining Exhibit Foundation- received $500 toward a program to
educate teachers and the general public about earth sciences. They provide a mining exhibit at the
Labor Day “Taste of Colorado” event. Members of the show committee
participate in this event to promote the September Show.
6.
Western Interior Paleontological Society – received $3,000 for printing
publicity materials, such as posters, fliers and direct mail information,
for their symposium participants.
7.
Rocks and Minerals magazine – received $2,000 for color photos in the
August/September 2010 edition highlighting the Creede Mining District.
8.
Newsletter Grant to 9 clubs – Each of the nine area clubs can receive a
$250 grant from the Council to help defray their newsletter expenses. The prerequisite to receive this grant is
for the club to have a representative attend all four Council meetings in
2009. All nine clubs met this requirement in 2009. The total amount of
grants to clubs was $2250.00. Total funding for all approved grant requests
in 2009 was $15,250. The money for these grants comes from the profit of
the 2008 Denver Gem and Mineral Show.
Colorado
School Mines also received $3,972.85 for their scholarship fund from the
2009 show grab bag sales. March 2010
is the next time the Council will accept and review new grant requests.
Grant information and the application form is available at: www.denvermineralshow.com.
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Mineral Evolution
There is a fascinating article in the March, 2010 Scientific American,
“Evolution of Minerals”, by Robert M. Hazen. The author describes the processes by
which minerals form on the various bodies of the Solar System, and that
Earth, where there has been an oxygen-rich biosphere for hundreds of millions,
if not billions of years, has a mineral population far exceeding that of
other Solar System bodies.
“The
planets are the engines of mineral formation.” Primitive planets and
planetesimals, from which much of the meteoritic material that arrives at
Earth originates, have only about 250 mineral species, rich in iron and
nickel compounds like the sulfides.
Small planets and bodies that were never tectonically active, like
Mercury and the Moon probably only have about 350 species. Mars, which had a small supply of free
oxygen from the dissociation of water molecules by ultraviolet light added
oxides (hence the oxidized iron characteristic of the “red” planet), and
probably has about 500 species. The
tectonic activity of Earth, in which granites and other lithospheric
formations have been repeatedly re-melted and mixed, has added another 1000
or so species.
But
Earth has over 4400 known mineral species!
The author explains how the rich free-oxygen environment of our
biosphere (sustained by photosynthesis) is probably responsible for the
additional 3000 or so species!
The
scientific paper by Hazen and his colleagues, laying out this theory, is
“Mineral Evolution”, in American Mineralogist, Vol. 93, pages 1693-1720;
2008.
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Upcoming Events, Nearby
& Elsewhere
Ongoing -- USGS Free GPS, Map, & Compass Classes on the second Friday
of each month, next class March 12, 2010. The sessions are held in Building
810 on the Denver Federal Center, Lakewood; Map & Compass sessions are
in the morning, 9-11:30 a.m., and "Using GPS with Topo Maps" in
the afternoon, 12:30-5:00 p.m.; you may sign up for either or both classes.
Free to anyone, but reservations are required and space is limited; call
303-202-4689 or email.
Mar. 5-7 – International Gem & Jewelry Show. Denver Merchandise Mart,
451 E. 58th Ave., Denver, CO.; Fri. 12-6, Sat. 10-6, Sun. 11-5. Admission:
$7. Info.: 301-294-1640.
Mar. 10, Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Digital Earth: Explore the World
from Space. Ka Chun Yu, PhD, curator of space science, Space Sciences
Department, and Bob Raynolds, PhD, geologist and research associate, Earth
Sciences Department with Yu as your driver and Raynolds as your guide,
embark on an amazing tour of Earth from the vantage of a satellite in
space. This month, join us on a global tour to investigate the smashing of
continental plates, the ripping apart of continents, and the wrenching
apart of Californian vineyards. See vistas ranging from the highest mountains
on Earth to the deepest troughs of the sea, from the longest mountain range
on Earth to the tallest volcano on the planet. DOME PROGRAM, Wednesday,
March 10, 7:00 p.m., Gates Planetarium, $8 member, $10 nonmember.
Fri., Mar. 12, What’s this Rock? 7:00 p.m., Lookout Mountain Nature Center,
910 Colorow Rd. Golden, CO, phone 720-497-7600. This program is an
elementary introduction on how to identify common minerals and rocks. Learn
how minerals and rocks form, how they are classified, how geologists determine
their ages, and what they can tell us about Earth’s history. Ages 13 -
adult. This is a free program but registration is required. Please visit
http://lmnc.jeffco.us to register.
March 13 (Saturday) Dinosaur
Detectives, Footprint Frenzy: Short
course on dinosaur footprints at the Friends of Dinosaur Ridge Visitor
Center including a field trip to the tracksite on Dinosaur Ridge, for 6 to
9 year olds, other ages welcome. 10
a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Free.
