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Board
Corner
Gerry Naugle
The FMC Board would like to invite everyone to attend the next monthly club
meeting at the West Boulder Senior Center on Thursday May 12th start at
7:10 pm to hear club member Ed Raines speaking on the topic of past
"Gold Swindles". It involves some of the mines in western Boulder
County and is a very interesting presentation.
At the meeting, Field Trips VP
Anita Colin will be updating the roster of remaining club field trips for
this summer season and will have sign up sheets there for remaining trips.
Also, at the meeting we will be requesting if anyone in the club is
interested in being the 2012 Show Chair, and, will have final sign up
sheets for volunteers for the Denver Show on the third week of this
September.
Hope to see you at the West
Boulder Senior Center auditorium this coming Thursday evening.
****************
Summer Club
Programs
Program
Speaker for May Meeting (May 12): Ed
Raines will present his program "The Fraudulent Selling of the Colorado
Gold Rush" during our May meeting.
We look forward to having him visit us again!
There
will be no club meeting in June or July.
There will be a July 'get together' on Thurs, July 14th at the
Clover Building at the Boulder County Fairgrounds, 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm for
making grab bag specimens. Contact Anita Colin or Gerry Naugle.
The
August meeting is our annual picnic on Sat Aug 20th at the North Boulder
Park Main Pavilion, last names A-M are requested to bring a salad or dish,
and last names N-Z are requested to bring a dessert or watermelon. Start at
11:00am with grab bags, the club provides sandwiches and beverages. RSVP to
Gerry Naugle by 4:00pm on Aug 19th.
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2011 Field Trips
Schedule
It’s
that time of the year when we start getting excited about the summer field
trips! During the May meeting Anita
and Gabi will present the line-up of trips and answer questions. All the sign-up sheets will be available
to register for the trips. Remember,
you must be a member of the club in order to go on the field trips, due to
insurance issues. Additionally, one
must be a member of the club before the trip date.
Here
is the list of field trips to-date.
Don’t be surprised if more dates will be added! We’re looking forward to a busy summer of
rockhounding fun! And don’t forget
to collect rock and mineral samples for the club grab bags when you’re on
your rockhounding trips.
So,
bring your calendar to the meeting and sign-up for all the field trips that
you can! Contact Anita or Gabi for
more information.
21-May
Barite: Two Creeks
22-May
Fossils, Pyrite: Holcim Quarry, Florence w/ CMS
28-May Calcite: Book Cliffs, Grand Junction
29-May Fossil Wood, Jasper: Yellow Cat, UT
4-Jun
Topaz: Park County $40 – waitlisting
5-Jun Barite: Hartsel with CMS
11-Jun Gold, Silver: Caribou Mine Dumps
18-Jun
Epidote, Actinolite, Quartz: Calumet
w/ CMS
19-Jun Garnet, Magnetite, Copper Minerals: Sedalia w/CMS
25/26-Jun Agate: Shirley Basin, Wyoming
9-Jul Pyrite: State Bridge
16-Jul Amazonite: Joe Dorris' Claim at Crystal
Peak
23-Jul Orthoclase Feldspar: Leadville
30/31-Jul Blue Beryl: Mt Antero w/ CMS
6-Aug Fossils: Flat Tops
13-Aug Agate, Jasper: Arnold Gulch Jasper
14-Aug Quartz, Magnetite, Skarn Minerals:
Missouri Hill
20-Aug Club Picnic
3-Sep Fairburn Agate: Crawford, NE
17-Sep Denver Gem and Mineral Show
1-Oct Tepee Buttes
Tentative
Gold Panning: Clear Creek w/CMS
Tentative Amethyst: Red Feather Lakes
Tentative Fossils: Rt. 93 Quarry
Tentative Sapphire, Corundum: Rawlings, WY w/CMS
Tentative Exhibits, Talks, Field Trips: Socorro
Symposium
Field
Trip Suggestions and Trip Leader Volunteers: Contact Anita or Gabi.
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North Table
Mountain Field Trip
Although
the weather on Saturday, April 23, looked threatening, with snow falling in
Boulder, 17 club members hiked to the quarry on North Table Mountain to
collect zeolite minerals. North
Table Mountain is a world-renown site for collecting zeolites, a family of
aluminosilicates with over 40 known naturally occurring zeolite
minerals. Thomsonite, analcime,
chabazite, and mesolite are relatively common at the site. Also found are other associated minerals,
including calcite and fluorapophyllite.
