The Lake George Gem and Mineral Club - Club News, October , …lggmclub.org/club...

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Lake George Gem and Mineral Club October, 2012 The Lake George Gem and Mineral Club - Club News, October, 2012 Regular Meeting of the Lake George Gem & Mineral Club Saturday, October 13, at 9:00AM Lake George Community Center After the business meeting, Bob Carnein will present a talk titled "Important Properties of Minerals", summarizing the major physical properties that will help you to identify many common minerals. Included will be a summary of simple tests and observations that anyone can make and that will help you to use any of the manuals available for mineral identification. Bring your "unknowns" for help! Coming Events "Death of a Megapredator", by Whitey Hagadorn, 4:00 p.m., CU Boulder Geological Sciences Colloquium, Benson Earth Science Building, Room 180. Refreshments will be served at 3:30 pm just outside Benson 380. All are welcome." See http://www.colorado.edu/GeolSci/ for the complete colloquium schedule. Columbine Gem and Mineral Society, monthly meeting, 6:30PM, meeting room, Shavano Manor, 525 W. 16 th (at J St.), Salida. "Thermochronology of the Central Pyrenees: Understanding cooling ages in a convergent orogen", by James Metcalf, 4:00 p.m., CU Boulder Geological Sciences Colloquium, Benson Earth Science Building, Room 180. Refreshments will be served at 3:30 pm just outside Benson 380. All are welcome. See http://www.colorado.edu/GeolSci/ for the complete colloquium schedule. Oct. 3 Oct. 9 Oct. 10 “Dinosaur Discovery Day”, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m., the LAST free public tour day of the year at Dinosaur Ridge, Morrison, CO, will feature Girl Scout Day; "Geology exhibits and hands-on dinosaur and rockhounding activities at the Visitor Center. Expert guides stationed along the Ridge Trail. Activities suitable for scouts to earn patches and other awards. 10AM-3PM. Scouts must register. Public is welcome." For more information please see www.dinoridge.org Pueblo Rockhounds, monthly meeting, 7:30PM, Westminster Presbyterian Church, 10 University Circle, Pueblo. Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society, monthly meeting, 7PM, Colorado Springs Senior Center, 1514 N. Hancock, Colorado Springs. CSM Museum Garage Sale and Book Sale, 9:00AM-3:00PM, CSM Museum, 1310 Maple St., Golden. Specimens, books, maps, magazines, equipment, etc. Prices drop throughout day. Info at 303-273-3815. Rainbow Falls Geology & Natural History Walk, (Manitou Springs) 10:00-11:00AM; admission charge. Call 520-6387 for reservations and information Oct. 13 Oct. 18 Oct. 18 Nov. 3 Nov. 3

Transcript of The Lake George Gem and Mineral Club - Club News, October , …lggmclub.org/club...

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Lake George Gem and Mineral Club October, 2012

The Lake George Gem and Mineral Club -

Club News, October, 2012

Regular Meeting of the Lake George Gem & Mineral Club Saturday, October 13, at 9:00AM Lake George Community Center

After the business meeting, Bob Carnein will present a talk titled "Important Properties of Minerals", summarizing the major physical properties that will help you to identify many common minerals. Included will be a summary of simple tests and observations that anyone can make and that will help you to use any of the manuals available for mineral identification. Bring your "unknowns" for help! Coming Events

"Death of a Megapredator", by Whitey Hagadorn, 4:00 p.m., CU Boulder Geological Sciences Colloquium, Benson Earth Science Building, Room 180. Refreshments will be served at 3:30 pm just outside Benson 380. All are welcome." See

http://www.colorado.edu/GeolSci/for the complete colloquium schedule.

Columbine Gem and Mineral Society, monthly meeting, 6:30PM, meeting room, Shavano Manor, 525 W. 16

th (at J St.), Salida.

"Thermochronology of the Central Pyrenees: Understanding cooling ages in a convergent orogen", by James Metcalf, 4:00 p.m., CU Boulder Geological Sciences Colloquium, Benson Earth Science Building, Room 180. Refreshments will be served at 3:30 pm just outside Benson 380. All are welcome. See

http://www.colorado.edu/GeolSci/for the complete colloquium schedule.

