THE
762th MEETING
OF
THE MINERALOGICAL SOCIETY
OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
7:30
p.m., Friday July 13, 2001
Building E, Room 220
Pasadena City College
Pasadena, California
"Field Collectors Forum"
Moderated By
Bob Housley
JULY PROGRAM
This month we are deviating
from the usual speaker format. Instead we will have a Field Collectors Forum hosted by Bob Housley. Please bring your
slides, specimens, maps, or whatever else you my have of interest from recent
trips, or even from earlier trips you think the group may be interested in.
This is an interactive event, so your participation is crucial! It is a great
opportunity to let the group know what you have been doing. Contact Bob by
phone at (626) 449-6454 or by e-mail at rhousley@its.caltech.edu
if you need more information or if you
would like to reserve a block of time.
ANNUAL MSSC PICNIC AND SWAP MEET
The Annual Picnic and Swap meet
will be held on Saturday, August 18. Plan to be there! Detailed information
will be provided in the August Bulletin.
Researcher Says Tons of the Moon Already on the Earth;
Tektite Events May Have Triggered Extinctions
From Vector Science News Release Monday, March 19, 2001
WHITTIER, Calif. (Vector
Science News)—The Moon is not the geologically dead world that most
astronomy textbooks claim, says Darryl S. Futrell, a California-based
petrologist. Futrell believes there's strong evidence of massive,
lunar-volcanic explosions right here on Earth. The most recent eruption on the
Moon, which showered a portion of the Earth with many tons of natural glass,
occurred within the past 770,000 years, he notes.
Futrell, who has written about
his studies of meteoritic stones called tektites in the journal Nature, says
he has amassed evidence that strongly suggests these natural glass stones are
volcanic material blown off the Moon by eruptions. Futrell studied the
long-debated tektite origin puzzle under the guidance of the famous Project
Apollo lunar scientist John A. O'Keefe (1916-2000) beginning in the late
1960s; like his famous mentor, Futrell is convinced that the Moon periodically
hurls volcanic debris into Earth's gravity well causing climate change and
extinctions.
“The Earth has experienced
about 12 tektite events in the last 65 million years," Futrell says.
"Even though another event may not occur for thousands of years, the
slight possibility that it could occur tomorrow needs to be taken into
consideration."
Futrell refutes the popular
theory that tektites were formed when asteroids or comets impacted Earth and
melted sediments and rocks. He has identified volcanic structures within
chunky, layered tektites (called Muong Nong tektites), which cannot be
explained in the context of terrestrial impact-melt origin. According to
Futrell, based on other physical evidence, including the fact that Apollo 12
and 14 astronauts found rocks with tektite-like chemistries on the Lunar'
surface, it's now easy to conclude tektites come from the Moon.
"There is an another
extremely important reason why the scientific community should take a closer
look at the origin of tektites," he says. "If the massive biological
extinctions do have a tektite association, and tektites are formed within the
Moon, then we should be watching our natural satellite for signs of explosive
volcanic activity."
Reprinted with the permission of
Darryl Futrell
MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND 2001 - FIELD TRIP REPORT
The
Blanchard Claims, Royal Flush and Mex-Tex
Bingham,
Socorro County, New Mexico
Carolyn Seitz
Our Memorial Day weekend field
trip began for some of us on Thursday, at the New Mexico Bureau of Mines &
Mineral Resources Mineral Museum on the campus of the New Mexico Institute of
Mining and Technology in Socorro, New Mexico. Their display of minerals, while
perhaps considered small is very impressive and beautifully displayed. If you
haven’t paid this museum and its curator, Virgil Lueth, a visit, make plans
to do so.
After our visit to the Museum,
we headed to the Blanchard Rock Shop in Bingham to check in with Allison
Nilsen, the owner of the rock shop and the caretaker for the Royal Flush, Mex-Tex
and Blanchard Claims, and then we headed to the foot of the Blanchard Claims
to set up camp. Unable to resist the temptation, we wandered around the hill
that is the home of the Blanchard Claims. We speculated about some of the
structures we saw, pondered how anyone would have been able to haul such a
large rock crusher up the hill a hundred or so years ago and we marveled at
what we could see of some of the very large adits, including the Portales
Mine.
Our actual collecting trip was
to begin on Friday, with a trip to the Mex-Tex and the Royal Flush. These
mines are under claim by Tom Massis whom we met at the Blanchard Rock Shop
early on Friday morning. We thought we were going to hear about the geology of
the Mex-Tex and the history and that there would be very little collecting
opportunities there. The plan was to make a quick trip to the Mex-Tex and then
head to the Royal Flush. Jim Schlegel, Chris Sibel and Carolyn Seitz were
instead treated to a wonderful, but brief history of the Mex-Tex and an
introduction to its geology and mineralization and we were cautioned about
where not to go. Much of the Mex-Tex has collapsed, but that didn’t mean
that there weren’t plenty of collecting opportunities. We stayed at the Mex-Tex
with Tom until about 3 PM! What did we find? Quartz – clear, smoky and
slightly amethystine. Fluorite – clear, green, yellow, purple, blue.