Sat.,
Mar. 20, Rocks and Minerals; 9 a.m., Lookout Mountain Nature Center, 910
Colorow Rd. Golden, CO, phone 720-497-7600.
Enjoy an auto tour with Jack Reed, Emeritus Scientist at the U.S.
Geological Survey, to see and learn about typical outcrops of sedimentary,
volcanic, metamorphic and intrusive rocks in the local area. Discuss what
we can learn from examining rocks in outcrops. Ages 13 - adult. This is a
free program but registration is required. Please visit
http://lmnc.jeffco.us to register.
Mar.
26-28 – 49th Annual Gem & Mineral Show, sponsored by Fort Collins
Rockhounds. Lincoln Center, 419 W. Magnolia St., Fort Collins, CO. 4-8 Fri., 9-6 Sat., 10-5 Sun. Theme:
Nature's Treasures. Gem & mineral dealers, exhibits, door prizes,
silent auction, demonstrations, grab bags. Admission $3 daily or $5 for 3-day
pass, students age 12-18 with ID $1, children under 12 free with paid
adult. Info.: Dave Halliburton, 970-493-6168.
Sat.
& Sun. March 27 & 28, Hands of Spirit Gallery 13th Annual Spring
Mineral and Jewelry Open House from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm. You're sure to find an incredible
selection of the finest crystal and mineral specimens and a lovely
selection of jewelry and polished stones.
Call 303-541-9727 for directions and further information. http://www.handsofspirit.com
Apr.
8 (Thurs.) – Flatirons Mineral Club Silent Auction. West Boulder Senior
Center, 909 Arapahoe Ave. (9th and Arapahoe, northeast corner), Boulder,
CO. 7 p.m. Rocks, food, conversation, and shopping–what’s not to love? All
are welcome!
Fri.,
April 9 - Silent Auction, North Jeffco Gem & Mineral Club: North Jeffco
Senior Recreation Center at 6842 Wadsworth Blvd., Arvada. Setup begins at
5:30 pm; auction starts at 6:45 pm.
Free refreshments, free parking, free admission. Come check out our
silent auction, buy or sell items and have an evening of fun.
Sun.,
Apr. 11, Colorado's Changing Climate; 1:30 p.m., Lookout Mountain Nature
Center, 910 Colorow Rd. Golden, CO, phone 720-497-7600; Join Robert
Thompson and Laura Strickland from the U.S. Geological Survey for a
discussion on methods scientists use to unravel the history of climate
changes in Colorado over the last 15,000 years and how these changes have
affected ecosystems in the Colorado Mountains. Ages 13 - adult. This is a
free program but registration is required. Please visit http://lmnc.jeffco.us
to register.
Apr.
23-25 – Colorado Mineral & Fossil Show. Holiday Inn, Denver Central,
4849 Bannock St. (Frontage road west side of I-25, just north of I-70).
Fri. 10-6, Sat. 10-6, Sun. 10-5. Great dealers from around the world.
Minerals, fossils, meteorites, decorator items, gems, beads. Free
admission. Free parking. Info.: Martin Zinn Expositions.
May
17-26 (Wednesdays and Fridays, plus a field trip on Saturday, May 22)
Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Introduction to Rocks and Minerals by
Lou Taylor is designed for beginners who want an introduction to the world
of rocks and minerals. This course
offers an opportunity to explore the identification, classification, and
value of rocks and minerals. Experience hands-on geology in class with a
lecture and lab format, then apply class principles and explore local
geology in a daylong field trip.
$110 member, $140 nonmember.
May
27-31 (Thursday-Monday) Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Geology by
Canoe on the Green River. Bob Raynolds will lead a 60-mile paddle on the
Green River, from Crystal Geyser to Mineral Bottom, just north of
Canyonlands National Park, where vast side systems and water channels
branch out in all directions. This is one of the longest stretches of quiet
wilderness water in the lower 48 states. You'll enjoy hiking and exploring
this beautiful area, where you'll see ancient Fremont Indian petroglyphs
etched in the canyon walls and experience western history in an area first
documented by John Wesley Powell in 1869. $575 adult, $550 child (age 8-12)
July
9-11 (Friday-Sunday) Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Dinosaurs by
Canoe on the Colorado River will explore a path through the ancient home of
dinosaurs that roamed Earth 65 million years ago. This adventure will include
fascinating geologic formations that hold dinosaur footprints and fossils.
You'll paddle past amazing remnants of ancient metamorphic rock, camp along
the riverbanks, explore a natural amphitheater with ancient Indian rock
art, and hike into deep box canyons. $350 adult, $315 child (age 6-12).
****************
Agates
in Star Trek
From Agates Treasures of the Earth by
Roger Pabian with Brian Jackson, Peter Tandy, and John Cromartie:
"Many
fine agates can be seen decorating the space ship, Enterprise, in the
series Star Trek: The Next Generation.
This probably arose from the fact that the series creator, Gene
Roddenberry, was a skillful and ardent lapidary."
****************
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