Oct. 3

Oct. 9

Oct. 10

“Dinosaur Discovery Day”, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m., the LAST free public tour day of the year at Dinosaur Ridge, Morrison, CO, will feature Girl Scout Day; "Geology exhibits and hands-on dinosaur and rockhounding activities at the Visitor Center. Expert guides stationed along the Ridge Trail. Activities suitable for scouts to earn patches and other awards. 10AM-3PM. Scouts must register. Public is welcome." For more information please see www.dinoridge.org

Pueblo Rockhounds, monthly meeting, 7:30PM, Westminster Presbyterian Church, 10 University Circle, Pueblo.

Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society, monthly meeting, 7PM, Colorado Springs Senior Center, 1514 N. Hancock, Colorado Springs.

CSM Museum Garage Sale and Book Sale, 9:00AM-3:00PM, CSM Museum, 1310 Maple St., Golden. Specimens, books, maps, magazines, equipment, etc. Prices drop throughout day. Info at 303-273-3815.

Rainbow Falls Geology & Natural History Walk, (Manitou Springs) 10:00-11:00AM; admission charge. Call 520-6387 for reservations and information

… …

Oct. 13

Oct. 18

Oct. 18 Nov. 3 Nov. 3

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Lake George Gem and Mineral Club October, 2012

Welcome New Members Bryant Bonet (Edgewater)

Bill & Betty Cain (Colorado Springs) Shelton Howard (Edgewater)

Club News �������� Richard Kawamoto sent some photos from the Sept. 15 trip to the Picket Wire dinosaur trackways:

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Lake George Gem and Mineral Club October, 2012

�������� Richard Kawamoto and others put together a great field-trip line-up this summer. If you have suggestions for next summer, please contact Richard, John Rakowski, Dick Lackmond, or any of the officers with your suggestions. Please visit the Club website for detailed information about planned trips. �������� October 14-20 is national Earth Science Week, sponsored by the American Geosciences Institute and other participating organizations, including the USGS, National Park Service, and more. For more info see http://www.earthsciweek.org/; the theme for this year is Discovering Careers in Earth Science. Educators who would like a copy of an AGI 2012 Earth Science Week Teachers Packet (posters, calendar, brochures, etc.) may pick one up free of charge from the USGS at our Map Store, open 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. weekdays in Building 810, Denver Federal Center, Lakewood, CO. On Saturday, Oct. 20, for Earth Science Week, USGS Geologist Dr. Pete Modreski will be leading a free natural history/geology hike for the public to a site in the Golden-Morrison-Lakewood area (exact place TBD; details will be in a future email). �������� Here's an interesting news item from Pinnacle5 Minerals (Joe Dorris's company): "It's finally official!!!!! I can let the cat out of the bag!!! Catch the Weather Channel in 2013 to watch my family on the series "Prospectors". We are looking forward to showing the world our mining process and how our family finds minerals! We will be joining various mining groups from Colorado looking for Amazonite, Aquamarine and Topaz! We are excited for this wonderful opportunity and can't wait for everyone to learn about mineral specimens and mining!!! ~ Krystle Valasco, Pinnacle5 Minerals LLC. See this Link: http://press.weather.com/press-releases/the-weather-channel-finds-a-gem-with-prospectors/

�������� Reminder: SCHEDULED OPEN TIMES IN THE LAPIDARY WORKSHOP ARE the 2ND WED OF THE MONTH, 6PM TILL 8PM and THE THIRD SUNDAY OF EACH MONTH, 1PM TILL 4PM. FEEL FREE TO CALL RICHARD KAWAMOTO ([email protected]) OR

DICK LACKMOND ([email protected]) TO ARRANGE A SPECIAL TIME FOR YOU TO USE THE SHOP IF YOU NEED IT! �������� Here are this month's Bench Tips from Brad Smith: BenchTips for the Month TEMPLATES

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Lake George Gem and Mineral Club October, 2012

Whenever I have to make more than 2-3 exact copies of anything, I think of making a template. A template lets me easily draw the shape of an item. Art stores sell templates for common shapes like circles, ovals, hearts, etc., but if you need other shapes, it's easy to make your own. Simply cut the shape out of sheet plastic, copper, or brass. The brass template lets me quickly trace the design of these ginkgo-leaf earrings (see figure) onto silver sheet, and the nickel template makes it easy to drill the pin inlay pattern into the ironwood.

