June/July 2021 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 1 Volume 56, Number 6
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]
June/July 2021
Pearls & Ruby June/July 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. June/July 2021 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 3
CLUB Hamburgers, hot dogs and the fixings will CALENDAR be provided by the club. Please bring a side dish of your choice to share and your own drinks. Also bring a chair or blanket June 23, 2021 to sit on.
… And most importantly bring some nice General Meeting (7:00 pm) - Virtual Only rocks and cash for the not-so-silent auction. Program— Identifying Igneous Rocks Bring plenty of cash you don’t want to lose
Show-n-Tell— Something Blue out on one of those precious gems. There will also be a few items that will be for Note: Zoom meeting will end promptly at kids only. 7:40, so make sure you are there at 7:00 so we can start on time. WHAT’S July 28, 2021 INSIDE
WSRC Picnic — Starts at 5:30 pm — see details below. Club Calendar 3
(Hope to see everyone there!) President’s Message 3
2021 WSRC Picnic 3
What’s Inside 3 PRESIDENT’S WSRC General Meeting Minutes - MESSAGE May Virtual Meeting 4 Scientists Study the Not-so-Sweet (But Interesting) Sixteen 4
(Not Available The Different Types of Chalcedony 5 at Press Time) A Clue in Predicting Tsunamis 7
Colors From Around the World 2021 WSRC PICNIC Series—Part 1 8
Our July Picnic will be at Me-Kwa-Mooks 2021 Refreshments (On Hold) 9 park on July 28th at 5:30 pm. Shop Tips 9 Address: 4503 Beach Dr. SW. Seattle 2021 Field Trips 10 This will be our first in person get together for about 1 1/2 years, so make sure you 2021 Shows 10 mark this on your calendars right now. June/July 2021 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 4
WEST SEATTLE ROCK CLUB – GENERAL MEETING MINUTES
May 26, 2021 Zoom Meeting
Meeting was cancelled—no minutes..
. . is politically and physically accessible for study; SCIENTISTS STUDY THE and there is local support for the work.” Two of the Decade Volcanoes are in the U.S.! (. . .Yay?) NOT-SO-SWEET (BUT The 16 are: INTERESTING) SIXTEEN 1. Avachinsky-Koryatsky on the Kamchatka
Peninsula in Russia. It’s near Petropavlovsk, the By Valerie J. Meyers, largest city on the peninsula. Show-Me Rockhounds of Kansas City 2. Colima, the largest and most active of a range Mt. Etna erupted recently with showers of rock and of volcanoes called the Colima Volcanic clouds of gas that briefly closed the airport in Complex, straddles the border of Jalisco and Catania, Italy. Etna is one of the Decade Volcanoes – Colima states in Mexico. It threatens cities in also known as the Decade Sixteen – that are closely both states; in 2016, an eruption forced the studied by scientists. They were identified in 1990 by evacuations of four towns. the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth’s Interior as part of the United 3. Galeras Nariño in Colombia. About 8,000 Nations’ International Decade for Natural Disaster people live in several towns near the volcano. Reduction, because these are volcanoes that are Galeras Nariño is notorious among active, have a history of destructive eruptions, and are volcanologists because it erupted without located close to populous areas. warning in 1993. Six scientists who’d been attending a volcanology conference and three tourists were caught in the crater and killed.
4. Mauna Loa in the USA. It’s near Hilo, the largest city on the Big Island of Hawaii.
5. Mount Etna in Italy, near the city of Catania and several small towns.
6. Mount Merapi in Central Java, Indonesia. The island of Java is densely populated; an eruption less than a month ago forced the evacuation of 2,000 residents near the volcano.
