DELVINGS

The Newsletter of the Delvers Gem & Society

Volume 73 Number 2 February 2020

Winter is the season to explore our local desert, see the sights and perhaps collect some rocks.

This picture was taken at Mosaic Canyon in Death Valley. The name of the canyon refers to a breccia of cemented rock fragments, but perhaps more fascinating is the banded marble shown here, polished by flash floods – the Noonday Dolomite.

It is truly ancient, dating back about 750 million years, formed in a shallow sea rich in algae. The limestone was enriched with magnesium (probably by groundwater) transforming it into dolomitic limestone. The enormous pressure and heat of deep burial later transformed this “dolostone” into a marble. Photo by Andrew Hoekstra

Delvers Gem & Mineral Society, Inc. - mailing address: 3833 San Anseline, Long Beach, CA 90808 Taps From the Gavel 2020 Board We are off to a great start with the first meeting of the New Year behind President – Marvin Belcher us. During our meeting, we had two separate and informative [email protected] presentations from our members, Dale Harwood and Andrew Hoekstra. VP – Charles Pierce Later in the month, a few of us Delvers took to the road and headed to [email protected] Treasurer – Emmalee Fowler the QIA POW WOW in Quartzite, AZ. The weather was very nice and [email protected] perfect for walking around outside. On Saturday we met up with other Secretary – Judy Belcher rock hounds for a trip to Brenda. We found some collection sites close [email protected] by and looked for Jasper, Agate and Chalcedony roses if you were lucky. Director – Guynell Miller On our way home Sunday we made a quick stop just west of Blythe to [email protected] collect cubes which will be in our next show and tell. We’re Director – Dale Harwood looking forward to our next meeting February 14th and hopefully some 310-217-0551 upcoming rock trips. Director - Peter German [email protected] Happy Rock Hunting, Marvin Belcher, Delvers President

DUES are now OVERDUE. Individual member $15, or two adults at same address $25 Pay at the meeting or mail a check to treasurer Emmalee Fowler, 8129 San Juan Ave, South Gate, CA 90280

FIELD TRIPS Feb 01, Nuevo Silica Quarry, Oxnard G&MS. Meet at the Starbucks in Perris (3150 Case Road, Perris, CA 92570) at 9 a.m. Sign up at http://www.whoscoming.com/ogms/. Contact: Brett Allen Johnson, [email protected] This will be a rugged trip for low-clearance vehicles, and carpooling will be encouraged. Bring lunch and snacks, 1 gallon of drinking water, hiking shoes, sun hat, sunscreen, garden gloves, newspaper, buckets, rock hammer, garden claws, and a crowbar, chisels and sledge if you want to hardrock mine. Feb 01-02, Chuckwalla Springs, Searchers G&MS. [email protected], or text only (571)-217-9536 Trip-info-flyer. 4x4 highly recommended, overnight camping. https://www.searchersrocks.org/next-field-trip Feb 08, Kramer Hills, Yucaipa G&MS. Contact Dennis Gibbs to sign-up: [email protected] Trip information is at https://www.yvgms.org/field-trips (for all upcoming Yucaipa trips) Feb 16, Tajiguas Beach, Ventura G&MS. David Springer. Info & sign-up at http://www.whoscoming.com/vgms/ Feb 22-23, Marble Mountains, Searchers G&MS. [email protected], or text only (571)-217-9536 March 14, Marble Mtns, Yucaipa G&MS. Contact Dennis Gibbs to sign-up: [email protected] April or May, Turquoise in Tonopah (fee dig), Yucaipa G&MS. Dennis Gibbs, [email protected]

PROGRAMS & EVENTS The Searchers have had to postpone their scheduled Feb program on Agates of Argentina to a later date, so… Feb 11 – Southern Utah’s Geological Scenery, with an update on collecting, presented by Andrew Hoekstra 7 PM, Anaheim Downtown Community Center, 250 East Center St., Anaheim, https://www.searchersrocks.org/meetings Feb 28 – Mar 1 – Gem Faire, Costa Mesa (Admission fee): https://gemfaire.com/event/costa-mesa-ca-20/