After finding a poor selection of stock templates for ovals at my local art store, I was pleased with the wide selection on Cool Tools at http://www.cooltools.us/ If you order, be sure to look for the 10% off code each month on their Home page. Kingsley North also has some nice templates at http://www.kingsleynorth.com/ _____ DENTAL TOOLS A ready source of free tools is your local dentist. Dental picks can be reworked into wax tools or straightened and sharpened to make a stylus for marking and layout. The steel in these tools is high quality, and the handles are designed for comfort. A special note however - don't try to bend one of the tips to a different shape - the steel will snap. To change the shape, heat the tip to red hot and bend it with pliers while it's hot. And don't forget to ask your dentist for some of the cutting burs they throw out. These are useful for a variety of things. It's best to call a week or two before your visit and ask the dentist to put some of these tools aside for you. It's good practice also to ask that they run them through the sterilizer for you. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here's an interesting web site that might be of interest to your readers. FAKES & FRAUDS Unfortunately, there's a growing amount of deception and outright fraud these days at gem and mineral shows and in some of the online venues that sell these items. Often "genuine turquoise beads" turn out to be dyed magnesite, and I've been told that the majority of colored stones being sold typically have had some "enhancement" done to them. If you're interested in what kind of fakes and frauds have been uncovered, there's a well-done page at http://www.the-vug.com/vug/vugfakes.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- More BenchTips by Brad Smith can be found at: facebook.com/BenchTips; or at groups.yahoo.com/group/BenchTips/.

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Lake George Gem and Mineral Club October, 2012

Earth-Science Scholars/Pebble Pups Corner Earth-Science Scholars and Pebble Pups meet on the second Tuesday of each month at 6PM in the Lake George Community Center. Here's this year's schedule: Oct.: "We Know a Lot about Dino Fossils, but not so much about their Biology"— S. Veatch & Zach Sepulveda Oct. 13: National Fossil Day celebration Oct. 21: Field Trip to Wilkerson Pass Area Nov.: "Where are the Big Magma Chambers that Produce Super-Eruptions?"—S. Veatch Dec.: "Stone Age Tools and Art"—S. Veatch & Luke Sattler Jan., 2013: Field Trip to Denver Museum of Science and Nature—S. Veatch and others Feb.: Special class on Science Writing and Research—S. Veatch Feb. or March: Field Trip to Cave of the Winds March: "Minerals and How We Identify Them"—B. Carnein April: "The Amazing World of Crystals"—B. Carnein May: "Orienteering"—D. Alfrey Our own Ciena Higginbotham submitted this drawing for the National Fossil Day Art Competition. All art must depict a paleontologist working in the field. Great work, Ciena!

Steve Veatch recently guided a group of Earth-Science Scholars through the Denver Gem & Mineral Show, the second biggest show in the US. A short report is available at his blog.

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Lake George Gem and Mineral Club October, 2012

Be sure you check regularly at www.LGGMClub.org for details and updates.

Remember, new students and their parents are always welcome; Earth-Science Scholars and Pebble Pups are welcome on LGGM Club field trips!

Notes from the Notes from the Notes from the Notes from the

EditorEditorEditorEditor

Bob Carnein, Editor

[email protected]

719-687-2739

This month continues the series I started some time ago about the minerals of the Mohs hardness set. We're up to number 5: apatite.

