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Home , Amethyst, Smoky quartz

Tips and Trips Page 11 The Georgia Society May 2004 Geology and Selected of the Hill Mine Antreville, by Mike Streeter, GMS Member Copyright March 2004

Chrissy and I have spent a great deal of time at the Diamond Diamond Hill is nothing short of remarkable when you consider Hill Quartz Mine near Antreville, South Carolina over the past that the actual collecting areas occupy a total of less than 3 several months. Chester Karwoski, who purchased the acres and that each variety requires its own unique set of property in 2003, brought in some heavy earth-moving conditions to form. The three most sought after varieties of equipment last fall and has opened up some new collecting quartz at the mine are skeletal, smoky and . opportunities. On our most recent trip to the mine on 28, 2004, members of the Rome Georgia Gem and Mineral Skeletal quartz (also known Society and the Southern Appalachian Mineral Society joined as elestial quartz) exhibits a us. Since it is no secret that that I am a geologist by trade, I layered or ribbed pattern. am often asked geological and mineralogical questions about Its appearance gave rise to collecting locales. While digging at Diamond Hill, I was asked the term "skeletal" as the to explain how the rocks and formed. Now there's a crystals resemble what $64,000 question for you! I answered the question as best I someone with a good could at the time. Since then, I have researched the literature imagination would expect to obtain a more detailed explanation that I would like to share the skeleton of a quartz with you. to look like (not that they exist). The patterns Diamond Hill has an amazing variety of different quartz crystals exhibited by skeletal quartz including amethyst, smoky, skeletal, milky, clear, and phantom. represent internal and The mine has also become known for the rare phosphate external dissolution-growth features resulting from unstable mineral, cacoxenite conditions during crystallization. At the time that the crystals (pictured on left), first were forming, the conditions were such that the crystals would discovered at the mine alternate between growing and dissolving. This "two-step by chance in late 2002. forward and one-step backward" process resulted in the The quartz crystals are unusual step-like appearance. Very large plates and clusters generally found in clay of skeletal quartz can be recovered from quartz veins in the filled pockets in a eastern end of the upper pit at Diamond Hill. Like much of the series of large quartz other quartz varieties at Diamond Hill, many of the skeletal veins that trend in a quartz crystals exhibit an overgrowth of clear quartz indicating northeast to southwest a later phase of crystallization. This later crystallization forms direction. The quartz "phantoms" where you can see the tips of skeletal quartz veins were emplaced crystals beneath a clear crystal overgrowth that exactly mimics into a granitoid pluton the underlying crystal. (Antreville Pluton) as a result of a series of late is generally transparent to translucent quartz Paleozoic Era tectonic that is gray to black in color. The characteristic color of smoky events. The Antreville quartz occurs when crystal quartz is exposed to natural Pluton, itself, was radiation from radioactive elements or adjacent radioactive intruded during the rocks over long periods of time. The process by which this Taconic orogeny that extended from Late Ordovician to Early occurs is not completely Silurian Periods. Heat and pressure from Paleozoic regional understood but it has been metamorphism transformed the rock into granitoid gneiss. theorized that the color is Silica-rich hydrothermal fluids entered fractures within the the result of altered metamorphosed pluton and deposited the quartz veins. These oxidation states of the veins must have contained voids that would later become sites silica molecules caused by for quartz crystals to form during a series of subsequent radiation. The granitoid hydrothermal events. All of these geological processes took pluton would be the most place miles beneath the present earth's surface. It took over likely natural source of the several hundred million of years of erosion to uncover the radiation. Smoky quartz rocks. The granitoid gneiss has been deeply weathered seems to be most resulting in the development of a thick soil zone made up of concentrated in the lower or western pit at Diamond Hill. Much rock weathered in place. Such in situ weathered rock is called of the smoky quartz appears to have grown in phases saprolite. Oxidation of bearing minerals formed clay that represented by larger blocky crystals growing