News Nuggets

Newsletter of the Albuquerque Gem & Mineral Club

Volume 52 Number 6

Our meeting this month will feature a silent auction of materials donated to the AGMC by Jennifer Muramyama and Tom Schmierer. The proceeds from the auction will be exclusively for the benefit of the AGMC. Jennifer was active with our club as a junior member from 1989 to 1994 and expressed a desire to "give something back to the club." Jennifer purchased the donated materials at the estate sale of Florence La Bruzza. Florence is perhaps best remembered as the author of the Third Edition of Northrop's Minerals of New Mexico. Prior to coming to New Mexico, Florence worked on a number of projects that involved cataloging collections at the Smithsonian in Washington. The donated materials consist of 20 flats of miscellaneous minerals from world-wide sources with an emphasis on micro-minerals.

There are also items of mineralogical interest, such as fulgurites and a very nice framed fossil fish (diplomystus. sp) from Kemmerer, Wyoming. There are also several boxes of books, periodicals and other mineralogical-related publications. These include the 6^th and 7^th editions of Dana's System of Mineralogy, Northrop's 2^nd Edition of Minerals of New Mexico, and Rocks and Minerals Magazine from 1981-2002. A short wave/long wave UV lamp is also included.

In addition to the material donated by Jennifer Murayama, we will have one table of worldwide mineral specimens donated by Tom Schmierer. The proceeds from the sale of this material will be used to benefit the junior members of the club.

Many thanks to Jennifer and Tom for their generous donations.

Ray DeMark

I can’t believe we’re halfway through the year already! I hope it’s been a good one for you so far and will continue getting better. Now then, if you would like to make things better for the club there are two positions we need to fill. First we are still looking for an AGMC Treasurer. Without that position filled it is pretty near impossible to run our club. Because of his schedule Jake, our present Treasurer, needs to leave. However Jake says he will be more than happy to help you out and work with you. Once again this is a key position on the AGMC Board that needs to be filled.

Secondly, the Junior Club needs help. We have a room for the Junior Club to meet and a good list of people who would like to help out. But what we don’t have is somebody to coordinate the club and make sure that there is a volunteer with a program for each month. Remember you are not responsible for doing any of the programs, just contacting those people who are already on our volunteer list and organizing which month they will present. Depending on the program there may be a need for helpers (but since the parents are bringing the kids they should be very easy to recruit). Once again we have a good list already started and the Board would be very happy to give what help it can. If interested you can contact me or any other member of the Board.

Thirdly, don’t miss out on the "News Nuggets" and the Field Trips, which can happen when your membership has not been renewed. Remember all memberships are family memberships, which include all members of the household. And it’s just $20 for the year. You can send your dues to the AGMC, P.O. Box 13718, Albuquerque, NM 87192 or simply pay your dues at the next monthly meeting.

Fourth and last, I hope to see you at the next meeting and till then… "Keep looking down!"

Grant

24-26 - SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH: Show; The Bead Renaissance Shows; Utah State Fairpark, 155 North 1000 West; Fri. 10-6, Sat. 10-6, Sun. 10-5; free admission; retail and wholesale, ancient, vintage, contemporary, and designer beads, buttons, jewelry, tools, books; contact J&J Promotions LLC, P.O. Box 420, Williamsburg, NM 87942, (505) 894-1293; e-mail: info@beadshow.com; Web site: www.beadshow.com.

1-3 - FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA: 19th annual show; Flagstaff Gem & Mineral Society; Little America Hotel, Butler Ave. and I-40; Fri. 11-6, Sat. 10-6, Sun. 10-4; adults $3, children under 12 free; rough rocks, gemstones, minerals, jewelry, beads, crystals, fossils, tools, equipment; contact Val Latham, 6598 Pintail, Flagstaff, AZ 86004, (928) 526-5152.

1-3 - PASADENA, CALIFORNIA: Show; International Gem & Jewelry Show Inc.; The Pasadena Center, 300 E. Green St.; contact Cathy Garsow, (951) 698-4833.

8-10 - DURANGO, COLORADO: 51st annual show; 4 Corners Gem & Mineral Club; La Plata County Fairgrounds, 2500 Main Ave.; Fri. 11-6, Sat. 10-6, Sun. 10-5; free admission; 35 indoor and outdoor dealers, mineral specimens, lapidary materials, equipment, fossils, prospecting, jewelry, beading, demonstrations, door prizes, raffle; contact Bill Birza, (970) 247-0187; e-mail: wcbirzzz@durangolive.net; Web site: www.durangorocks.org.

8-10 - SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH: Show; Gem Faire; Utah State Fair Park, 155 N 1000 W; Fri. 12-7, Sat. 10-7, Sun. 10-5; $5 weekend pass; gem show; contact Gem Faire, (503) 252-8300; e-mail: info@gemfaire.com; Web site: www.gemfaire.com.

