October 2020 Edition
Museum Telephone 623-428-6442 Email: [email protected] President: Cheryl Alvord 207-797-0619 Vice President Tom Fish 952-239-6689 Board Secretary Deb Carlone 607-423-1390 Treasurer Laurie Helmer 623-933-0146 Membership Sandie Fish 507-327-8732 Monitors Monitor Chairperson Bill Allison 623-337-2656 Refreshments Karin Schardt 602-402-0506 Museum Maintenance Mike Blachut 480-823-5480 Rockdust Editor Diane Hillis 623-693-0951 Museum Coordinator David Alvord 207-756-1784 Fluorescent Room Dave Balzer 623-375-8086
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Well, fellow Rockhounds, it has certainly been an interesting year. It seems like a very long time since we last gathered for a club meeting, field trip or at the March Rock Sale. Once we are able to meet up again, I think it will be a while before we take such events for granted. The club officers have met via Zoom a few times. Let me give you a general overview and then a couple of articles will address individual issues.
As you know, the RCSC Clubs Office suspended all club activities in mid- March. As previously noted, that included the closure of the Mineral Museum. In mid- May, I received three emails that were very informative. The first detailed the three different phases for re-opening based on CDC/state guidelines, indicating that we were in Phase 1. No visitors/guests allowed in the rec centers so no purpose to opening the museum. Clubs were notified that if/when they want to reopen for club activities, they must submit a plan to the club offices for approval. Decision to wait until fall to decide how to proceed.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT cont’d
In September, the club received an email stating that the club’s activities were cancelled for the month of October. Since then, the Board has taken the following actions:
1) Cancelled the speakers for the Oct and Nov member meetings
2) Set up a Zoom meeting/training for members in late October (see separate article) 3) Submitted an initial plan for re-opening of club activities on a limited basis. (At the time of this writing, we await the club office’s input/approval.) 4) The possibility of informal meet-ups at local sites for collecting. Each of these will be limited to ten club members and require pre-register. (Stay tuned for further details as they emerge) Your club has an excellent, hard-working cooperative board and we are honored to serve you during this challenging time.
WHAT’S UP WITH CLUB ELECTIONS? DELVING INTO MINERAL MYSTERIES
On THURSDAY, OCT 29TH AT 7 PM, Arizona time, As you may know, it is required by RCSC that clubs have elections with a quorum once a year, we will convene a Rockhound members typically in November. Since meeting in person meeting. Tom Fish will be the host and Deb as a large group is prohibited this year, it has Carlone will send out the invitation which will been recommended that if possible, the current include instructions as to how to “attend” the officers stay on another year for 2021. Having meeting. You should receive the invitation by th spoken with the Board members, I am delighted email the early part of that week, the 26-27 . to say that all of us are willing to continue to Computers work better than phones but either serve. In fact, Carol Bankert, the emcee for our will be okay as long as you have internet, wifi club meetings and past Board member, is access. interested in returning to the Board. The Board THIS ZOOM MEETING WILL SERVE AS AN has appointed her as the 2nd Vice President which OPPORTUNITY TO TEST OUT THE WORKABILITY our bylaws allow and has precedent. OF USING THIS FORMAT FOR FUTURE CLUB All that to say, the following is the slate of officers MEETINGS/TRAININGS. and their positions. We will be voting by email in Carol Bankert and/or myself will make some mid to late November. It will require that you brief announcements and then Deb Carlone, will REPLY yes or no, since a quorum of the lead us through a Power Point presentation, membership will still be required. (We will make helping us with ways to identify minerals phone calls for those who do not have email). If according to hardness, luster, color, etc. We will you have questions, please feel free to email allow time for questions/answers at the end of Cheryl Alvord at [email protected] her talk. Deb taught earth science at the high or call 207-797-0619. school level before retiring. She has worked
hard to prepare this presentation so the club PROPOSED SUN CITY ROCKHOUNDS would have a backup in case a scheduled OFFICERS 2021 speaker to do not show up. We are thrilled to PRESIDENT: Cheryl Alvord have her share her expertise with us. VICE PRESIDENT: Tom Fish 2ND VICE PRESIDENT: Carol Bankert
SECRETARY: Deb Carlone TREASURER: Laurie Helmer
ROCKHOUNDER’S DREAM by Mike Blachut
This is the story about a lady who loved roaming the south-west of Colorado. Vivian Jones and her husband ‘Eddie’ spent years prospecting the Morrison Formation ** near Dry Mesa, south of Grand Junction Colorado.