on top of smaller was transported by infiltrating meteoric water into the quartz- crystals. Thin films of silica overgrowths are commonly found lined pockets. Much of the quartz and saprolite is heavily on top of the smoky quartz plates. In some cases, it appears stained with red, brown, yellow and black iron oxides. that the overgrowths have been partially to completely dissolved, indicating an unstable environment during or after The wide variety of quartz crystal varieties that exists at crystallization. Page 12 Tips and Trips May 2004 The Georgia Mineral Society Geology and Selected Minerals of the Diamond The 8th Annual Asheville Gem Fest Hill Quartz Mine Sponsored by the Colburn Museum Antreville, South Carolina The Colburn Gem & Mineral Museum will be sponsoring (continued) the Asheville Gem Fest 2004 on June 18-20, 2004. This will be the 7th year for this annual gem, mineral, and Amethyst is translucent to transparent purple quartz. The jewelry show and sale. The hours of the show will be purple color is thought to be the result of two factors: 1) small Friday, 10:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M.: Saturday, 10:00 A.M. to amounts of iron impurities at specific sites in the crystal 6:00 P.M.; and Sunday, Noon to 5:00 P.M. Admission to structure and, 2) exposure to natural radiation in a manner the Asheville Gem Fest is free. Admission to the Colburn similar to smoky quartz. Again, the process by which this Earth Science Museum is also free during the show. occurs is not fully understood but it is known that exposing amethyst to sunlight for a long period of time will cause the Gem Fest 2004 will feature over 25 dealers from all purple color to fade. Therefore, it can be concluded that it isn't around the country offering jewelry, mineral specimens, the presence of fossils, gems, beads, supplies, crystals, books iron alone that and more. causes the purple color or There will be two lectures Saturday afternoon, June 19, else the mineral 2004, by Dr. Michael A. Wise of the Smithsonian. Dr. would not fade Wise’s lectures will be about recent research in simply due to Hiddenite, North Carolina, and the Moorefield Pegmatite sun exposure. Mine in Amelia, Virginia. Amethyst at Diamond Hill The show has something for everyone. Children and generally occurs adults will be able to search for minerals at an outdoor as larger flume, pan for , or discover crystal surprises with a secondary cracker. The show’s silent auction offers visitors a crystals on top of chance to pick up jewelry, gems, minerals, and gift translucent to certificates and items from local businesses and transparent smaller quartz crystal druzes in quartz vein restaurants at a bargain price. For more information, call pockets in the central portion of the mine. Local rockhounds the Museum at 828.254.7162 or visit our website at use the term "jumping bigger" to refer to this phenomenon and www.colburnmuseum.org. as a key to amethyst while digging. My experience has shown that amethyst crystals are almost always found pointed The Colburn Earth Science Museum is located in Pack downward in a pocket and that a hint of purple color can Place Education, Arts & Science Center at 2 South Pack sometimes be found in smoky quartz crystals. Square in downtown Asheville, North Carolina. from a press release from the Colburn Earth Science Museum. If you are looking to find a collecting location that offers a rare opportunity to collect a variety of quartz varieties in one place, Southeast Chapter of Friends of Mineralogy then the Diamond Hill Quartz Mine is your ticket. More Fall Symposium Announcement information about Diamond Hill can be obtained on our website and at www.mcrocks.com. Proceed to the "Field Trips" page to find Call for Abstracts several reports including pictures of the mine and minerals. Additional information, including directions to the mine, can be Plans are already underway for the next Southeast obtained on the Georgia Mineral Society website at Chapter fall symposium on November 13 and 14. We www.gamineral.org/commercial-diamondhill.htm. will once again meet at the Weinman Mineral Museum near Cartersville, Georgia. Talks, auction, and business meeting will take place on Saturday, November 13, and Mike Streeter works as a geologist for the State of North Caro- fieldtrips will take place the following day. This year, we lina and is the author of "A Rockhounding Guide to North Caro- will not have a theme mineral or location, but we lina's Blue Ridge Mountains", April 2003. Check out his web- encourage everyone to consider speaking (for about 15 site at www.mcrocks.com. to 20 minutes) on any mineral related topic that would be of interest to the Southeast Chapter members.