Altogether, 14 zeolite minerals have been identified from North Table
Mountain.
The
term zeolite was originally coined in 1756 by Swedish mineralogist Axel
Fredrik Cronstedt, who observed that when rapidly heating the zeolite
mineral stilbite, large amounts of steam evolved from water that had been
adsorbed by the material. From this, he named the mineral zeolite, from the
Greek zeo, meaning boil, and lithos, meaning stone. Both naturally
occurring and man-made zeolites are widely used in industry for water
purification, as catalysts, and in nuclear reprocessing. Their biggest use
is in the production of laundry detergents.
The
weather held out, with the sun peeking out from the clouds in the
afternoon. Everyone had a great time
and collected some very nice specimens.
Here are some of the finds from the day’s collecting.
Some
of the group searching for zeolites at the North Table Mountain Quarry
Jodi Keller and
Gabriel Cassidy trimming a zeolite specimen (photo by Wesley Cassidy)
A
nice pocket of mesolite and thompsonite crystals (photo by Wesley Cassidy)
Miu
Iwabuchi showing one of her finds, a pocket of zeolite crystals
A close up of the
chabazite crystals Miu found
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Junior
Geologist Scholarship Fund
When
you attended our Show in December, you may have noticed the sale of
“Naughty or Nice Gift Coal” in the Kids’ Area. Well, the funds received
from the sale of those bags of coal were the beginnings of a new
scholarship fund specifically for our Junior Geologists. The fund has been
established to insure that all kids who want to go on field trips –
especially to those sites that require an admission charge – will be able
to go. The fund will also be used for supplies that the Jr. Geologists
leaders feel are necessary to enrich the kids’ meetings.
Scholarship
request forms will be available from the Jr. Geologists leaders as we get
closer to the field trip season. Contact Anita Colin for more information.
The
board wishes to thank Anita and
Gabi for their hard work
on this project. And, to Dennis
Gertenbach for running the FMC Juniors’ program.
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Needed: Fun Fabrics for Grab Bags
Gabi Accatino
I
think many of you know that my mother, Adele Accatino, has been sewing grab
bags for the past couple of years.
She has made thousands of them and that's why the club hasn't asked
for people to sew for quite some time.
Adele is 84 and home bound.
Sewing these grab bags gives her a great deal of pleasure (even
though she doesn't really know for what they are used).
Well, she has
sewed-up all the fabric I've been given!
We need more to keep her going! Please donate any fun, kid-oriented
fabric that you might have. We have
more than enough floral adult bags.
That's why we're asking for fun kids' prints. I cut the fabric into 11"x8.5"
pieces, so I can use only pieces that are bigger than that size. Please bring the fabric to the club
meetings or contact me, for
other arrangements.
****************
Calling all rocks!
We
are always in need of rock specimens to put in our grab bags. They don’t need to be fancy or numerous
or tiny. Just label what they are
(if you know) and where you collected them (if you remember) and we will do
the rest. Bring them to our regular
meeting at the West Senior Center on the second Thursday of each month or
drop them off on the porch at 2334 Bluff Street in Boulder. Thank you!
****************
Jr. Geologists Activities
May’s
Jr. Geologists meeting is Volcano Night, where we will learn about the
different types of volcanoes and how they relate to plate tectonics and
other activities within our dynamic earth.
Each junior will make a volcano that will demonstrate both fluid
lava flow and gas eruptions. Through
the summer months, we will go on monthly field trips to collect minerals,
rocks, and fossils to add to our collections.
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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Jr. Geologists Grow Crystals
In
March, the juniors learned more about crystals, including their importance
in identifying minerals. Crystals
found in all of our houses – salt and sugar – were examined under a
microscope to see differences in crystal shapes.
To
complete one of the requirements for the Rock and Minerals badge, they grew
several types of crystals. The
younger juniors enjoyed growing borax snowflakes and sugar crystals “rock
candy’ to eat. The older juniors
prepared solutions to grow beautiful copper sulfate crystals at home and
made bismuth crystals. (Note: See the article below by Wesley Cassidy
about growing bismuth crystals.)
jr.
