August 2021 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 1 Volume 56, Number 7
Monthly Bulletin of the West Seattle Rock Club, Inc.
Seattle, Washington
Website: http://www.westseattlerockclub.org
Our Club: Practices the Rockhound Code of Ethics
Meetings: Visitors are always welcome!
WEST SEATTLE PETROGLYPHS
Mike Wall, Editor 5406 46th Ave SW Seattle, WA 98136 email: [email protected]
August 2021
Peridot August 2021 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 2
WEST SEATTLE ROCK CLUB, INC. email Address: [email protected]
The purpose of this Club is to promote the study and enjoyment of the Lapidary Arts with good Rock- hounding and good fellowship; and to further education and lapidary skills for all; to conduct field trips for exploration and collection of minerals, gems, rocks and fossils; to promote shows and displays; to publish a monthly periodical known as West Seattle PETROGLY PHS relating to club activities.
**************************************************************************************** OFFICERS AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS (2021—Carried over from 2020):
President Brooke Babcock (360) 305-8106 Vice President Annette Nelson (206) 379-3677 Secretary Sue Fox (206) 605-4666 Treasurer Audrey Vogelpohl (206) 932-3292 Federation Director Audrey Vogelpohl 206) 932-3292 Director at Large Ken Schmidt (206) 932-3626 Mineral Council Reps Rich Babcock (206) 326-8951 Newsletter - Editor Mike Wall (206) 476-6471 Current Past President Scott Ryan (206) 354-2101
**************************************************************************************** COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS (2021—Carried over from 2020):
Show Co-Chairs (2020 show) Sue Fox (206) 835-0774 Annette Nelson (206) 379-3677 Programs
**************************************************************************************** AFFILIATED WITH: Northwest Federation & American Federation of Mineralogical Societies Seattle Regional Gem and Mineral Show Committee Washington State Mineral Council ALAA – American Lands Access Association
**************************************************************************************** Meetings are held on the Fourth Wednesday of each month, except for November which can be on the THIRD or FOURTH Wednesday depending on Thanksgiving and no meetings in July and December The meetings are held in Adams Hall of the Tibbetts United Methodist Church 3940 41st S.W. (corner of 41st S.W. and S.W. Andover Street) Seattle, WA 6:15 PM – Junior Meeting 7:00 PM – Adult Meeting Dues are: $20.00 first year (including name badge), then: $10.00 per adult member per year or $15.00 for 2 adults in same family, $3.00 per junior member per year
(If you paid 2020 dues they are carried forward for 2021 as well.)
VISITORS ARE INVITED AND ARE ALWAYS WELCOME TO ALL MEETINGS
All material in this Bulletin may be reprinted if properly credited - Exchange Bulletins are most welcome. August 2021 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 3
CLUB CALENDAR WHAT’S
INSIDE
August 25, 2021
No General Meeting This Month Club Calendar 3
August 28, 2021 Vice President’s Message 3
Outdoor Gold Panning Field Trip At the Vogelpohls (1:00 pm) —See page #5 for What’s Inside 3 more details WSRC General Meeting Minutes -
June Virtual Meeting 4 VICE VGMS WORKHOP: Squeezing the PRESIDENT’S Most Slabs Out of Your Rock 4 MESSAGE Gold Panning Field Trip 5
Latrobe Gold Nugget 5 Hello Members! Colors From Around the World I had so much fun seeing so many of you at our picnic last month! I’m hoping we are Series—Part 2 5 able to keep our momentum going and get back to seeing you all more regularly. For Colors From Around the World this month, we’ve decided to move our Series—Part 3 7 meeting time and location (for this month only) and to have an outdoor activity! If you haven’t had a chance to practice gold Carving Is Not Just For Gems 8 panning before, you’ll really enjoy this meeting! See full details here in the news- 2021 Refreshments (On Hold) 9 letter. We’ll be outside on a Saturday - who doesn’t love that?! I’m watching the fore- cast and hoping for fair weather (without Shop Tips 9 these 100˚ days!) for our activity. Either way, we’re looking forward to it, and we hope to see you there! 2021 Field Trips 10
Warm (yet air conditioned) regards, 2021 Shows 10 Annette Nelson WSRC Vice President August 2021 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 4
WEST SEATTLE ROCK CLUB – GENERAL MEETING MINUTES
June 23, 2021 Zoom Meeting
Minutes Not Available at press time.