Pass It On - Soapstone Please send a title and brief abstract to Julian C. Gray, Chapter president, if you would like to present. If you To finish soapstone as the Chinese did, heat the finished would like information on the symposium, also contact Julian and you will be notified of details once plans are carving in the oven for an hour at 200 degrees. Remove finalized. from the oven and apply a coat of paste wax and polish. Julian C. Gray, SE FM President A effect results from this method. 524 Robin Lane Marietta, Georgia 30067-7046 from Golden Spike (1/01) via Rocky Echoes (4/04) [email protected] 770.973.3632 Tips and Trips Page 13 The Georgia Mineral Society May 2004 GMS and the State Science Olympiad SHOWS, SPECIAL EVENTS, AND EXHIBITS GMS members, Joan White, Kim Cochran, Bill Waggener, and Carolyn Daniels were in charge of the Fossil competition at the May 1-2, 2004, North Charleston, SC - Lowcountry Gem & Mineral State Science Olympiad Division C (High School) Competition Society. Performing Arts Center, held at Emory University on March 27, 2004. Carolyn provided Montague Avenue, North Charleston, SC. Hours: 1st, most of the fossil material and questions with the help of Kim. 10:00 A.M.-6:00 P.M. and 2nd, 10:00 A.M.-5:00 P.M. Joan and Bill helped time the competition and insure everything Contact: Karen Havenstein at [email protected]. ran smoothly. May 7-9, 2004, Marietta, GA - The Georgia Mineral Society. The 36th Annual Gem and Sarah Gorday, GMS Junior Member, said the competition was Mineral Mother’s Day Weekend Show. Cobb harder than last year’s. Her team, Chamblee Charter School, County Civic Center, 548 S. Marietta Parkway (at placed first in this year’s competition with a score of 80 out of Fairgrounds Street), Marietta, GA 30339. Hours: 96 points. They didn’t win without a lot of competition, we had 7th and 8th, 10:00 A.M.-6:00 P.M.; 9th, Noon-5:00 to go to a tiebreaker question to choose first place! There was P.M. Door Prizes and Free Admission/Parking. Auction open to public on 8th at 2:00 P.M. Contact: also a tie for third place that had to be broken. Jay Gorday at 770.986.0822 or [email protected]. Web link at See page 9 of this issue of Tips and Trips for some of the http://gamineral.org/may-show.htm. questions asked. See how well you would have done! June 5-6, 2004, Birmingham, AL - Alabama Mineral & Carolyn L. Daniels Lapidary Society. 31st Tannehill Gem, Mineral, and GMS Editor Jewelry Show at Tannehill Furnace Historical Park near Birmingham, AL. Hours: 5th and 6th: 9:00 A.M.-5:00 P.M. Show admission free to public with $1 to $2 admission fee to enter the park. Contact Rick Kittinger, 1612 Coleburg Circle, Hoover, AL 35226 or [email protected].