23-24 - CASPER, WYOMING: Show; Natrona County Rockhounds; Parkway Plaza, I-25 and Center St.; Sat. 9-5, Sun. 9-4; contact Darell Polk, (307) 472-5950, or Steve Pfaff, (307) 234-9874.

11-14 - BUENA VISTA, COLORADO: 22nd annual show, "Contin-tail" Colorado Federation of Gem & Mineral Societies; Buena Vista Rodeo Grounds; outdoor show, 200,000 plus square feet of rocks, minerals, fossils, gems, beads, jewelry; contact Carolyn Tunnicliff, (303) 833-2939; e-mail: ctunnicliff@comcast.net; Web site: www.coloradorocks.org.

19-21 - LAKE GEORGE, COLORADO: Show; Lake George Gem & Mineral Club; U.S. Hwy. 24; free admission; minerals, fossils, local specimens, jewelry, lapidary, field trips; contact Richard Parsons, (303) 838-8859; e-mail: tazaminerals@att.net.

President - Grant Kuck; Home phone: 323-1520; E-mail: gkuck@flc.org

VP-Membership & VP-Programs - Kimberly Richie; Home phone: 296-8847; E-mail: cattrax55@wmconnect.com

VP-Field Trips - Ron Boyd; Home phone: 262-0053; Email: RGB417@aol.com

Secretary - Suzanne Seymour; Home phone: 877-3621; Email: suzannerox5@aol.com

Treasurer – OPEN; Howard (Jake) Jacobs; Home phone: 869-1565; E-mail: goldpanjake@msn.com

Historian - Dave Moats; Home phone: 892-8163; E-mail: beepbeep59@hotmail.com

VP – Programs - Mike Sanders; Home phone: 256-1797; E-mail: mrsande@sandia.gov

Special Events - Orlando Garcia; Home phone: 345-0520; E-mail: jabog02@msn.com

The Club Newsletter; News Nuggets exists to assist the membership in communications and to provide information on club activities. Contributions from all members are welcome on any information that will promote club activities or that would be of interest to club members. News Nuggets is scheduled to be mailed approximately one week prior to the monthly meeting. Mail news, articles or comments to: Paul Napolitano, Editor, 7304 Yorktown, NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109, or email to tcot@spinn.net.

The Albuquerque Gem & Mineral Club was organized on January 22, 1944. The club is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement and enjoyment of the Earth Sciences and associated subjects. Its primary purpose is the exchange of information and the furtherance of knowledge of Mineralogy, Fossils, Geology, Rock Cutting and Gem Faceting and to stimulate interest in the development of these studies.

All Meetings are held at the NM Museum of Natural History, Albuquerque, NM. The general meeting is held on the 4^th Monday of the month (unless otherwise announced) at 7:30 p.m. The Junior Club meets at 6:45 p.m. prior to the general meeting. Board of Directors meetings is held at 7:30 pm on the first Monday of each month. (Call for location). The public is welcome to both meetings.

Being a member of the Albuquerque Gem and Mineral Club does not make you an official of the AGMC. This makes it inappropriate for any member to take on any responsibility or authority for any club activity without explicit instruction from the AGMC Board of Directors.

Hi All! As I’m sure some of you already know from Grant’s writings, we’re eager to kick-start the Junior Club and need some volunteers to help out.

If you like working with children and have an idea for a presentation or hands-on demonstration that you would like to present to the Junior Club, we need you! We are soliciting potential topics from folks willing to present. We’re only asking for you to help for one meeting. Just one. If you like it, sure, you can do a second (or third), but we’re looking to get enough speakers together to have each person present just once in a year.

As Grant mentioned, we have a meeting room across the parking lot from the General Meeting, so there won’t be interruptions as folks gather early. Further, The Juniors will finish up just prior to the General Meeting, so you don’t have to worry about missing any goings-on!

Until we find a volunteer to lead the effort, please contact either Grant or I if you’d like to be considered for future Junior Club presentations.

Thanks!

Paul Napolitano

ß 23.3 Misuse of the terms "handmade," "hand wrought," etc.

(a) It is unfair or deceptive to represent, directly or by implication, that any industry product is handmade or hand wrought unless the entire shaping and forming of such product from raw materials and its finishing and decoration were accomplished by hand labor and manually-controlled methods which permit, and finish of each part of each individual product.

NOTE: As used herein, "raw materials" include bulk sheet, strip, wire, and similar items that have not been cut, shaped, or formed into jewelry parts, semi-finished parts, or blanks.

(b) It is unfair or deceptive to represent, directly or by implication, that any industry product is hand-forged, hand engraved, hand-finished, or hand-polished, or has been otherwise hand-processed, unless the operation described was accomplished by hand labor and manually-controlled methods which permit the maker to control and vary the type, amount, and effect of such operation on each part of each individual product.