so you could glue the VGMS WORKSHOP: same day as you cut, but letting the glue set for at SQEEZING THE MOST least 24 hours is best. This helps ensure a firm SLABS OUT OF bond as the saw blade begins to cut into the YOUR ROCK rock and as oil spills over both wood and by John Cook & Ron Wise, rock. Workshop Stewards, Ventura(CA) CMS You now have a rock We often find that can be securely set great surprises and clamped into the inside a rock saw via the piece of when we clamp it 2X4. Start cutting and into the big see how many slabs you can produce from your butt workshop slab end. To remove the last slab from the wood after saw and slice cutting, place the wood and slab in a bucket of hot away. But water with Dawn detergent and let the wood absorb sometimes, we water overnight. The slab and wood should come can get only a apart easily. If it doesn’t, try again with boiling water. couple of slabs Don’t try to chip the slab off with a hammer and until the rock chisel, or you may fracture and split your slab. grows too small for the vice to To provide an example of how well this works, we grip, and we end had one fist-size Ventura Beach cobble of “catsup up with a couple and mustard” jasper that produced just a single slab of fat “butt ends.” before the vice could no longer grip the cobble. After You could just gluing the two butt ends to small pieces of 2X4, we flat-lap them and be happy with two nice ended up with no fewer than 10 slabs suitable for paperweights. Still … they’ve got wonderful color producing any number of cabochons! and pattern, and you know for sure there are two, three, or more slabs that could be had in order to pro- duce fantastic cabochons. What to do?
Go to a lumberyard and get yourself a 2X4. Cut off an end about as long as your rock. It’s best not to go any smaller than 4 inches in length so that it’s easy to handle and clamp into the saw. Use a quick-setting epoxy (like JB Weld’s 5-minute epoxy) and glue the flat side of your butt end to the face of the 2X4 segment, allowing for some clearance on the bottom.
Use just a small amount of glue, or you will have problems getting the rock off the wood after all is said and done. All photos by Jim Brace-Thompson
(via AFMS Newsletter, June 2021; via Rockhound It doesn’t take long for quick-setting epoxy to bond, Rambling Nov/Dec 2020) August 2021 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 5
The Morning Glory Pool, Yellowstone National GOLD PANNING Park, Wyoming FIELD TRIP
The club will be having a field trip (in lieu of an indoor August meeting) at the Vogelpohls’ back yard on Saturday August 28th, 2021. Packets of soil with gold will be available ... free one to each Junior member in attendance and $5 per packet for adult members. The picture is of our Junior Members in 2013.
Named in 1889, by the wife of the Assistant Park Superintendent, as it resembled the morning glory flower. The hot mineralized water is home to several different species of distinctly colored bacteria which give the pool its beautiful colors.
On a few rare occasions, the Morning Glory Pool has erupted as a geyser, usually following an earthquake or other nearby seismic activity. Several entryways Bring a chair & a mask, as only 3 can usually pan at a have been clogged due to objects being thrown in by time. If it rains we will pull the canopy out on the tourists, reducing the hot water supply, and in turn, RV. Come for the afternoon at 1:00 pm ... 8810 37th altering the overall appearance of the pool. Several Ave SW. attempts by park officials to artificially induce eruptions to clear the pool of debris and clear blocked Questions? 206.932.3292 entryways have been met with mixed results.
An interpretive sign, placed near the pool by the park LATROBE service, discusses the damage caused by ignorance and vandalism and suggests that Morning Glory is GOLD NUGGET becoming a "Faded Glory."
The Latrobe Nugget is one of the largest cubic gold The Zhangye Cliffs, The Zhangye National clusters known. Hop over to London for a firsthand Geopark, Qilian Mountains, Gansu, China look.
COLORS FROM AROUND THE WORLD SERIES: These cliffs are often called the Rainbow Mountains. They are cretaceous sandstones and siltstones that PART 2 were deposited in China before the Himalayan
by Kat Kock (Continued on page 6)
August 2021 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 6
(Continued from page 5) protection area that preserves the most complete Mountains were formed. The sand and silt was ecosystem and the biggest wetland in the world. deposited with iron and trace minerals that provided it More than 260 kinds of birds and 399 kinds of wild with the key ingredient to form the colors we see animals live in it. It was promoted to the state-level today. nature protection area in 1988 and has applied to join the International person and biosphere protectorate What was once layered horizontally like a layer cake. network. Sandstones, siltstones, iron, and trace minerals were deposited in the area before the Himalayan Spotted Lake, Similkameen Valley, British Mountains were formed. The flat stratigraphy was Columbia, Canada disrupted by the tectonic Indian Plate colliding into the Eurasian Plate approximately 55 million years ago. The result was the land was tilted by the same later tectonic plate movement that was responsible for creating parts of the Himalayan Mountains. This process uplifted the land and exposed sedimentary rocks that were otherwise hidden well below the surface of the earth. Wind, rain, and time then sculpted extraordinary shapes, including towers, pillars, and ravines, with varying colors, patterns, and sizes. This caused the striking variation in colors seen across the Zhangye Cliffs (Rainbow Mountains). It covers an area of 124 sq miles.