Geologists preparing to make copper sulfate crystals
Nico
Caballero, Noah Cassidy, and Wesley Cassidy making bismuth crystals
Gavin Morrison
examining salt crystals under a microscope
****************
Growing
Bismuth Crystals
Article
and photos by Wesley Cassidy, age 11
To
grow big, beautiful bismuth crystals, first you melt down very pure
bismuth. You can buy bismuth on the Internet from people who collect and
sell elements. Bismuth is a metal element with an atomic number of 83.
Bismuth’s chemical symbol is Bi, and its atomic weight is 208.98. Bismuth
can be melted over a stove, and its melting point is 520.3°F, indicating
that your stove can get very hot. You can melt bismuth in a pan, a pot, or
just about any metal cooking container. For example, measuring cups make
good containers. Melting your bismuth should take about five minutes.
Bismuth
has unusual properties. Bismuth is strange because, even though it comes
after three toxic elements on the periodic table, it isn’t poisonous. One
of these toxic elements is lead. But bismuth is very similar to lead in
other ways. In fact, a ball of native bismuth could be mistaken for a ball
of lead because both are a dull metallic grey and very heavy. Bismuth is
also strange because it is the heaviest stable element and because it
expands when it cools (most metals contract as they cool).
Once
the bismuth has melted, let it cool until it is hardening on top, but not
solid all the way through. When it melts, the bismuth becomes a lot
brighter than solid, native bismuth. Molten bismuth looks like liquid
mercury in that it is a very shiny silver color. The longer it takes for
the bismuth to cool, the bigger the crystals will become, so you want to
cool the bismuth slowly. To slow the cooling process, you can put housing
insulation (cotton batting) around the container holding the molten
bismuth. After two to three minutes of cooling, it is possible to get
crystals about ¼ inch tall. It is possible to get crystals larger than that
height, but it requires longer cooling and larger containers. Theodore
Gray, author of The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in
the Universe, bought a grown bismuth sample four inches tall.
The
next step is to remove the crystals from the container. To do this, you
must first pour off the remaining liquid bismuth into a second container. Then,
you tap the edge of the first container against the ground until the
crystals fall out. When doing this, you have to be careful since bismuth is
brittle and you don’t want to break your crystals. The bismuth crystals,
once they have been exposed to the air for a little bit, undergo oxidation
and this will cause them to change to rainbow colors. Good bismuth crystals
form in a special pattern called the hopper effect, in which the crystals
look like nesting boxes or four-sided staircases. This is caused by the
outside growing faster than the inside.
Overall,
growing bismuth crystals is a very fun experience and it is easy to do.
With a little experimenting on how long you cool the liquid bismuth, you
can produce very pretty crystals. A well-grown bismuth crystal will stand
out even in a display of your best gems and minerals.
Note: Wesley is an active member of the
Flatirons Mineral Club’s Jr. Geologists program. He grew these bismuth crystals with the
older Jr. Geologists to fulfill one of the requirements for the Rock and Mineral
badge.
One
of the groups of bismuth crystals that Wesley grew
Wesley
showing some of his bismuth crystals.
****************
Club Field Trip to CSM Museum
On
March 12, 2011, Flatirons Mineral Club members enjoyed a tour of the
Colorado School of Mines Museum given by Dr. Bruce Geller, director. In addition to the main floor tour, we
also heard the story of Colorado’s “lost and found” moon rock and visited the
extensive collections rooms downstairs.
The museum welcomes volunteers so any interested club members should
contact Bruce for more information.
Thanks again, Bruce!
Dr.
Bruce Geller tells club members about the museum’s current projects
Dave and Terry
check out the museum’s collection of Colorado amazonite.
****************
CRAWFORD
ROCK SWAP
Wade Beins, Show Chairman President
Northwest Nebraska Rock Club
Greetings
from the Panhandle! It is nearly time again for this year’s Crawford Rock
Swap. The 25th Annual Crawford Rock Swap will be held Labor Day Weekend,
Sept. 2-5, at the City Park in Crawford, Nebraska. We hope that you will be
able to attend Nebraska’s largest rock swap!
The
Crawford Swap is open to anyone interested in buying or selling rock or
rock related hobbies. There is NO fee for selling, except for a donation of
an item for the Swap Auction on Saturday night. There is free camping in
the park and admission to the show is free. We are working on having a food
vendor on the premises for part of the show.