DELVINGS February 2020 Page 2

Minutes: Board Meeting Jan 10, 2020 – Judy Belcher, Secretary Call to Order Need to send list of names 2019 members and $8 dues per member to CFMS. Emmalee is to write a check and send it to the CFMS with 2020 dues for 22 paid members (as of 12/31/2019) x $8 = $176. Emmalee wrote a check for $500 for 2020 rent to the church. Andrew purchased 2 printers and ink and accepted $43 reimbursement (less than 1/3 of money allocated), The balance was returned to the treasurer. Dale submitted receipts for purchase of door prize material from Jewel Tunnel and Tom Wolfe Lapidary. What does bank require for the changes of account authority? Letter or minutes stating what new people are authorized for the bank account signed by the club officers. Guynell has accepted the position of Federation Representative. Field Trips, if anyone is going next weekend, Pasadena club is leading a field trip on Saturday. Suggestion: appoint members to positions of club jewelry, mineral, lapidary, and fossil “experts.” Social Media may be a way to reach more audience, continue to use it, perhaps add twitter, snapchat. Agree to meet at 6:15 for the monthly board meetings.

Minutes: General Meeting Jan 10, 2020 – Judy Belcher, Secretary Flag Salute Program: Dale Harwood – Ugly and Why to Collect Them Most minerals are commonly found in their massive form. Typical collectors are not interested in the massive form. Miners are interested in minerals for their commercial value. They are not concerned with their appearance. Then there is the amateur collector. Dale likes the massive form: he appreciates their commercial value, and is interested in the science behind the occurrence of the massive form. They are like a hidden gem. Once is mined, the even massive forms of unique site-specific are depleted as they get crushed and turned into some product. Crystals require special conditions and are actually rare in rock structures. Attractive crystals usually occur on matrix of a massive form mineral which is often ignored by collectors. Another reason Dale likes massive minerals is that many of them fluoresce. Chromite, has economic value but is not attractive, but has interesting history. Lepidolite has tiny crystals and has a lilac color. Amblygonite (lithium ore) is white, not attractive, but has ore value. Cassiterite (tin ore), is heavy and dense. Galena (lead ore) is still found today in old silver dumps. Pitchblende (uranium ore) will set off a Geiger counter. Tredilite fluoresces orange. Most massive minerals are not pricey, but some can be, for example pink metallic Germanite (copper germanium), from Tsumeb mine is rare and actually quite pricey. Treasurer’s Report: We raised $531 from the Christmas Party, plus another $40 Chuck handed to Emmalee tonight. Emmalee says to think about raising funds, by having demo table, grab bags, etc. The reinstating of non-profit status is costly. Bulletin: Andrew brought in a DVD and a CD to add to our Library: on agates and geodes and jewelry projects. Show and Tell: Chuck brought in face polished Brazilian agates. He cut them and found crystals inside. He was at Quartzite last week and brought back a couple of slabs. He also brought in a piece of Egyptian Jasper (from his father) which had a face. Teresa brought in some earrings that she made for a show. Next month (for our February program) she will bring tools to show how she does the riveting. Andrew presented a slideshow on Suiseki (Viewing stones) that were displayed at the Huntington in December. Chair Appointments: Guynell has agreed to be the Federation Rep; Dale Harwood is our librarian. Field Trips: Quartzite for this month. Pasadena club will be leading a trip out of Quartzite on Saturday. Raffle Meeting adjourned

DELVINGS February 2020 Page 3

The “Rim of the Valley” legislation threatens rock-hounding in Los Angeles & Ventura Counties