Rockhound Vivian discovered many Dinosaur Bones in the Uncompahgre National Forest outside Delta Colorado. She contacted BYU Geology Curator, James Jensen, who over time with Vivian developed the Dry Mesa Quarry that produced 4,000 bones from more than 30 kinds of dinosaurs.
As the years of digging went by, James Jensen and Vivian Jones found the fossilized bones of a Dinosaur that lived 150 million years ago. It was an entirely new species. Paleontologists called it Supersaurus, because of its size, one of the largest dinosaurs to have ever been found. It was a herbivore, 140 feet long, 5 stories tall and weighed 50 tons. It had a neck 40 feet long. Paleontologists named the species after Vivian,
Supersaurus Vivianae.
The fossilized bones of this dinosaur can be seen today in the North American Museum of Ancient Life in Lehi Utah near BYU in Provo.
Supersaurus Vivianae lived in North America during the Late Jurassic period, was first discovered by Vivian Jones of Delta, Colorado, in the Morrison Formation**.
**Morrison Formation is a Jurassic sedimentary rock formation found in western U.S. centered in Wyoming and Colorado, and covers an area of 12 states. 75% is buried and not accessible to geologists and paleontologists. The base dates from 156 million years ago, the top dates to 146 m.a. (source: Wikipedia)
The Left Humerus Bone of Brachiosaurus Altithorax discovered by Eddie and Vivian Jones
Donated to the Smithsonian in 1955. This specimen is over six foot long (Humerus is the bone of the upper arm forming joints at the shoulder and the elbow).
Vivian Jones received a lot of notoriety, her fossil finds appeared in National Geographic, Reader’s Digest, Rock & Gem Magazine and other publications. Reporters, photographers, Paleontologists and Museum Curators from all over the world came to see the place where Supersaurus was found and to meet the “Dinosaur Lady” an amateur Rockhound who made a world class discovery.
Later in her life Vivian Jones, spent winters in Sun City and was a former member of the Sun City Rock Hound Club.
A GEOLOGICAL TRIP IN ENGLAND FOR OUR COVID TIMES. By Colin Morley
Linda and I have been just staying in and around our small village since we returned to the UK at the end of March. In fact, we had only really left the village to walk in the countryside, except for grocery runs to the nearest towns, so we decided to go to a small village near the coast called Worth Matravers and from there walk to the Winspit quarries.
There is no better section through the Portland Stone Formation than at Winspit Quarry. It is a great place to learn about Portland stone
Quarry from above A GEOLOGICAL TRIP IN ENGLAND (cont’d)
The land here has been quarried since mediaeval times providing Purbeck stone for buildings. The Purbeck is what is known as a ‘freestone’, meaning that it can be carved well in all directions without splitting; that is what makes it very popular for high end buildings.
In the quarry keep your eyes open for some old graffiti in the form of carvings of ships believed to date from the 1700s. We went into the part known as the Western Winspit Quarry. Here we find some of the Portland Stone is highly fractured. The fracturing is from being exposed to the sea coast weather. There are southeast trending master joints which dip at about 84 degrees to the northeast. They produce rather unstable, slightly overhanging faces in places, but they do allow us to see the effects of the basin in which they formed. The fractures that face the sea are slowly getting larger. With little or no redeposition of limestone they may be relatively recent (post Pleistocene or about 2.5 million years ago. They will eventually cause future failures and rock falls.
During the second world war thousands of tonnes of stone were removed for crushing and were used as bases for roads and airfields. This was the case right up to 1953. After that the interesting events include this quarry being used in TV episodes of Doctor Who.