It has been voted by Chinese media outlets as one of the most beautiful landforms in China. The site was Spotted Lake is a saline endorheic alkali lake located also named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009 northwest of Osoyoos in the eastern Similkameen and is the destination for many Chinese and Valley, British Columbia, Canada, accessed via international tourists. Highway 3. An endorheic basin is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to Panjin Beach, Dawa County, Panjin, Liaoning, other external bodies of water, such as rivers or China oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes or swamps, permanent or seasonal.
When Spotted Lake is filled with water it isn’t much to see. The saline lake looks a lot like others of its kind and is pretty like all lakes are. But the real beauty of the Spotted Lake comes after most of its water evaporates.
Typically this occurs in the summertime, leaving behind small, multi-shaped pools of mineral-rich water that give the lake its name. These pools, filled with highly concentrated magnesium sulfate and other minerals, can range in color from light greens to pale grays and everything in between. What sets the pools off, though, are the narrow land bridges between each one that is built by hardened minerals. This very unusual beach is located in Dawa County, These help to achieve the spotted effect, as they Panjin, Liaoning, China, and is famous for its section off pools with varying levels of things like landscape featuring the red plant of Suaeda Salsa. calcium, silver, titanium, and sodium sulfates. The The Sueda Salsa is one of the few species of plant color is based on the minerals contained within the that can live in highly alkaline soil. Its growth cycle individual pools. starts in April when it is colored light red, while the color of the mature species is deep red. It is based in Originally known to the First Nations of the the biggest wetland and reed marsh in the world. The Okanagan Valley as Kliluk, Spotted Lake has been landscape is composed of shallow seas and tide-lands revered for centuries as a sacred site thought to fed by the Shuangtaizi River. provide therapeutic waters. During World War 1, the minerals of Spotted Lake were used in manufacturing Panjin Shuangtaizi River mouth is a state-level nature (Continued on page 7) August 2021 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 7
(Continued from page 6) rich in animal and plant fossils. The remains of ammunition. Later, the area was privately owned for prehistoric crocodiles, turtles, fish, and dinosaurs are about 40 years. In 1979, they attempted to create sprinkled throughout the land. You’ll also see interest in a spa at the lake. The First Nations petrified wood, including numerous upright tree responded with an effort to buy the lake, then in stumps with roots. October 2001, struck a deal by purchasing 54.4 acres of land for a total of $720,000, and contributed about While it’s somewhat challenging to get there, visitors 20% of the cost. The Indian Affairs Department paid are rewarded with a tranquil, dreamlike, environment the remainder. that is easy to navigate. A network of dirt roads crisscross the desert, many in good condition except (via The Tumbler, July 2021) after recent rainfall when some become impassable. Although the formations extend for six miles along the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wash, the most accessible and COLORS FROM AROUND picturesque formations are within one to two miles of the parking area. They can be seen within half a THE WORLD SERIES: day of easy walking along the generally flat terrain. PART 3 Pamukkale, River Menderes Valley, Turkey by Kat Kock
Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness Study Area, Bloomfield, New Mexico
A little-known region of fantastically eroded rocks. Located in the high desert of northwest New Mexico Pamukkale (Cotton Castle) has been drawing visitors it is generally flat sandy, and uninhabited land to Its thermal springs since the time of Classical drained by shallow washes that eventually meet the Antiquity (8th century BC and the 6th century AD ). San Juan River. Some of the lands are part of the The ancient Greco-Roman city of Hierapolis (Holy Navajo Indian Reservation, and other areas are used City) was built on top of the travertine formation. for oil and gas drilling, but most of the area is empty. The formation is in total about 8,860 ft long, 1,970 ft wide, and 525 ft high. It can be seen from the hills on The Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness Study Area is the opposite side of the valley in the town of Denizli, located on 6,563 acres of public Bureau of Land 12.5 miles away. Management land. It’s a hidden wonder of weathered rock formations, often referred to as hoodoos (pale, Pamukkale's terraces are made of travertine, a mushroom-shaped rock formations), tent rocks, fairy sedimentary rock deposited by mineral water from chimneys, earth pyramids, or mushrooms. These rock the hot springs. The surface of the shimmering, snow formations loom above the rocky terrain. -white limestone, has been shaped over millennia by calcite-rich springs. Dripping slowly down the Geologically, the area is comprised of layers of mountainside, mineral-rich waters collect in and sandstone, shale, mudstone, and bituminous coal that cascade down the mineral terraces, into pools below. were deposited 75 million years ago during the late Legend has it that the formations are solidified Cretaceous era. A whopping 75,000 millennia of cotton (the area's principal crop) that giants left out wind, water, and ice weathering, and eroding the to dry. layers are responsible for the surreal and alienesque landscape. This unusual landscape feels like a There are 17 hot springs in the area with Martian planet with its muted colors and striking temperatures ranging from 95°F to 212°F. The water geology. that emerges from the spring is transported 1,050 ft to the head of the travertine terraces and deposits Because of its geologic age and climate, the area is (Continued on page 8) August 2021 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 8
(Continued from page 7) layers fall off, while other exposed areas have calcium carbonate on a section of the formation 200 already begun aging. to 230 ft long and 79 ft to 98 ft wide. When the water, supersaturated with calcium carbonate, Grape Agate, Indonesia reaches the surface, carbon dioxide de-gasses it and deposits calcium carbonate. The water deposits the calcium carbonate as a soft gel which eventually crystallizes into travertine.