7. Mount Nyiragonga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It’s near the towns of Goma in DRC and Gisenyi in Rwanda. Mt. Etna erupts near the U.S. Naval Air Station at Sigonella in Italy. Photo from twitter.com/US 8. Mount Rainier in Washington State, USA. Navy, via Wikimedia Commons. Small towns cluster around Mount Rainier National Park, and all of Pierce County could be According to Wikipedia, each of those 16 volcanoes affected by an eruption. met other criteria besides recent activity and nearness to populated areas. Each was also chosen if it 9. Mount Vesuvius in the state of Campania, “exhibits more than one volcanic hazard (people Italy. It’s less than 14 miles from Naples. living near the Decade Volcanoes may experience tephra fall, pyroclastic flows, lava flows, lahars, 10. Mount Unzen in Japan. It’s near Shimabara, a volcanic edifice instability and lava dome collapse); . (Continued on page 5) June/July 2021 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 5
(Continued from page 4) arrowheads, spearheads, scrapers and other tools that need a very, very sharp edge. Flint can be chipped town of 45,000 in the Nagasaki Prefecture. into very sharp edges in a process that is known as “flint knapping.” (Below: Flint from Ohio. James St. 11. Sakurajima in Japan. It is actually within the John) city limits of Kagoshima, a city of 595,000. 12. Santa Maria in Guatemala. It’s near Quetzaltenango, a city of 180,000, and several smaller towns.
13. Santorini in Greece. The island has a population of 15,000, and is a popular tourist destination.
14. Taal Volcano in the Philippines. There are several towns on the island, although the Filipino government has declared it a permanent danger zone and strongly discourages people from living there. An eruption in January 2020 buried the area in ash, forcing evacuations and complete lockdowns of four towns. This past February, the Jasper - Jasper is red or yellow chalcedony that is Philippine Institute of Volcanology and similar to flint, but is much more colorful. Sometimes Seismology reported 98 tremors in 24 hours, jasper specimens can be red and yellow in the same prompting evacuations again. On April 10-11, the specimen. Jasper tends to have a waxy luster. Below Institute recorded 200-plus tremors and quakes as you will read about carnelian which is also red, but it Taal spewed more than 2,000 tons of gas is more glassy. (Below: Polished Jasper. Public emission. Domain.)
15. Teide in the Canary Islands, Spain. It is near several large towns, and the Canary Islands are popular with tourists.
16. Ulawun in Papua New Guinea. About 4,000 residents of several small towns were evacuated when Ulawun erupted in 2000.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Decade Volcanoes”; Worldatlas.com; Volcanodiscov-ery.com; Manila- times.net
(via AFMS Newsletter, June 2021; via MWF Newsletter, April 2021; via Crinoid Courier, March 2021) Chrysoprase - Chrysoprase is a beautiful, apple-green
variety of chalcedony. It can be polished to a very THE DIFFERENT TYPES glassy finish which helps make its bright color very strong. (Below: Chrysoprase. James St. John ) OF CHALCEDONY
There are many different types of chalcedony. They all have the same chemical formula (SiO2) but trapped in these minerals are other elements that give the chalcedony different colors. And the different colors have different mineral variety names. How many of these do you already have in your mineral collection?
Flint - Flint is a light to dark gray variety of chalcedony. It is not used to make jewelry because of its dull gray color. But flint was used by native (Continued on page 6) peoples in the Americas and elsewhere to make June/July 2021 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 6
(Continued from page 5) women’s faces into jewelry that can be worn on a Heliotrope or Bloodstone - Heliotrope is a dark green necklace. These are called Cameos. The carving is variety of chalcedony that has deep red spots on it. usually a white face and head on a black background. The red spots look like small droplets of blood which But it could be the other way around, too. (Below: is why it has the popular name of Onyx. UCL Museums & Collections) “Bloodstone.” (Left: Bloodstone. Ra’ike, used with permission)
Moss Agate - Moss agate is a variety of chalcedony Sardonyx - Sardonyx is that is translucent (which means light can pass onyx that has layers of through it, but you can’t see through it like glass). It white and reddish- is usually a pale color like white or blue. And trapped brown chalcedony. It is in the chalcedony is another mineral that looks like also carved into moss. It branches out like a small plant. It is also cameos. (Right: called dendritic agate. (Below: Moss Agate. James Sardonyx Cameo. St. John) Public Domain)
Agate - Agate is a very colorful, often banded variety of chalcedony. The bands can be many different colors, even in the same specimen. Sometimes the bands occur in a way that they can be polished to form an “eye.” Like a bull’s eye on a target.