Brochantite, malachite, the rare spangolite, wulfenite, galena, anglesite,
cerrusite, barite, and the much sought after linarite. We are all sure we
found other minerals as well and totally enjoyed ourselves. We expected just a
quick look around, but instead spent nearly the whole day there and could have
stayed days longer.
Our next stop was with Tom at
the Royal Flush. Here again, we were treated to her rich history and given a
quick lesson in her geology. Ray DeMark was also at the Royal Flush waiting
for us. He had found an area of mottramite and had stacked up a small pile of
it. He also gave Carolyn a rare malachite pseudomorph of chalcopyrite. Here
again, we had full access to the Royal Flush and the collecting opportunities
here were also just as amazing as at the Mex-Tex. We donned hard hats and
headed into one of the tunnels. While there were lots of places in the tunnel
to collect, the rubble on the floor also produced some great specimens. The
Fluorite was plentiful and beautiful. For the most part, unlike at the Mex-Tex,
the Fluorites were cubic in form and primarily the blue for which this area is
well known. Much of it is associated with barite, galena and quartz. In about
2 hours of collecting here, we all came away with as much as we could possibly
carry. We agreed we could have stayed here for days as well. Tom Massis was a
very willing and generous host and his enthusiasm for these claims was very
infectious. Tom Massis and Ray DeMark wrote a great article for The
Mineralogical Record about the Mex-Tex and the Royal Flush. It is Volume 30,
Number 5, from September-October, 1999.
Back at camp on Friday night,
the three of us agreed that we had already collected more in one day than we
ever anticipated – more than we expected to find over the course of the
entire weekend. Chris headed into Socorro, forty miles away, to get more ice
for all of us and to get more wrapping materials. We had exhausted our supply
of wrapping material on a roll – otherwise known as toilet paper. Over the
course of the day, we collected all sizes of specimens from micros to
thumbnail size to miniature, small and large cabinet pieces. It was a great
day for all of us.
Saturday morning, we headed
back to the Blanchard Rock Shop to meet Ray DeMark. Ray is one of the claim
holders on the Blanchard Claims, along with Brian Huntsman and Mike Sanders.
We were joined at the rock shop by Bill and Jackie Stutz. After completing the
required paperwork, we headed back to the Blanchard Claims with Ray DeMark. At
the base of the hill, Ray told us about the history of the area, of the
Blanchard family and others who had worked this area for more than 100 years.
We learned about the equipment and structures and the geology. Then we toured
all of the collecting areas with Ray, including the Portales Mine, Sunshine
#1, #2, #3, #4 and #6, some of which are no longer accessible, and many
extensive exposures of mineralized zones on cut faces all over the mountain.
We saw the location of the Trinity Missile site and over much of the day,
watched a small group of intrepid hunters in pursuit of Oryx. Oryx were
introduced into this area many years ago and their herd has flourished. We
also saw elk and deer on the valley floor.
After our tour of the mountain
with Ray, we headed with him back to Sunshine #1 for collecting. After
scrambling up a rubble incline, we popped up into a room to look around, then
we crawled under a fluorite ledge and popped up into a much bigger room where
the entire ceiling is fluorite – mostly massive. Ray introduced us to this
area and told us about the things that had been collected here. There was a
periodic cool breeze that came from a small tunnel adjoining this room, but
that tunnel was pretty well filled with debris from a small collapse. It was
in this room that Brian Huntsman found some of the largest linarite crystals
ever found in the world. Some of these linarites are pictured in The
Mineralogical Records’s New Mexico issue, Volume 20, #1. Here we were free
to collect anywhere we wanted. Ray had chosen his spot and the rest of us did
the same. The walls were filled with pockets, the ceiling nearly all fluorite.
The green fluorite in this room was mostly massive and highly fractured. There
were beautiful clear fluorites, rounded forms of stepped cubes in association
with galena, quartz, linarite, brochantite and barite. In some areas, the
massive veins of bladed barite facilitated collecting. It made it easier to
break out some areas in search of treasure-filled pockets. Chris Sibel had
perched himself in an area that interested him and spent a few hours laying on
his side on hard scrabble pounding away on a spot that interested him and when
he broke away a large hunk of barite, was rewarded, for there on the wall
right in front of his face was a beautiful galena cube coated with linarite
and a small amount of tiny, shiny white quartz crystals. In the Min-Rec New
Mexico issue, there is a photo of a linarite pseudomorph after a cubic galena
crystal. That specimen is in Ray DeMark’s collection. Chris can be every bit
as proud of his great find. Jim Schlegel worked a few areas in this huge room
as did Bill and Jackie Stutz and we all found magnificent things to bring
home, including purple cubic fluorite clusters, large linarite coated
limestone, and many association pieces of fluorite, quartz, galena, barite and
brochantite.