The underground volcanic activity which causes the hot springs also forced carbon dioxide into a cave, which was called Plutonium, which here means "place of the god Pluto". This cave was used for religious purposes by priests who found ways to appear immune to the suffocating gas.
Hierapolis-Pamukkale is recognized as a World Heritage Site in 1988. It is a tourist attraction with controlled access due to its status and natural beauty. Grape Agate is the common name for Botryoidal Rainbow Eucalyptus Purple Chalcedony, tiny spherical crystals. The name reflects their purple color and how they occur in clusters that resemble bunches of grapes.
Grape Agate is chalcedony and Amethyst is quartz so the two minerals are not related.
These crystals are found exclusively in Indonesia, more specifically in the Mamuju area of the western Sulawesi coast. Colors can range from deep purple to pale or white hues. It's even possible to find green examples.
Bibliography: Wikipedia, Americansouthwest.net, Memphis Tours, YouTube, One Earth.Org, My Modern Met, Geology.com, Geology In
(via The Tumbler, August 2021)
Eucalyptus deglupta is so colorful that it's known as the Rainbow Eucalyptus. When this incredible tree CARVING IS NOT JUST sheds its bark, it almost looks like a colored pencil being sharpened. This makes for an unforgettable FOR GEMS spectacle.
The rainbow eucalyptus is a tall tree that is unique in Since prehistoric times, man, Paleo and Neolithic, that it's the only eucalyptus to live in the rainforest has hammered out tools of stone to cut wood, to kill and only one of four species found outside of animals and to work skins. The idea probably came Australia. It is the only eucalyptus tree to grow in the from desperate throwing of stones to down rainforest. Rainbow Eucalyptus is also the only something good to eat. But early man was observant, eucalyptus tree indigenous to the northern of necessity, and recognized that stones were broken hemisphere. Its found mainly in the Philippines, New naturally into sizes and shapes that answered his Guinea, and Indonesia, where it can soar up to 250 needs. feet in the air. While its height is impressive, it's the tree's multicolor bark that makes it stand out. The first lapidary, breaking stones himself, to the sizes and shapes he wanted, set the stage for As the Rainbow Eucalyptus sheds, it first reveals a everyone who works stone. He made sharper ax bright green inner bark. Over time, this ages into heads, lighter arrowheads and sturdier scrapers, but different colors—blue, purple, orange, and maroon. he recognized the beauty of the stone as well as its The colorful striations are created because the tree utility. If a tribe’s medicine man wanted fetishes, the doesn't shed all at once. Slowly, over time, different (Continued on page 9) August 2021 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 9
(Continued from page 8) lapidary became a stone carver. Then his wife, tired of braiding or tying pretty stones into necklace forms, SHOP TIPS probably asked for a hole drilled into a pretty rock or two she had picked up while digging shellfish, he Editor’s Note: Shop tips became a bead maker. Some of the pretty river featured in this bulletin have not stones, already naturally sculpted and polished, were been evaluated for safety or easily carved into amulets and seals. reliability. Please use caution and common sense when trying The Stone Age people learned to differentiate stones out any new idea. and developed techniques for working them. Stone ——————————————– adornments excavated at Shar-i-Sokhta in eastern Iran are dated back to 2,800 BC. Soft stones included Other Polishing Tips alabaster, limestone, and lapis lazuli, while hard Have you ever had trouble trying to figure out just stones were carnelian and rock crystal. That stones where you were sanding or polishing on a cab or tumbled in a gravely stream were prettier, and thus facet??? Try using a waterproof felt pen — coat the the value of polishing with a harder stone may have area — sand or polish a little and you'll know exactly been noted. where you are!