Some agates show what is called iridescence. If you have ever seen oil on a puddle of water, you have seen iridescence. When the light hits it, the light is broken into many colors and you see the colors flashing and shining. Agates that have iridescence are Carnelian - Carnelian is a called Fire Agate. clear-to-translucent reddishbrown variety of One very popular and pretty variety of agate is called chalcedony. If its color is fortification agate. Fortification agate in many more brown than red, it is localities around the world. Fortification agate has called Sard. (Right: colorful bands that have sharp angles in them. Here Carnelian. Stephanie are some pictures of beautiful fortification agates Clifford) from around the world. (Next Page: Agates. James St. John)
Onyx - Onyx is a variety of agate often with bands of white and black chalcedony. It is carved with (Continued on page 7) June/July 2021 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 7
(via Mini Miners Monthly, June 2021)
A CLUE IN PREDICTING This is likened to the situation of having something wedge shaped on the floor and jumping on it. It TSUNAMIS shoots the wedge sideways!
In studying the large tsunamis of the last twenty by Rose Alene McArthur years they found the above noted similar characteristics, but earthquake itself was not According to BBC News, an important necessarily large enough every time that it caused characteristic of large tsunamis is a wedge shaped alarm before the tsunami. build up of debris over the fault site on the ocean floor. As subduction plates slowly move, a wedge of If this turns out to be a consistent feature, studying rock and mud can collect on the ocean floor. the ocean floor for these debris wedges might make it much easier to predict tsunamis in the future. Dan McKenzie and James Jackson explain in Earth and Planetary Science Letters that an “accretionary (via Boulder Buster, September 2012) prism” formation “will be violently pushed upward and outward, turning the energy of the plate into the energy of the ejected rock” when a swift slip occurs along the fault. June/July 2021 West Seat-
With its mere 2,133 feet in length and a width of 820 COLORS FROM AROUND feet, Lake Hillier is not one that will impress you by its size but delights your eye with its pink color. THE WORLD SERIES: Moreover, it lies just next to the Pacific Ocean, thus if you watch it from above, the contrast between the PART 1 mellow pink of the lake and the blue of the ocean is by Kat Kock striking.
The Fly Geyser, Gerlach, Nevada The reason of its unique color is still a topic that is not fully understood by scientists, although most suspect it has to do with the presence of the Dunaliella salina micro-algae. The Dunaliella produces carotenoids, a pigment found in carrots as well. But the presence of halophilic bacteria in the salt crusts could be another explanation. A reaction between the salt and the sodium bicarbonate that is found in the water may cause it as well.
The Hillier Lake was first discovered in 1802 by navigator and cartographer Matthew Flinders who took samples from the lake and mentioned its existence in his journal.
Would you believe there is located in the middle of Fun fact: the water stays pink even when you take it the Nevada desert a brightly colored geyser that away in a bottle, so it’s not just a trick of the light. shoots boiling water over five feet high? This is true. It is the Fly Geyser located on the 3,800 acre Fly Marble Caves, Aysen, Chile Ranch in northern Nevada.
In 1916 the ranch owner was looking for irrigation water and drilled a well. This well was quickly abandoned when it was discovered that the water was too hot to use. This started the first geyser. Likewise, the main geyser was created accidentally in 1964 after a geothermal power company drilled a test well at the site. According to newspaper reports, the well was either left uncapped or was improperly plugged. In either case, the scalding hot water shot from the well hole and calcium carbonate deposits began to form, growing several inches each year.
The geyser formation is now 6 feet high by 12 feet wide, counting the mound on which it sits. The geyser contains thermophilic algae, which flourishes in One of the most isolated natural treasures of the moist, hot environments, resulting in multiple hues of world, the Marble Caves (Capillas de Mármol) are a green and red, coloring the rocks. series of sculpted caves in the General Carrera Lake in the heart of Patagonia. The Cathedral, the Chapel Lake Hillier, Middle Island, Australia and the Cave are the three formations that make up this natural spectacle that will certainly leave you breathless.