Orlando Garcia

Ron Boyd gave a short debriefing of the Harding Mine field trip, and announced the location of the next trip scheduled for July 2^nd to the Small Fry claim near Abiquiu. The material to be collected here is a lavender/purple botryoidal fluorite, calcite, and zeolites. Actually the zeolites are in a road cut close by; the specifics are later in this newsletter.

Mike Sanders introduced the evening’s speaker Sid Ash. Considering that he grew up on Albuquerque’s west side it’s not hard to understand an early and abiding interest in fossil plants.

Sid began by asking if anyone remembered his last talk to our club in 1964. That got a few raised hands and mostly chuckles. Clearly on this night, newbies and pictures of cycads outnumbered the vertebrate fossils. Sid had a fine show of slides taken of locations and material he’s studied, and he liberally entertained questions from everyone.

Currently Cycads exist in Australia, South Africa, India, and sparsely in southern Florida. They resemble palms and until recently were thought to be. They have a cone at the center that produces seeds and pollen though, which puts them in another category. They were common in the Mesozoic, appearing in the Jurassic, "The Age of Cycads". When Sid began to study them, he found they were common in the Petrified Forest National Park, especially the Chinle Formation of the geologic column. That’s where he studied a lot of the cool stuff he showed us pictures of. Evidence of seven different kinds of trees has been found in this formation, along with true ferns and horsetails. The three-foot leaves of the cycads provided browse for micro and mega fauna alike in what was a more damp and equatorial environment than today. He had some pictures of galls and tunneling typical of bark beetles that are evidence of insect damage, but sadly none of leaves in the belly of a beast. Now that would be something to find!!!

Mr. Ash was asked a number of questions on the parameters of petrifaction and his responses I’ll distill with the following; Mineral replacement of woody tissue takes place in an anaerobic environment. This necessitates a burial environment, ideally a burial that occurs before natural forces of browsing or decomposition can occur. This is a rare event. Water containing dissolved minerals percolates down through the overlying deposit, and actual replacement mechanisms are poorly understood. Laboratory controlled studies have achieved petrifaction in as little as a few weeks, though it’s unlikely that the process normally is any where nearly that fast practically speaking.

Around here the predominant fossilized wood is Araucarioxylon, a tree similar to the modern day Norfolk Pine. This tree is also is responsible for most of the highly colored material we’re familiar with from the Petrified Forest. Curiously the high degree of coloration also obscures original cell structure, making them less desirable for study.

Thanks Sid! I greatly increased my understanding of what was happening around here in the Jurassic and Traissic.

Dan Sisneros did double duty to provide us with goodies. Double thanks Dan!!

Outstanding door prizes [Procured by Dave Moats] kept a large crowd on hand.

Suzanne Seymour

Saturday July 2^nd

Small Fry Deposit

Rio Arriba County, NM

The June field trip will take us up to the Small Fry deposit. The trip is scheduled for the 2^nd of July. This deposit is located near Abiquiu, Rio Arriba County, NM. We can expect to collect Fluorite, Calcite, and if we're lucky, some Barite. The Fluorite forms in veins as reniform (botryoidal) and is a light purple in color. I have seen some very nice calcite and barites from here.

This is perhaps the youngest fluorite deposit in the state, as the mineralization is found in the Lower Santa Fe formation (Tertiary), which is composed of gravels, sandstones and most importantly altered volcanics. Approximately 1000 tons of fluorite was shipped from the deposit to a mill in Los Lunas, New Mexico.

The driving time from Albuquerque to the meeting spot is a minimum of two hours. To reach the meeting spot, take U.S. 84 North from Santa Fe thorough Espanola (en route to Abiquiu). We will meet at 8:30 AM just west of the intersection with NM 554, which is about three miles east of Abiquiu there is a small store there with a large parking lot in front. From there, we'll proceed north on NM 554 for 4.1 miles (from the Chama River bridge). To reach the prospect, we must cross a barbed wire fence and hike about 1/4 mile.

Much fluorite and calcite can be found on the surface, but a rock hammer and or pick will be of use. Please note that it will probably be hot; so bring a lot of water and sunscreen, hats etc. Also, there are no facilities in the area. The early meeting will be an attempt to beat the heat as much as we can!

On our way back home we can stop at the Del Oso River Zeolite location (or on the way up if you have the time). It is on U.S. 84 and is located between mile markers 197 and 198. The road cut through a basalt flow that contains the Zeolites. Harmotone, Levyne, Chabazite, Thomsonite and a couple of unknowns. Please be careful, as this is a busy road.

Again credits go to Ray DeMark!

Hope to see you all!