Late in the afternoon, Jim,
Chris and Bill went into Sunshine #3 with Ray and again were treated to a
history of that particular mine. A couple of hours later, out they popped,
once again carrying all they could carry. In this mine, there are large
pockets of quartz, some slightly smoky. The fluorites, many heavily iron
stained, are primarily cubic and the dark blue for which the Blanchard Claims
are famous. Carolyn ended up with a fist sized chunk of snowy white gypsum
with cyanotrichite and brochantite, thanks again to the generosity of Ray
DeMark. Jim had settled into an area in the tunnel that interested him and
ended up leaving most of what he found that afternoon in the mine. He returned
Sunday morning to wrap up his specimens, do a little more collecting, and then
he headed to the Portales Mine with Brian Huntsman. Brian went into the Glory
Hole, not accessible to any of us, but directed Jim to an area in the Portales
that he thought had some potential.
If any of you know Jim Schlegel
very well, or have ever been field collecting with him, you’ll be surprised
to know that by mid-afternoon on Sunday, Jim stopped collecting. He didn’t
stop because there wasn’t anything to collect. He stopped because he had his
fill. He was moving some rock on the floor to better access a spot on the wall
that had piqued his interest, but in doing so, noticed that the floor also
looked interesting. He pried up a hunk from the floor and turned it over to
see that the bottom of that piece was fully coated with beautiful blue cubes
of fluorite and a scattering of quartz. He continued working on the floor for
some time and when he pried out a large piece, perhaps 30 pounds or so and
turned it over, he decided that was it. He didn’t need anymore. This piece,
like the many others he had just collected in a relatively short period of
time was also coated with beautiful fluorite. Even though there was much still
visible, he stopped, deciding that he had enough. Brian Huntsman remarked to
Jim that he ought to keep working until midnight, or until the area was
totally worked out, but Jim was at the point where he just didn’t need to do
that. He enlisted the help of Bill and Jackie to carry his treasures out to
his truck and they helped wrap them for safekeeping on the bumpy ride back
down to camp. They all arrived back down at camp; Jim’s face a smile as big
as you’ve ever seen him have. He shared his story of the day and distributed
pieces of his great collecting to the rest of us.
We had an early campfire that
night and marveled at the experience we had just had. It wasn’t long into
the celebration of the weekend’s success that the customary joke telling
began and Bill noticed that all of us from MSSC on the trip had last names
that began with the letter “S”. We decided that the combination of our
names made the perfect lawfirm, Schlegel, Sibel, Stutz & Seitz.
We all had a great time. Our
original plan included collecting on Monday as well, but there was just no
need. We all had so much more than we ever anticipated, there was no need to
find more. We didn’t clean many of our great finds in camp, but left those
that still had good pocket mud just the way they were, hoping that great mud
would protect the crystals. Bill and Jackie were the first out of camp on
Monday morning to head back to California. Chris left next to head to Silver
City and then back to San Diego. Jim and Carolyn headed up to Albuquerque to
the home of Ray and Judy DeMark to see Ray’s collection. He not only has a
stunning collection of New Mexico minerals, understandably, but he has also
put together an amazing collection of micros and his now working on his second
set. Because he and Judy were living in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for a
few years while Judy was teaching American History at the University, they
also have a beautiful collection of Michigan minerals.
As was the case with Tom Massis
and his generosity, Ray DeMark and Brian Huntsman couldn’t have done more to
make this trip outstanding for all of us. Their knowledge of the history and
geology of the area was extensive and their passion for these very rich claims
and the minerals produced from them was inspiring to all of us. We owe them
all a big thanks, but merely saying thanks seems too little an exchange for
their hospitality and generosity.
We all agreed, Jim, Chris,
Bill, Jackie and me, that this was the best field trip we’ve ever had. It
was a very long drive, but well worth it.
MINUTES OF THE JUNE 2001 MEETING
The meeting was called to order
by President Dave Smith at about 7:40 pm on Friday, June 8th in the lecture
room at PCC. Dave then introduced our speaker Charles Carmona.
Charles presented a slide show
and talk on last years trip by the L.A. County Natural History Museum to the
State of Minas Gerias Brazil to collect gems. He stated that the next trip
will be start on June 25 of this year, and will include several MSSC members
present at the meeting.