We
will be offering free guided field trips the first three days of the show.
The public is invited and encouraged to attend. Field trips will leave the
information booth at 8.00 AM and will be traveling to the agate beds North
of Crawford. The trips are free; however you WILL need to take your own
vehicle or make arrangements to ride with someone. More information will be
available at the show.
Events
for this year’s show include the Fairburn Agate Collectors meeting with
Roger Clark, author of three books on Fairburn Agates. Roger will discuss
the latest findings in the agate world and will have copies of his latest
book. The Agate Collectors meeting will begin at 2 PM on Saturday the 3rd.
We will have a potluck Swapper’s Supper on Saturday night at 6 PM followed
by the Swap Auction. The Rock Club will provide the meat dish. This year,
the location for the supper and auction will be the Cameco Park Pavilion
Building in the City Park. Everyone is invited to attend.
Please plan to
attend this year’s Swap and bring the family. Last year’s show had over 75
dealers in attendance. There are many great rock hunting and sightseeing
opportunities within 60 miles of Crawford. For more information contact Wade Beins at (308) 432 8950 home, (308)
4301399 cell.
****************
Fossils in the News
Dennis Gertenbach
Did
the dinosaurs survive the killer asteroid?
One geologist thinks they survived the asteroid strike in the Gulf
of Mexico 65 million years ago, known as the KT boundary. For 25 years, James Fassett, a retired
geologist from New Mexico, has been touting a fossilized dinosaur femur he
found as proof that a pocket of long-necked sauropod dinosaurs survived for
hundreds of thousands of years after all the other dinosaurs were wiped
out. Using a new dating technique
that can measure the age of a fossil by directly by vaporizing a small
amount of sample with a laser and measuring the uranium and lead isotopes
in the vapor, Fassett claims that the femur dates to 700,000 years after
the extinction event. Currently, paleontologists date fossils indirectly by
determining the age of the rocks in which they are found using isotope
measurements of clay layers within the rocks.
Needless
to say, most paleontologists reject Fassett’s current data, along with
other data he has previously used to promote his theory. They point out that the uranium found in
many fossil dinosaur bones (including those in Colorado) can be deposited
there as long as a million years after the animal died. Fossil pollen data that Fassett
previously used to date his bone after the KT boundary have also been
refuted by others.
Sea Scorpions May
Not Have Been the Kings of the Ancient Seas
During
the early Paleozoic era, sea scorpions (eurypterids) have long been thought
to have ruled the seas. Reaching
lengths of 8 feed with well-developed legs and a pair of claws lined sharp
spines, these arthropods were assumed to have been the top predators. However, new study by a team of
researchers in New York and New Jersey questions this common belief. Their recently published data in the
Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences show that mechanical
constraints on the claw of the sea scorpion Acutiramus made it incapable of
penetrating the external shell of a medium-sized horseshoe crab. The researchers noted that the limited
claw movement was more effective for grasping prey on the sea floor that
for capturing swimming fish or other animals. The claw spines may have been used to
hold and shred their food. Rather
than being fearsome predators, eurpterids may have been scavengers or even
vegetarians.
An
Acutiramus pinning its prey against the sea floor. (Illustration by William
L. Parsons / Buffalo Museum of Science)
And, Ammonites
May Not Have Been Fierce Predators, Either
Ammonites
have long been thought by paleontologists to be carnivorous, catching fish
or eating clams. This is based on
the habits of modern nautiluses, which look similar to ammonites but are
actually distant relatives. However,
a recent study indicates that ammonites could not eat big prey. Using a new high energy x-ray imaging
technique, capable of penetrating any material and revealing the inner
structure, researchers from France and the US have shown that the mouth
parts of ammonite specimens from Belle Fourche, South Dakota, could only
eat small organisms floating in the water, such as zooplankton, tiny
crustaceans, and perhaps even other small ammonites. One of their images
shows the last meal of one ammonite – a small crustacean – partially shredded
by the ammonite’s jaws and the teeth-laden radula.
This
new information may help to explain why ammonites died out at the KT
boundary, when dinosaurs also became extinct. The asteroid impact would have damaged
plankton production in the oceans, severely reducing the food source for
ammonites.
X-ray
image of an ammonite’s last meal, showing a crustacean with the ammonite’s
radula teeth. (Image from ESRF/I.