The cabochon was probably the first formally After polishing geodes on your flat lap, an easy way recognized man made shape, a simple cabochon to remove the polish from those beautiful crystals is being a rounded convex top with a flattened back. to just use your dental water pick. The shape is suitable for agate, jade, cat’s eye stone and moonstones, harder to work but beautiful when When desiring a very high polish on your tumbled finished. A double cabochon has a rounded back, stones, use a quarter pound chunk of soluble rouge, lower in height than the front; it is commonly used the kind used by silver smiths, which comes in half- for star stones because it may increase the pound bars. Cut the bar in half and put it into the distinctness of the star and the extra carat weight is a tumbler with the usual amount of water and your definite plus to the Ceylon native cutters who cut choice of regular polishing compound. It will greatly most of the world’s star stones since a pale stone may improve the luster. have its color deepened by doubling. A hollow cabochon is where the back of the stone is concave, it (via The Tumbler, July 2021; via Breccia, 2/21; via San is used where the color is too dark as with many Fernando Valley Mineral and Gem Society, 1975; via garnets. The hollow allows more light to show Rockhound's Rag) through. The lentil cut is a rather shallow double cabochon with the top and back of even height, used ——————————————– for many years for small moonstones. Which Will Undercut? The lapidary has moved from just stone carving into Try the following procedure to get a better polish on carving gems. materials that will generally "under-cut", such as sagenite, moss agate, plume, porous wood and wood (via Tumbler, August, 2021 via Golden Spike News, 1/21; with iron. First, completely cover the slice with water via Golden Spike News, 2/08; via PGGS Petrograph 2/05) in a flat pan with some detergent, and a shake of Comet, elevating the slice in the water on a small object, such as a jar ring. Start the rocks in lukewarm water and gradually bring to a slow boil. Boil for 10 minutes keeping the slice well covered with water at 2021 all times. Remove from heat and leave in pan until the water reaches room temperature. Fast changes in REFRESH- temperature may fracture the slice. Shape stone and work through the fine sanding stage, clean well and MENTS spray with a coat or two of clear plastic. Let it dry, fine sand again lightly, then polish. The plastic fills in the porous spots, enabling the surface to take a polish. The signup sheet is currently on hold for now. This thin coat over the iron content in picture wood Hopefully things will get back to normal soon. almost eliminates the shiny iron streaks in the wood.
(On Hold for now, until our in- (via The Tumbler, July 2021; via Breccia, 2/21; via San Fernando Valley Mineral and Gem Society, 1975; via The person meetings start up again) Agatizer) August 2021 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 10
2021 FIELD TRIPS
9/18 10am — Hwy 410 & FR 19 Little Naches for T-Eggs & Lily Pad Jasper contact: Ed Lehman [email protected], 425-334-6282, 425-760-2786
————————————————————————————————————— See WSMC for additional field trips and detail — https://mineralcouncil.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/2021- rock-activites.pdf — Always check with the trip contact a week before the trip to get any updated information
2021 SHOWS
Aug 27 & 28 — 10am-5pm —Southern Washington Mineralogical Society— Silver Lake Grange, 3104 Spirit Lake Hwy, Castle Rock, WA
Sep 11 & 12 — 10am-5pm —Marcus Whitman Gem & Mineral Society— Walla Walla County Fairgrounds, Community Center Building, 831 Orchard St., Walla Walla, WA
Sep 11 & 12 — 9am-5pm (Sat) 10am-4pm (Sun) —Clallam County Gem & Mineral Association—Vern Burton Community Center, 308 East 4th St., Port Angeles, WA
Sep 11 & 12 — 10am-6pm (Sat) 10am-5pm (Sun) —Mt. Baker Rock & Gem Club—Pioneer Pavillion, 2007 Cherry St., Ferndale, WA
————————————————————————————————————— See the Northwest Newsletter for additional show listings and times. Available online at: http://northwestfederation.org/newsletters.asp
How Can You Help
Your Federation: Save stamps and give to our club treasurer.
Your Hobby: Join ALAA. - Contact Lyle Vogelpohl
Other: Volunteer to teach beginners what you are good at.
To Learn More About ...
Cabbing … contact Lyle Vogelpohl … (206) 932-3292