Ron Boyd

From the devious mind of Paul Hlava

The Game Plan – I will describe a mineral and you have to guess/decipher/research the name of the mineral and the answers to the other questions asked about uses, history, notable facts, etc. I expect the Top Guns in the club to be able to guess the name off the top of their heads. The learners will need a reference book or two. You will benefit most if you do not ask others for the answers but work it out for yourself. When you have decided on the name you can compare notes with others or wait for the answers to be announced at the meetings or published in the News Nuggets. Good luck and have fun.

an unusual to rare oxide of iron and/or manganese with two exotic, heavy metals. Sometimes found as euhedral (you should all recognize what that means after my article on hedra), orthorhombic crystals but can be massive and granular and it can form big masses. It is found in granitic pegmatites or alluvial deposits derived from them. It is submetallic, black to brownish black with a brownish black streak, usually opaque, and dense with a specific gravity that averages about 6.3 but can vary from 5.3 to 7.3 depending on the amount of the heavier metal present. Its hardness is 6 and it has one distinct direction of cleavage. I'm looking for the name of the material that is richer in the "lighter" of the two exotic elements because it is named for a place. Remember, I'm concentrating on minerals named for places this year.

What is the name of the mineral?

What was the mineral named for?

What minerals are associated with this one?

What is this mineral mined/used for?

How did that metal get its old name?

What is the new name for this metal.

What is the lighter exotic metal used for?

Localities – (Just list the famous/important ones)

--NM –

--USA –

--World –

What is the name of the mineral? Elbaite

What was the mineral named for? The Isle of Elba (yep, the same place where they exiled Napoleon.)

What minerals are associated with this one? Quartz, albite var. cleavelandite, microcline perthite, muscovite, lepidolite, beryls, and other pegmatite minerals.

What group of minerals does it belong in? The tourmaline group

What is it mined/used for? Gemstones.

Which month can it be a birthstone for? October - pink.

What unusual optical property does this mineral display? Strong Dichroism.

What unusual physical property does it show? Thermo-electricity.

Localities – (Just list the famous/important ones)

--NM – none

--USA – Pala dist., CA; Maine

--World – Elba, Brazil, Nigeria, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Namibia, Russia, etc.

Paul Hlava 050607

Thirty-two members were treated to an excellent talk by Paul Hlava on May 21^st. We met at 10 AM in Dixon. After signing in and a little orientation, we all (19 vehicles) headed up towards the mine. Approximately a mile before we left the paved road, we stopped and Paul explained a little about some of the metamorphic rocks present. This includes quartzite, mica schist and a metamorphed conglomerate. In some of the formations we found andalusite, garnet, and remains of staurolite. After this we proceeded to the Harding and once again Paul gave a great talk on the history and the mineralogy of the mine. Some of the minerals found included Lepidolite, spodumene, beryl, and a few lucky members found some ferrotantalite. After a couple hours we hiked up to the iceberg calcite mine and some very nice optical grade calcite was collected.

All in all, I think we had a great day! The weather was ideal, we learned a lot about the area, and there weren’t any mishaps!

Ron Boyd

The following is the tentative schedule for field trips this year. Changes may be made, so check the News Nuggets for actual dates and destinations.

July: Annual picnic. Location TBA.

August: Tentatively Crystal Peak, Contin-Tail show, and Ruby Mt. all in central Colorado. More later!

September: Royal Flush Mine, Bingham, NM.

October: A geologic trip along the Turquoise Trail.

November: Blanchard Claims. Fluorite etc.!

The New Mexico Expo 2005 is not far away and we need specimens from the next 2 field trips for giveaways.

Please bring back some small specimens from the Small Fry field trip this month. We need small fluorites which will fit in a 2"x3" ziplock bag. Please keep them small! We need about 200 little guys by the August meeting or earlier. Please call Orlando at 345-0520 if you brought some home to contribute for the fair. Any other small specimens this size (and at least 30 of them) are greatly appreciated.

Orlando Garcia

Silent Auction

Our meeting this month will feature a silent auction of materials donated to the AGMC by Jennifer Muramyama and Tom Schmierer. The proceeds from the auction will be exclusively for the benefit of the AGMC. Jennifer purchased the donated materials at the estate sale of Florence La Bruzza. The donated materials consist of 20 flats of miscellaneous minerals from worldwide sources with an emphasis on micro-minerals, fulgurites, a very nice framed fossil fish (diplomystus. sp) from Kemmerer, Wyoming, a short wave/long wave UV lamp, several boxes of books, periodicals and other mineralogical-related publications, including the 6^th and 7^th editions of Dana's System of Mineralogy, Northrop's 2^nd Edition of Minerals of New Mexico, and Rocks and Minerals Magazine from 1981-2002.

We will also have one table of worldwide mineral specimens donated by Tom Schmierer, the proceeds from which will benefit the junior members of the club.