Last year an eclectic group of
about 13 visited 8 mines in 13 days. The tour consisted of busing from
district to district, and visiting both mines and dealers to collect and
purchase gem material. The gems obtained were Imperial Topaz, Emerald,
Tourmaline, and Aquamarine. While the best material was purchased from dealers
or independent miners, enough was obtained from digging and mining to qualify
it as a field trip. From the slides it was obvious that this is an interesting
area both geologically and scenically. All the participants seemed to be
having a good time, and were consuming large quantities of the local high
proof cane juice.
When asked about any
difficulties on the trip, he stated that they traveled from area to area in
comfortable buses, stayed in good hotels, and ate in good restaurants. The
most anyone had to walk was about one half mile, and that was over level
terrain. All the people they met were pleasant and cooperative, and while the
areas visited are not as modern as the US, all are clean and well kept up.
There is little or no crime outside the major cities, and there are no health
problems with the local food or water. Brazil is emerging as the major country
in South America, and presently has the eighth largest economy in the world.
It is a third world country rapidly approaching first world status.
Charles showed several flats of
excellent material he obtained on the trip. All in all it was an excellent
presentation and well received by the audience.
Dave then brought up a motion
that the minutes of the May meeting be approved. It was seconded and the
minutes were approved unanimously.
Carolyn Seitz gave a briefing
on the Field Trip to the Blanchard mine. By any measure it was a huge success.
She said it was the best trip she has ever been on, and the seven flats of
superb specimens she brought in did not contradict that statement. She
promised a more detailed Field Trip Report in the near future. Hopefully this
area will become a regular part of the MSSC field trip agenda.
Dave then asked Jim Schlegel to
give an update on the show. He said that all was progressing satisfactorily,
and reiterated his need for volunteers. Several members indicated that they
were willing to help, a hopeful sign of things to come. He then said that
everyone that goes collecting should consider collecting Kid Rocks for the
show. It is important that we nurture the next generation if our hobby is to
survive. He praised Carolyn Seitz for the help she has been providing, and she
stated that John Sinkankas, and Bob Jones will be speakers at the show. Dave
stated that we will need more volunteers than normal due to potential
unavailability of the usual level of PCC Dana Club support.
The subject of the August
Picnic and Swap Meet was then brought up. Dave said he had just received an
email from Janet Gordon saying that we need to set a date, and that it needs
to be in the first part of August to not conflict with PCC activities.
The meeting adjourned at 9:15
Respectfully Submitted by Walt Margerum, for the Secretary
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
JULY
7-8 Culver City, CA
Culver City Rock & Mineral Club
Veteran's Memorial Auditorium, Culver Blvd. & Overland Ave.
Hours: Sat 10-6 Sun 10-5
Show Chair: Gary Strickland (310) 676-4523 /
g.strickland@prodigy.net
Publicity Chair: Brad Smith (310) 472-6490 / brad@greenheart.com
Show Website: http://www.gembiz.com/ccrmc/fiesta.htm
6-8 Davis Creek/Lassen Creek CFMS North Field
Trip, and
13-15 Glass Butte CFMS North Field Trip.
Join us for just one weekend or join us for both. I know this is a long trip
for people from southern California; it is a long trip for us in northern
California, but is will be worth it. I am planning other collecting stops
during the intervening week as we travel from Davis Creek to Glass Butte.
Details and trip fliers are available in the February issue of the CFMS
Newsletter that is on this Web site. (available
from MSSC website) More information will be in the coming issues of the
CFMS Newsletter.
Richard
Pankey Field Trip Chair - North
e-mail: dickpankey@juno.com
27, 28, 29 Nipomo, CA
Orcutt Mineral Society,
St. Joseph's Church, 298 S. Thompson Ave.
Hours: 10-5
Show Chair: Glenda Reeves (805) 733-2775 / hawkymom@aol.com
Publicity Chair: Wayne Mills (805) 481-3495 /
Wwmills50@hotmail.com
July 28-29 Escondido, CA Palomar
Gem and Mineral Club, Inc.
Del Dios Middle School , 1400 West Ninth Ave.
Hours: Sat 9-7 Sun 9-2
Van Lynch (760) 749-4164
AUGUST
18 Pasadena, CA MSSC
Picnic and Swap Meet. More information in the August Bulletin. Be there!
Contact Cathy Case at caseyscurios@earthlink.net
SEPTEMBER
29-30 Downey, CA
Delvers Gem and Mineral Society, inc.
Woman's Club of Downey, 9813 Paramount Blvd.
Hours: Sat 10-5 Sun 10-4
Manfred Dexling (562) 425-0192
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