APATITE: The Deceiving Stone by Bob Carnein

To a mineralogist, "apatite" is actually a group of minerals that includes fluorapatite, chlorapatite, hydroxylapatite, pyromorphite, and vanadinite. In the strict sense, apatite has a complex composition generally given by the chemical formula Ca5(PO4)3(F, Cl, OH). This reflects the fact that fluorine, chlorine, and hydroxyl can substitute for each other. Other substitutions are also common. Apatite occurs in all three basic rock types (igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic), and fluorapatite is the commonest variety. Thanks to its intermediate hardness (number 5 on the Mohs scale) and its variable color and habit, apatite is a challenging mineral for the new collector. In fact, its name comes from the Greek word apate, meaning "deceit", because of its resemblance to other minerals (Klein and Hurlbut, 1999). I will try here to describe some of the properties you can use to successfully identify this very common mineral. First, one should check apatite's hardness. Normally, it will not scratch either a knife blade or glass, but it is clearly harder than a fingernail. If you have a hardness set (easily made up by collecting the commoner items and buying small samples of those you can't find yourself), it will scratch calcite (which has rhombohedral cleavage and fizzes in dilute HCl) and fluorite (which has 4 well developed cleavage directions), but not K-feldspar (orthoclase). Apatite commonly exhibits a grayish green color (Figs. 1, 2) but this is very variable—it may be brown, yellow, green, pink, purple, blue, or even colorless (Figs. 3-6). Its luster is vitreous to sub resinous (Fig. 7).

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Lake George Gem and Mineral Club October, 2012

Figure 1. Common apatite, Rose Dawn mine, near Guffey, Figure 2. Apatite crystal, Ren- Park Co., Colorado (Carnein collection and photo) Co., Ontario (Carnein photo)

Crystals, if present, commonly are simple hexagonal prisms (Fig. 8), like those of beryl, which is much harder but otherwise resembles apatite. As in beryl, the crystals may have flat terminations (called a basal pinacoid; Figs. 3, 5, 6) or may come to a point (called a dipyramid; see Figs. 2, 4). Like beryl, apatite has one poorly developed cleavage, perpendicular to the prism axis (c-axis) of its crystals (Fig. 8). Also like beryl, apatite is a common pegmatite mineral,

Figure 3: Apatite with quartz, Cerro Grande mine, La Figure 4. Fluorapatite, Cerro Mer- Paz, Bolivia. Note basal pinacoid. (Carnein collec- cado, Durango, Mexico (Carnein tion and photo) collection and photo)

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Lake George Gem and Mineral Club October, 2012

Figure 5. Apatite, Casa Grande, Figure 6. Fluorapatite with quartz, Greifenstein, Sax- California (Carnein collection ony, Germany (Carnein collection and photo) and photo)

where it typically forms irregular masses associated with garnet, quartz, K-feldspar, muscovite or biotite, and schorl. In this occurrence, beryl is more likely to exhibit well developed crystals. Apatite also occurs in hydrothermal deposits (e.g., fine crystals associated with rhodochrosite and fluorite at the Sweet Home mine, Alma, Colorado), in titaniferous magnetite deposits (e.g., Kiruna, Sweden; Kola Peninsula, Russia; Cerro Mercado, Mexico), and in marble (e.g. Renfrew County, Ontario). Crystals in marble from Ottawa County, Québec reportedly ranged up to 550 pounds and 6 feet in circumference (Dana and Ford, 1932).

Figure 7. Typical vitreous to sub resinous Figure 8. Prismatic apatite crystal from Luster of apatite. (Carnein collection and Bear Lake, Ontario (Carnein collection and photo) photo)

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Lake George Gem and Mineral Club October, 2012

Collophane is a mixture of cryptocrystalline apatite and other minerals that is derived from fossil bone and other organic materials in sediments. It is a major constituent of phosphorite or phosphate rock, which is the main source of commercial phosphate used for fertilizers. Large deposits occur in central Florida, where it is mined in large open pits (Fig. 11). Apatite also is occasionally used as a gemstone, but its intermediate hardness makes it susceptible to chipping and scratching. Apatite often fluoresces in both short wave and long wave ultraviolet. The fluorescence color is variable, but shades of yellow and orange are especially common (Figs. 9, 10). Fluorescence is uncommon among minerals commonly confused with it.