The mesmerizing blue-and-white patterns of this solid marble peninsula in the Lago General Carrera reflect the natural history of the region.
The swirling cavern walls were formed more than 6,000 years ago from waves washing up against the calcium carbonate-rich piece of land. The turquoise tones directly correspond with the shades of the lake (Continued on page 9) June/July 2021 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 9
(Continued from page 8) and change with each season.
Vinicunca Rainbow Mountain in Peru 2021 REFRESH- MENTS
The signup sheet is currently on hold for now. Hopefully things will get back to normal soon.
(On Hold for now, until our in- person meetings start up again)
Vinicunca Rainbow Mountain is a mountain in the SHOP TIPS Andes of Peru with an altitude of 17,060 feet above sea level. That is a little more than half the altitude of Editor’s Note: Shop tips Mount Everest. The various peaks of the Ausangate featured in this bulletin have not Mountain region exhibit an array of shades—from been evaluated for safety or lavender to pastel green—due to the different types of reliability. Please use caution sediment and its reaction to the atmosphere. It is and common sense when trying composed of 14 different colorful minerals. However, out any new idea. no other mountain in the region displays seven different colors in a uniform fashion like Vinicunca. ——————————————–
Just 4 years ago it was entirely covered in snow, Ideas Regarding the Problem of Undercutting making it impossible to fully witness the beauty of When polishing cabochons that undercut, finish by the mountain. The Rainbow Mountain wasn't known the usual methods. Upon completion, and after to the outside world until the last few years. The removing from the dop-stick, wash and scrub the technicolor mountain is found deep within the stone with ammonia. Then apply clear fingernail mountain range and takes nearly six days of polish to the entire surface of the stone, and allow to experienced hikers to reach the peak. There is now a dry for twenty-four hours. Once the stone has dried, it road leading to the mountain, which makes seeing the can be sanded with 600 grit sanding paper that is well rainbow much easier for less-experienced hikers. worn, and polished by the usual method.
(via The Tumbler, June 2021; via Breccia, February 2021; According to the Cultural Landscape Office of the via San Fernando Valley Mineral and Gem Society, 1975; Decentralization of the City of Cusco, the seven via The Polished Slab) colors of the mountain are due to its mineralogical composition: the pink color is due to red clay, ——————————————– fangolitas (mud) and arilitas (sand); the whitish coloring is due to quartzose, sandstone and marls, To Polish Wonderstone rich in calcium carbonate; the red is due to claystones In general, Wonderstone should be worked in the (iron) and clays belonging to the Upper Tertiary same way as most stones that tend to under-cut. It is a period; the green is due to phyllites and clays rich in rock and not a mineral. It is not always possible to get ferro magnesian; the earthy brown is a product of a high polish on all types of Wonderstone. Sanding fanglomerate composed of rock with magnesium should be completed through the 600 grit paper. belonging to the Quaternary period; and the mustard Polishing should be rapid to minimize under-cutting. yellow color comes from the calcareous sandstones Linde A is the best powder to use. Wonderstone is a rich in sulphurous minerals. very "loose term" and is used to describe a variety of rocks, including so-called "sand-stone" and types of Bibliography: Wikipedia, Reno Tahoe News, Veranda rhyolite. Travel, Lake Hiller, Chile Travel, Pintrest, Rainbow Mountain Peru. (via The Tumbler, June 2021; via Breccia, February 2021; via San Fernando Valley Mineral and Gem Society, 1975; (via The Tumbler, June 2021) via Chips and Facets) June/July 2021 West Seattle Petroglyphs Page 10
2021 FIELD TRIPS
7/17& 7/18 — Darrington Rock Show and field trip location to be announced 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
July 23-25—9am-6pm Fri/Sat 9am-5pm Sun —Washington Agate and Mineral Society—Tenino City Park on Park Avenue, Tenino WA
Aug 13-15—10am-5pm Fri, 9am-5pm Sat, 9am-3pm Sun —Mt Hood Rock Club—Jackson Armory, 6255 NE Cornfoot Road, Portland OR
————————————————————————————————————— 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