News Nuggets

Newsletter of the Albuquerque Gem & Mineral Club

It's late Monday night, March 13^th and we're in the home stretch the week of our annual club show. Treasures of the Earth 2006 begins at 10:00 AM on March 17, 2006. Despite some last minute problems I am confident we will have another good show this year. I want to thank everyone in advance for volunteering your time and efforts towards making our show a success. It's good to see new people and long time members all stepping forward and asking "how can I help?" I am always amazed at how generous you folks are with your time when we need you the most. Thanks!

Julie and I headed down to the Deming show around noon last Friday. We knew it was supposed to be windy, but we never thought it would be that windy. Nogal Canyon north of T or C was like a wind tunnel and the cutoff from Hatch to Deming was only better because we were heading straight into the wind.

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

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

Co-VP-Field Trips -- Ron Boyd; Home phone: 262-0053; Email: rgb417@earthlink.net

Co-VP-Field Trips -- Jeff Nekola; Home phone: 265-0497; Email: jnekola@unm.edu

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

Treasurer -- Amy Penn; Home phone: 883-4195; Email: el.chivo.viejo@earthlink.com

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

Editor & Junior Club -- Paul Napolitano; Home phone: 856-2157; E-mail: tcot@spinn.net

Show Chair -- Paul Hlava; Home phone: 255-5478; E-mail: hpf5@qwest.net

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

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

Past President -- Grant Kuck; Home phone: 323-1520; E-mail: none at the moment.

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 6:30 p.m. prior to the general meeting. Board of Directors meetings are 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.

This month Lannois Neely will talk about fossils and have samples for all!

14-16--RENO, NEVADA: Gem show; Gem Faire Inc.; Reno Hilton/Nevada Room, 2500 E. 2nd St.; Fri. 12-7, Sat. 10-7, Sun. 10-5; weekend pass $5; contact Yooy Nelson, (503) 252-8300; e-mail: info@gemfaire.com; Web site: www.gemfaire.com.

6-7--ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA: 47th annual show; Searchers Gem & Mineral Society; Brookhurst Community Center, 2271 W. Crescent Ave., at Brookhurst; contact Beth Pelfrey, (714) 774-2754; e-mail: beth714sc-rocks@yahoo.com.

6-7--KINGMAN, ARIZONA: Annual show, "Gems of Arizona"; Mohave County Gemstoners; Kingman Academy of Learning, 3419 Harrison St.; contact Dave, (928) 692-3797, or Bill, (928) 565-9586.

This month the focus of the field trip will be fossils! There are two possible destinations for our trip. The first choice is the Kinney Clay pit, in the Manzano Mts. This is a shallow Pennsylvanian age deposit. This locality has plant remains, fish, and other fossils. Hopefully we will be able to secure permission to visit and collect there.

The field trip will take place on the 1^st of April. That should be a lot of fun!

President Orlando Garcia could barely be heard above the loudly socializing crowd to call the February club meeting to order at 7:40. He opened with announcements about ailing club members Herb Traulsen, Russell Sperling and Rosemary Miller, and noted that get-well cards would be circulating during the meeting. We wish the best to these folks who need our thoughts and prayers, so send healing energy out to them at this time. Orlando welcomed 13 new members/guests and got the news that potentially a whole middle school would be attending the TOTE Show. Yikes! Refunds are due to a couple of people who've paid dues twice. And a reminder that the mailing label of the News Nuggets will reflect the status of your membership, 05 and you owe 06 and you're good to go. Ron Boyd announced the details of the next field trip. We're to meet at 10:30 at the graveyard in Puerto de Luna to look for aragonite. Surface collecting so no special equipment will be needed. The nearest town and services is located in Santa Rosa; that's about two and a half hours drive from Albuquerque. Show Chairman Paul Hlava relayed that the full complement of dealers is aboard for the upcoming TOTE Show. The sign up for show staffing was successful (the overnight security detail needs more help; call if you can help). Flyers are available; take some to distribute. Help is needed in addressing the postcards. Gwen Poe polled the crowd to choose the entre that we provide for the Thursday potluck. No surprise it's BBQ again. The club provides bread, dessert, coffee and lemonade, but all attendees are asked to bring a side dish to share in addition to your own place (knife, fork, spoon, plate, cup). Shell need cashier/staff help with the evening's silent auction; so let her know you can help. This year there will be prize categories, winners in three categories will be announced towards the close of the festivities. Awards will go to the big spender at the silent auction, the most unusual donated silent auction item, and the most field trips attended. This should ratchet up the fun for what is already renowned among the dealers as being a high quality affair. Dont miss it! Charlotte Cooper requested staffing help at the Junior Club table during the show. A sign up sheet was passed around. Charlotte and Karen Peterson are accepting donated material for the Junior table, call them; they will pick up. They are going to need help unloading the material on Thursday at the show site. See if you can stop by for a few minutes to help, the bad backs will appreciate any small amount of time you can spare. Can any one help Orlando bag giveaways? The labels are already done. See Dave Moats to help with handing out door prize tickets at the door and with the awarding process.