Collecting rocks or fossils will be forbidden on most of the hills surrounding the greater Los Angeles urban area, if this proposed federal takeover of local public parklands is enacted [see the map, or alternate map]. The “Rim of the Valley Corridor Preservation Act” (H.R.1708 & S.774, sponsored by Adam Schiff and Dianne Feinstein) proposes that the federal government, specifically the National Park Service, take over the management of the hills surrounding the Simi, Conejo, Santa Clarita, La Crescenta, San Fernando, and San Gabriel Valleys, by adding these lands to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. The proposal envisions the federal government assuming management of an additional 190,000 acres (297 square miles) of land in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Many of these acres are already local parkland or other locally managed public lands. Less than one percent is currently federal land, and almost half the acreage is private land that would need to be purchased. The legislation promises that no landowner will be forced to sell. Without land purchases, the proposal does little or nothing to increase public recreational areas or access. Unfortunately, the Rim of the Valley legislation would prohibit existing nature and science educational and recreational activities of individuals, schools and colleges, scout troops, and hobbyist clubs and nature study groups. The National Park service prohibits any collecting by the general public of even the most common natural materials, but serious study requires hands-on learning, including collecting. These hills are the last undeveloped local public lands accessible to students, hobbyists, and avocational scientists to study geology, mineralogy, paleontology, entomology and botany. It would also stifle research by students and professors at local colleges and universities due to the onerous permitting requirements of the National Park Service. National Park Service rules might also prohibit or hinder other popular existing public recreational activities. Our local hills are not pristine wilderness and lack the exceptional scenic values of our national parks. Many are currently open to local residents for hiking, dog-walking, and mountain biking, as well as nature study. Collection of limited amounts of common rocks, fossils, insects, or plant material for personal use in study is not a threat to wildlife (endangered by development, habitat loss, and proliferation of non-native species), or to scientific resources (archeological resources and scientifically valuable fossils already have legal protection). Local government has the authority to act when necessary to protect special resources and scenic features on their public lands. Each local management authority has individually imposed the rules they find necessary for the lands they manage. I have heard few complaints from local residents. Local citizens deserve a voice in management of their local public recreational lands. They are more likely to be heard, and their opinions considered, by local elected public officials than by bureaucrats headquartered at Washington D.C. The United States Department of the Interior and National Park Service oppose the Rim of the Valley legislation: written testimony to congress, dated April 2nd, 2019, states that the Department does not support enacting this proposed expansion at this time, due to higher priorities for spending. Because of the consequences to nature science education and recreation, I suggest that the NPS is not an appropriate agency for the management of our local recreational parklands. It is preferable to retain the current management by local government, with local citizen input, while still implementing worthwhile improvements or expanding public parks and recreational areas. - Andrew Hoekstra

The opinions expressed herein are solely the opinion of the author and not necessarily those of the Delvers G&MS

DELVINGS February 2020 Page 4

Mineral of the Month: Creedite. From Chipper’s Chatter, Chesapeake G&MS, May 2016 By Jim Hooper. Photos via Wikimedia Commons used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License

You shouldn’t be judged on the basis of your Creedite California. It’s also found in mines in Santa Eulalia, unless of course you’re selling minerals at a show and Chihuahua, Mexico, as well as Bolivia, Tajikistan, want to dazzle shoppers and dealers. Here’s a Kazakhstan, China, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, mineral that gets surprisingly little mention in some and Australia. of my favorite source books even though in my Creedite’s is monoclinic and crystal opinion it ranks with the best in visual appeal. It structure or habit is prismatic. It ranks a 4 on the doesn’t appear at every show, every time, so you Mohs Hardness Scale. The chemical formula for might have to do some searching to find it. But it’s Creedite is Ca3SO4Al2F8(OH)2 · 2H2O. Its luster is worth the wait. Although it appears in a number of described as vitreous and diaphaneity is transparent. different colors, the orange specimens I’ve been The prismatic crystals radiate from a center, and form lucky enough to find quickly stand out from their pointy spheres. I did not find any industrial or shelf neighbors because of the richness of the orange commercial uses other than for collecting. For color. Creedite also appears in other colors, white, additional classification, structural composition, clear, and purple. Purple varieties resemble Amethyst relations to other minerals and more, please go to: save for the very different crystal habits. mindat.org, https://www.mindat.org/min-1151.html Creedite is considered a rare hydroxylhalide mineral, As usual there are many great images on Google. a complex aluminum salt. Creedite usually forms in Like someone may have said, “It’s good to have a the oxidation zones of fluorite ore deposits. Creedite to follow.” Something of a relative newcomer, Creedite was named after the location where it was discovered in References: 1916 at the Colorado Fluorspar Co. Mine at the https://www.mindat.org/min-1151.html Creede Quadrangle, Mineral County, Colorado. It https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creedite was later found in other fluorite veins near Nye The Encylopedia of Minerals and Gemstones, County, Nevada; and other mines in Arizona and By O’Donohue, Michael, G.P. Putnams Sons, 1976

DELVINGS February 2020 Page 5

DELVINGS 16643 Chicago Ave. Bellflower, CA 90706

FIRST CLASS MAIL

Website: http://delversgemclub.wordpress.com/

And we also can be found at Facebook

Editor: Andrew Hoekstra. Email: [email protected]

Regular Meeting of the Delvers Gem and Mineral Society February 14 th, 2020, at 7 PM at the Holy Redeemer Church, 14515 Blaine Ave., Bellflower, CA Program – Stamping and Riveting Techniques Visitors are always welcome! Board Meeting (all members invited) at 6:15 PM

Delvers Gem & Mineral Society, Inc. - mailing address: 3833 San Anseline, Long Beach, CA 90808