In the above photo of the caves/mines we can see a good section of the Portland Freestone Member. You are standing on the Portland Chert member. They have not bothered quarrying that part of the sequence. The caves/mines in front of you are in the Under Freestone and Under Picking Cap. I have annotated the photo to help.
A GEOLOGICAL TRIP IN ENGLAND (cont’d)
If you look carefully at the foreshore, you can see what remains from the days when they quarried and loaded the stone onto ships back in the 1600s.
I hope that you have enjoyed this and that I have given you a bit of an idea of the wonderful Wessex geology. It’s a bit different from our trips to Saddle Mountain and Cave Creek, but I like them all.
CLUB MEMBER UPDATES by our club president
At the time of this newsletter writing, two of our most senior and veteran club members are hospitalized. Our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families. We have learned that Al Cervone's health has been failing since spring. His house was sold and recently, his rock/lapidary collection was donated to the club. He is currently being treated for pneumonia.
Gerald Jensen was recovering nicely from a hip replacement. Now, he too is being treated for an acute condition at the hospital.
Finally, we were saddened to hear that Lin Brown passed away on October 10th in Oklahoma with her family at her side. Lin and Bob joined Rockhounds about four years ago and were active members while in Sun City. They were regulars at the meetings, field trips, monitoring and special events. Lin was always willing to pitch in, even with late notice. Those of you on the refreshment committee may remember Lin's yummy treats. We will miss her warm and lovely smile. Should you wish to send a card to Bob, the address is 909 East Tacoma Street, Broken Arrow, Ok 74012.
SHARING FOSSILS WITH GRANDKIDS by Jeff Welter
Who doesn't like a good grandchild story? About 2 years ago my wife Sharon and I attended our first Rockhound meeting. There was a table in the back selling items to members ahead of the annual Rockhound sale. Sharon bought several Plesiosaur sea dragon teeth (from 80 to 215 million years old) to give to our grandsons as gifts to encourage their interest in old items. Over the July 4th holiday this summer we presented the teeth to all the boys and explained a bit about the Plesiosaurs to them.
The teeth are about 2-3 inches long. We figured what can happen after a million years. The Nelson boys placed theirs in a special place and are fine. The 3 youngest Amende boys ages 4, 6 and 7 figured the safest place would be their pockets. The sea monster teeth are stronger than the toads which also went in the pockets but not as strong as quartz and granite rocks that were also treasures found on a mile walk to see some cows.
We learned a million years can't stand up to an hour in a young boy's pocket....lol. But Sharon...bless her heart, took some tite bond glue (archeologist approved I'm sure) and while we had the boys out fishing she reconstructed almost all the teeth parts. I told the boys their resale value had diminished quite a bit. One of the boys tried explaining the Mohs hardness scale he had learned about in his 8th grade class last year. It is a lot of fun watching the boys look for all kinds of rock "treasures" on the shoreline and then having their parents tell them "those are cabin rocks. You can't take them home or grampa would have no shoreline left." Apparently young boys do a lot more with rocks than just look at them. This whole story would never have happened without the Sun City Rockhound club!
KEWEENAW PENINSULA BY Cathy Kelley Hi everyone! Spent the summer at my home in the Keweenaw peninsula of Michigan. Took many walks on the Lake Superior shore looking for agates and beach glass. I found lots of glass but no agates this year, hopefully better luck next year. Be safe.
*The ancient lava flows of the Keweenaw Peninsula were produced During the Mesoproterozoic Era as a part of the Midcontinent Rift between 1.096 and 1.087 billion years ago.[1] This volcanic activity produced the only strata on Earth where large-scale economically recoverable 97 percent pure native copper is found.
ROCKHOUNDING IN UTAH by Bob Ottley
I went with my son and his Tooele Utah rockhound club in June. The location is called Silver Island. It is a two hour drive from Salt Lake City near the Nevada border. We exited at I-80 at the Salt Flats racing area and wet north. Our group of ten was looking for seam agate and moss agate. It was a fun trip and everyone found something to take home.
This piece of plume agate of mine was the best find of all. It is a Seam Agate. Here were two different colors of moss agates. The red/brown might be too dark for slabs/cabs.
Fall welcome back, we have missed you!