Orlando then introduced the evenings' speaker, Joe Dan Lowry. Joe Dan is the proprietor of the Turquoise Museum in the Old Town area. His familial background includes the Zachary's, an uncle who was a mineralogist, a father who wrote law, an affable grandfather that managed to amass a voluminous and venerable collection. Joe Dan himself is a knowledgeable and funny guy. With humor and authority he described the quirky history and evaluation criteria for this ever-popular gemstone. He brought lots of samples and encouraged hands on interaction with it after the talk. He began by describing the mineralogical properties of turquoise. This hydrous copper aluminum phosphate solidifies in any fractured rock initially as 'chuck', white chuck. Color develops over time, with copper giving a bluish cast and iron greenish. Deeper color development is more desirable, as is distinctive and attractive matrix. Deep color takes a lot of time and the right ingredients and is thus more rare. And we all know how rarity translates in the market place! Matrix color comes from the host rock. Variously described as laced, eggshell, and spider web, the matrix quality can make an industry icon. Between 60 and 80% of value is determined by the actual mine source. Some icons and famous localities are: Lander Blue, the #8, Blue Jim, Lone Mtn. and Bisbee. Today, China mines contribute 80% of the global market production rated at 40-60 tons annually. In the USA, Nevada produces the most. When buying turquoise, it behooves the buyer to familiarize oneself with the terminology associated with the industry. Most turquoise is 'stabilized' nowadays. That means that it has been pressure impregnated with resin, as it can be quite soft in the original state. Federal and state laws dictate that 'natural' means gemstone, not 'genuine' or 'real'. When asked about backed material he replied that anything under 1/8^th of an inch is routinely treated thusly and shouldn't affect value. He also explained that color change is not necessarily bad. The innate porosity of the gemstones can be enhanced by patina associated to living with and wearing the stones. Indeed the color potential is specific to the mine and can be luminous. With the patina comes the lore and magic spell turquoise has had on humans for millennia. I daresay Joe Dan has enjoyed the rich cast of characters he's encountered during a long rich association with turquoise in New Mexico's history. Thanks for sharing the fun and inside info on this important mineral Joe Dan, and thanks for the door prize additions.

I confess and apologize that I neglected to find out who brought the goodies, though I did enjoy some. Thank you whoever you are!

Door prize winners = 600+ No change in my personal record.

Hot springs, natural groundwater quality, and fluorite deposits in the southern Rio Grande rift.

Virgil W. Lueth

March Guest Speaker

The Rio Grande Rift is a large north-south trending geologic structure that splits New Mexico in half. It began pulling apart approximately 30 million years ago and continues to this day. The extension of the rift is responsible for the concentration of small earthquakes in New Mexico and serves as a conduit for magmas formed deep in the EarthÕs mantle. This concentration of geologic (also known as tectonic) activity has helped shape the modern landscape of New Mexico. In addition to the surface expressions of the rift as mountains and deep valleys, magmatism and deep circulation of water is modifying the geology and hydrology of the subsurface.

March, 2006

From the devious mind of Paul Hlava

The Game Plan Ð 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 yourselves. 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.

Paul Hlava 060312

Hi,

As a member of the Museum of Natural History, I get various Museum publications. My most recent is the Calendar of Events for March and April. Following are those events in which I have an interest, and thought other members might as well. All talks begin at 2 PM.

For a full list, with additional information, log on to www.NMnaturalhistory.org

Please renew your AGMC membership as early as possible. It takes Kimberly and Orlando time to double-check information for each renewal. Renewals dated after February 28^th may not get the March newsletter. But if youÕre reading this, then you probably renewed. Or got lucky. If you know of folks who didnÕt get this monthÕs ÔNuggets, please remind them that dues are due. Thanks!

Dr. Virgil W. Lueth

The featured speaker at our March 27^th meeting will be Dr. Virgil Lueth, Mineralogist/Economic Geologist and Curator of the Mineral Museum at the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources in Soccorro. This presentation is a summary of recent work published in the scientific journal, Chemical Geology. The study documents specific features of fluorite deposits found at the surface that reflect the geological processes occurring deeper in the crust. These features are mainly tied to the occurrence of a mineral called jarosite that forms by a unique process in these deposits.

Virgil Lueth has served as Mineralogist/Economic Geologist and Curator of the Mineral Museum at the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources for the last 12 years. He received his BS in Geology at the University of Wisconsin Ð Eau Claire and both MS and Ph.D. at the University of Texas at El Paso. Prior to working at the Bureau of Geology he was a field geologist for the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, United States Geological Survey, and an associate professor at Tarleton State (Texas) University. He has published over 30 articles in popular magazines and scientific journals mainly on topics in mineralogy and geochemistry of ore deposits and edited three geologic guidebooks. Dr. Lueth was recently promoted to Senior Mineralogist/Economic Geologist at the Bureau and the New Mexico Geological Society recently made him an Honorary Member in 2005.