June 11-13, 2004, Charlotte, NC - Charlotte Gem & Mineral Club. 604 Daniels Burnham Way, Charlotte, NC. Contact: Clarence Johnson at 704.573.1116 or

Top Left: Kim Cochran (left) and Joan White (right) make sure no cheating goes on.

Bottom Left: Carolyn Daniels (left) and Bill Waggener (right) take a moment to contemplate at the Science Olympiad Competition.

Top Right: Sarah Gorday (GMS Junior Member on the right) and her partner (left) finish filling in their answer sheet.

Bottom Right: Now the hard part - GRADING! Kim Cochran (bottom left), Carolyn Daniels (bottom right) and Joan White (top left). (Photographs by Bill Waggener and Joan White.) Page 14 Tips and Trips May 2004 The Georgia Mineral Society The Splendor of Quartz 2004 E=mail: [email protected]. Phone: 315.823.7625.

by Bob Livingston, Syracuse (Host) Club Devel., just north of Herkimer, NY - has a huge rock shop and displays. Serious miners get As I write this, it’s March 1, the snow is melting pretty fast, set-up here early in the season as they do at Ace, which birds are migrating North. Think July, think lots of fun and makes getting a good spot kind of hard for a short timer. think Syracuse, where a great show and convention Great crystals if you are lucky enough to hit a pocket of awaits in less than 90 days from the time you read this. them. This one and Ace are hard rock ledge mining requiring sledges, chisels, wedges, strong back, patience Recently I had an E-mail from a former president of and lots of energy, luck or a 6th sense in smelling out a EFMSL who said, “Your articles about the Syracuse pocket. www.herkimerdiamond.com or E-mail: convention are making me think maybe I should get @ntcnet.com. There is a KOA nearby. packing my bags now.” Obviously, that is good to hear as we have a strong cadre of dedicated Syracuse club Ace of Diamonds Mine - Their property butts up to the members working long and hard to bring you a super previous one. Digging conditions are similar. Most show and convention. We continue to add things - latest people think they need to work at the wall which has all being a realistic Canadian quarry exhibit with unbelievably the complications noted above. In so doing, you are huge crystals. staring at a vertical wall probably 10 to 12 feet high. Others, however, are pretty successful busting up the In this issue we give you several websites so you can rubble and or screening herks from same. We were really start searching and formulating your vacation plans unable to find a website, but their phone number to get in earnest. Central New York is a neat area that I bet literature or whatever is: 315.891.3855. Also, here is a many of you have never visited. So, we encourage you to great website which will let you see exactly what you will build in some extra days to maximize what this area has in be dealing with digging at either second or third location store. Remember it has been 7 years since “American” above - www.Towercrystals.com. (All four locations rent has been in the East (Mississippi) and the American tools.) convention/show has never been in New York before? I will detail several Herkimer digging sites as well. We will Last, but not least, is Crystal Grove, St. Johnsville, NY. close with a real need for your help/cooperation. Each of the Eastern Federation packets, planned to be mailed 3rd week of March, will have a special discounted First, a note about making reservations at the Ramada Inn flier from here. Why? They offered them and albeit a few (Headquarters Hotel). You cannot use the national 800 miles further drive, for a novice wanting to get some number to get the rate or room. Instead, call Herkimers, this is probably the “easiest” of the four places. 315.457.8670 and tell them you want a room for the They bill themselves as “a Gem of a place!” I have seen Eastern Federation convention. Rate will be $89 including very nice specimens from here, but note I didn’t say best a cooked to order breakfast. specimens - two and three would be hard to beat for quality/clarity. However, for family fun this is our pick. We Helpful websites for the visiting nitty gritty for you: convention goers get group rate $2 off discounts on the www.iloveny.com. This will let you see the regions of reasonable camping and the daily fee. interest: Finger Lakes (where the Syracuse convention and show will be) and Leatherstocking Country (area Finally, as previously stated, with all “Syracuse” has to do where the Herkimer Diamond digging places are located). to make this event come off the way you expect us to, we I suggest you contact above site for their nifty 1/4” thick have no choice but to rely on all of you for exhibit cases. booklet “I love NY-New York State Travel Guide and Make this your year to “shine.” What we’d like to have is a Vacation Map.” They also have a toll-free phone - good geographic representation. We believe that we are 1.800.CALLNYS. getting some great exhibits from several California, Northwest and Rocky Mountain members. We also need Syracuse Convention and Visitors Bureau - can tell you you folks coming from Southeast, Midwest and South every and anything you might wish to know about the area Central to share with our show goers some of your neat in and around Syracuse within a 25-mile radius. Phone: stuff too. Easterners, you too need to heed the advice of 1.800.234.4797. Website www.VisitSyracuse.org. our President Matt Charsky, and let the whole world see your good stuff in the light of day. Our target is 100 or Coveted Herkimer locations (all fee locations: - driving more cases, which is huge for the East. With everybody’s time from Syracuse, 1 hour and 30 minutes. Here, is the help we can do it. Think of it as, “if you don’t do it, it won’t info so you can make some good judgements, plus we list get done.” the nearest (timewise) to Syracuse first and furthers by perhaps 12 miles, last: Make plans now to meet your friends old and new, in Syracuse. Registration forms can be downloaded from Treasure Mountain Diamond Mine, Little Falls, NY. This is the web at www.AmFed.org/EFMSL. the newest of the four we will cover, plus it is the one made famous when those quartz scepters began hitting Next Issue: Our scheduled field collecting trips (Biggest the market from there in the mid 90s. Their website has on Friday, July 9) and other stuff. Any Questions? outstanding photos and says it is “Easy Digging,” which [email protected]. granted is easier than the next two, but decent / from A.F.M.S. Newsletter (4/014) chisel work for the most part. They have camping. via Lodestar (SFMS newsletter; 4/04) Www.treasuremtnmining.com. [email protected]. Tips and Trips Page 15 The Georgia Mineral Society May 2004 FT. VALLEY SUPER SCIENCE SATURDAY children to one each or the teeth would have disappeared within minutes! We also took a bucket of On Saturday, March 27, 2004, my husband Mickey and I from Dale Hollow Lake, Tennessee. We cracked participated in a wonderful annual event held by Hunt some open and found a couple with nice crystals that we Elementary School in Ft. Valley, Georgia. Each year the gave away. Well, word spread like wildfire after that, and school invites organizations involved in the different we were besieged with requests for geodes. science fields to set up demonstrations, distribute information, answer questions, and generally encourage Mickey is an earth science teacher and spent the the students of this small community to develop an morning speaking to visitors about different specimens interest in some science field. The event was very well and about earth science in general. As I am an absolute attended by local children and their parents, and every amateur, I concentrated my energies on giving away room and every hallway in the school seemed to have samples and explaining what they were – and believe displays set up. The field of mineralogy was well me, that was a lot of work! represented; Mickey and I represented Georgia Mineral Society, and Middle Georgia Mineral Society attended as The top five questions/comments heard: 1) “Is this well and set up a beautiful display. free?”, 2) “Is that real gold?”, 3) “Those look just like diamonds,” 4) “Where did they come from?”, and my We took a large selection of our personal collection of personal favorite, 5) “Those almost look real.” minerals and fossils to display. The children were fascinated by all the fossils and a great many of the We had a grand time. Over a hundred children and minerals and asked a lot of questions. Especially parents came through our room. The best part of the popular were the trilobites under the large magnifying day was seeing children light up with real interest in our glass. The most popular part of our display, however, hobby; hopefully a few of them will continue to develop were the free samples we gave away. We had quartz their interest and become rockhounds, too. crystals from Mount Ida, Arkansas, and iron pyrites from Glendon, North Carolina. We also had a small number Lizabeth McClain of fossilized shark teeth; we had to be careful to limit the GMS Executive Vice President May 2004

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