Figure 9. Typical apatite fluorescence in SWUV. Figure 10. Typical apatite fluor- (same specimen as Fig. 1) (Carnein collection and escence in SWUV; specimen from photo) Franklin, NJ (Carnein collection)

Figure 11. Florida phosphate mine. (http://florida.sierraclub.org/phosphate)

References Cited

Dana, E.S., and W.E. Ford, 1932, A Textbook of Mineralogy with an Extended Treatise on Crystallography and Physical Mineralogy, Fourth Edition, Revised and Enlarged: New York, John Wiley & Sons. Klein, C., and C.S. Hurlbut, Jr., 1999, Manual of Mineralogy (after James D. Dana), Twenty-First Edition: New York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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Lake George Gem and Mineral Club October, 2012

DUES ARE DUE! DUES ARE DUE! DUES ARE DUE! DUES ARE DUE! (Now half priced for 2012!)

Lake George Gem and Mineral Club

Box 171

Lake George, Colorado 80827

LGGMClub.org

2012 MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION Name(s) ______________________________________________________________

Address ________________________________City __________State __ Zip _______

Telephone ( ) ______ - _______________ E-mail _________________________________

Names and ages of dependent members: ___________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

Annual membership - dues Jan. 1 through Dec. 31 are as follows:

� Individual (18 and over) ………………………………………….. $15.00

� Family (Parents plus dependents under age 18) ………………. $25.00 Annual dues are due on or before March 31. Members with unpaid dues will be dropped from the roster after this date. Any new member joining on/after August 30 shall pay one half the annual dues. I hereby agree to abide by the constitution and by-laws of this club.

Signed __________________________________ Date: ____/____/____ I have previously been a member of Lake George Gem & Mineral Club. Yes __ No ___ My interest areas include:

Minerals __ Fossils__ Lapidary __ Micromounts __ Other _____________________________________

I would be willing to demonstrate any of the above for a club program or educational activity? If yes, which: ____________________________ Please indicate which of the following activities you might be willing to help with: Writing ______ Editor ______ Mailing ______ Local shows ______ Club Officer ______ Programs ______ Field trips ______ Refreshments ______ Questions about the club or club activities? Contact John Rakowski (719) 748-3861 Rev. Jan. 2011

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Lake George Gem and Mineral Club October, 2012

Lake George Gem and Mineral Club P.O. Box 171

Lake George, CO 80827 The Lake George Gem and Mineral Club is a group of people interested in rocks and minerals, fossils, geography and history of the Pikes Peak/South Park area, Indian artifacts and the great outdoors. The club’s informational programs and field trips provide an opportunity to learn about earth sciences, rocks and minerals, lapidary work and jewelry making, and to share information and experiences with other members. Guests are welcome to attend, to see what we are about! The club is geared primarily to amateur collectors and artisans, with programs of interest both to beginners and serious amateurs. The club meets the second Saturday of each month at the Lake George Community Center, located on the north side of US Highway 24 on the east edge of town, sharing a building with the county highway shops. In the winter we meet at 10:00 AM. From April through September, we meet at 9:00 AM, to allow more time for our field trips. Our organization is incorporated under Colorado law as a nonprofit educational organization, and is a member of the Colorado, Rocky Mountain and American Federations of Mineralogical Societies. We also sponsor an annual Gem and Mineral show at Lake George, where collectors and others may purchase or sell rocks, minerals, fossils, gems or jewelry. Annual membership dues (Jan. 1 through Dec. 31) are $15.00 for an individual (18 and over), and $25.00 for a family (Parents plus dependents under age 18).

Our Officers for 2012 are:

John Rakowski, President

PO Box 608 Florissant, CO 80816

719-748-3861 [email protected]

Jo Beckwith, Vice President

PO Box 275 Guffey, CO 80820

719-689-0248 [email protected]

Wayne Johnston, Treasurer

207 Cooper Lake Drive Divide, CO 80814

719-687-6067 [email protected]

Charlene DeVries, Secretary

280 Homestead Rd. Divide, CO 80814

719-686-1822 [email protected]

C.R. (Bob) Carnein, Editor, 507 Donzi Trail, Florissant, CO 80816

[email protected] ; 719-687-2739