Kruta)
Biggest Bear Ever
Found
According
to a new study, a prehistoric South American giant short-faced bear now
holds the record for the largest bear.
When standing, it towered at least 11 feet and weighed 3,500
pounds. The previous record holder
was the North American giant short-faced bear, a related extinct species
that weighed up to 2,500 pounds. For
comparison, the largest modern bear was a polar bear shot in Alaska in the
19th century that weighed 2,200 pounds. The South American giant
short-faced bear lived 500,000 to 2 million years ago and would have been
the largest and most powerful meat-eater on land. Although the bear’s fossils were found in
1935 in the Buenos Aires Province of Argentina, they were reexamined by
paleontologists Blaine Schubert from East Tennessee State University and
Leopoldo Soibelzon from Argentina. By
measuring its almost elephant-size humerus, or upper arm bone, the
researchers calculated the size of the rest of the bear's body.
South
American giant short-faced bear compared to a typical human. (Diagram from
Blaine Schubert)
Prehistoric Bird
Used Wings as Weapons
A
new study indicates that a flightless prehistoric bird discovered in
Jamaica used its wings as clubs, striking its enemies with its thick wing
bones. Paleontologists at Yale
University and the Smithsonian Institution analyzed a number of recently
discovered partial skeletons of Xenicibis, a member of the ibis family that
lived about ten thousand years ago, and found that its wings were
drastically different from any other known bird. About the size of a large chicken, the
bird had curved heavy wing bones, not found in any other bird, a much
larger breastbone, and longer wings than most flightless birds. These point to the birds using their
club-like wings to defend themselves against other species that might have
preyed on the birds' eggs or young.
Two of the wing bones examined by the team showed evidence of combat
and provided proof of the extreme force these birds were able to wield.
Two
prehistoric Xenicibis used their wings as clubs to attack each other. (Drawing from Nicholas Longrich/Yale
University)
****************
Upcoming Events,
Nearby & Elsewhere
May 26-30 Geology by Canoe on the Green River Paddle a 60-mile
section of the Green River, from Crystal Geyser to Mineral Bottom, just
north of Canyonlands National Park, with geologist and research associate
Bob Raynolds, PhD. This is one of the longest stretches of quiet wilderness
water in the lower 48 states. Enjoy hiking and exploring this beautiful
area, as you experience Western history in an area first documented by John
Wesley Powell in 1869. $580 adult, $555 child (ages 6-12)
July 15-17 Geology by Sea Kayak on the Colorado River. Geologists
travel from all over the world to visit the spectacular canyon country of
the Colorado Plateau, near Ruby and Horsethief Canyons. These
magnificent rock formations feature
majestic walls of red sandstone. A Museum geologist will answer your
questions and explain how the beautiful canyons got there as you paddle
your sea kayak along the river. $360 adult, $325 child (ages 6-12)
August 5-7 Dinosaurs by Canoe. Imagine canoeing along the Gunnison
River during the age of the dinosaurs. What an adventure! Let your mind
time travel on this trip, as collections manager Jeff Stephenson guides you
through this spectacular geological area. Jurassic and Cretaceous
formations along the river may hold evidence of these amazing creatures
from 140 to 90 million years ago. $360 adult, $325 child (6-12)
****************
Calendar of Events
May
12 FMC Club Meeting, 7:00 PM, West
Boulder Senior Ctr, 9th & Arap. Ed Raines on early Boulder County gold
mining swindles.
May
19 Junior Geologists Meeting, George Reynolds Branch Library, Table Mesa
Dr. & Broadway, Boulder, 6:30 p.m. Contact Dennis Gertenbach
May
23 FMC Board Meeting, George
Reynolds Branch Library, Table Mesa Dr. & Broadway, 7:15 p.m.
June
9 No club meeting in June
June
16 Junior Geologists Meeting, George Reynolds Branch Library, Table Mesa
Dr. & Broadway, Boulder, 6:30 p.m. Contact Dennis Gertenbach
June
27 No Board Meeting in June
July
14 No club meeting in July. Work
party to assemble grab bag specimens. Clover Admin Building at the Boulder
County Fairgrounds, Longmont, 7:00pm—Volunteers welcome!
July
25 FMC Board Meeting, location TBD, 7:15 p.m.
Aug.
20 Annual FMC Club picnic
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Updated 5/22/11
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