Field Trip Report

Field Trip Report by Corinne January 27, 2007 Estrella Road

Barb Ballard met us at Hwy 68 and Estrella Rd on Sat. Jan. 27. A hiking group was also meeting there and that made for many people and vehicles.

We were fortunate in having Sue Griffith as our guest. She is a Professor of Geology in England and teaches via the Internet while in the USA.

We had six canines: Toby, Huck, Bailey and Lacey, and Marrs and Coco, 18 rock hounds and l0 vehicles.

After driving up a picturesque wash we parked on a clear and gravely area. And then scattered looking for perlite, chalcedony, and silicified banded rhyolite. Linda Chandler reminded us that perlite cools slowly, while obsidian cools quickly, and that the two are the same composition. Ruthie Montgomery, Barbara Wiggins and Barb Ballard found pieces of chalcedony with small bubbles of fire. Don Hughes found a hand sized chuck of chalcedony while on the scouting trip.
After socializing and having lunch Barb led the group to I-40 via Aztec and Shinarump Road.

Thanks for the good trip Barb

The Estrella Road Field Trip Saturday Jan 27

Just reported by Don Hughes there were 18 people in 10 cars accompanied by 6 dogs (four whites and two chocolates)!

And another picture courtesy of Barbara Wiggins. Thanks Barbara

As reported by our wonderful guest from England! Here is a short note just received from Sue and pictures! I will try to piece together pictures with her descriptions. BTW, Sue is a Professor of Geology via the Internet. Sure wish I'd been there, but I did have fun "cha-ching" in Quartzsite.

Dear Sally, We had a great day- good company, warm weather, plenty of interesting rocks. The dogs had fun chasing a Jack rabbit- no rabbit pie though. Thanks to Allan, Faith and Buck for giving me a lift and for such a grand day out. Here’s some pictures for the gem club, hope they through to you Best wishes to all from Sue.

View looking to the mountains towards the western side of Golden Valley

Volcanic ash layers. Some samples had the layers bent under the weight of impacting siliceous hot fluid, now small crystalline vugs.

Variations in volcanic ejecta. Dark is perlite, one sample has flow structures, cross bedding on mm scale Black 1cm layer is granular, glassy crystals within the paler ash layers Below hammer, centre bottom 1cm thick vesicular ejecta- was gaseous.

By car park looking roughly NNW N35 19 392 W114 19 643 In England there would be a car park attendant waiting to charge a fee. Looks like something pale and interesting on the horizon.

Mikes lovely collection of crystalline sparklers.

Thanks Sue

Bonanza Springs

Earlier this week, Leta and I drove out to Bonanza Springs in the Clipper Mountains west of Essex, CA. This is the site that BLM Outdoor Recreation Planner David Roan told us about at our January NGMC meeting. The rocks aren't necessarily worth a trip out there but the springs are interesting to observe. The BLM is currently renovating the site, removing intrusive plants and manmade structures from the mining era. The view is fantastic. I could see 11,200' high Mt. San Gorgonio to the southwest from the turnaround at the end of the dirt road. Sally and I will be sending out copies of the BLM Trail Description to club members soon: digital copies to those with e-mail addresses and hard copies to those members who requested them at our last meeting.
Enjoy!

Estrella Road Field trip tomorrow

January 27, 2007 Estrella Road field trip.

The meeting place is corner of Estrella Road and Highway #68 (Bullhead to Kingman). 9 AM PST and 10 AM MST.

From Bullhead, take 95 North to 68 East. Go over Union Pass and down into Golden Valley. Turn left (or north) on Estrella Road

From Kingman, take 93 North to 68 West…..go to Estrella Road and turn right.

Any questions, please call Barb Ballard 928-768-6335

Also, notice a couple of new links to the right!

This new member wants to buy and sell!

Just received a call from one of our new members Larry Leslie who has a Redwood Burl Old-growth Coffee Table for sale. This gorgeous table (you could display your rocks on this) is 4 1/2 " thick, 46" long, 27" wide and 18" high. If you are interested and want more details, please call Larry at 760-326-2707. Also, he is looking for a 10" slab saw and a tumbler...if you can meet the need, call him!

That's all for now, folks.

New railroad in the desert

Imagine our suprise when we saw a train approaching while we were out rock collecting by the old limestone mines at Chubbuck. This is the first photo of the Arizona and California Railroad train traversing the old abandoned rail line from Parker to Cadiz. The rotten ties have recently been replaced to allow this train to pass through lower Ward Valley, around the south end of the Old Woman Mtns. and on to Cadiz, where the BNSF railroad line follows the old Route 66 highway. I did see some passenger cars at the railroad station in Parker recently. If any club members are interested in a possible passage through this remote and beautiful area of the Mojave Desert, let me know and I will look into it.
Photo taken by Mike Boeck on 12-26-06.

Turquoise photo

Hello NGMC members, here's a photo of some turquoise from Mineral Park, AZ. Don't miss my article, "Origins of Turquoise" in the Feb. 2007 issue of the NGMC Newsletter! On newsstands soon..........

Quartzsite Info

ROCK-CREATIONAL VEHICLES SHOW

Rockhound vendors and snowbird shoppers flock to Quartzsite for the annual Pow Wow Gem & Mineral Show every January. Some vendors buy an extra space for their RVs and camp on-site for the show. The 41st annual event is sponsored by the Quartzsite Improvement Association and takes place Wednesday through Sunday, January 24 - 28. Show hours are 9:00am to 5:00pm daily. Estimates suggest some 4-million snowbirds visited Quartzsite last year to attend the event. (Photo: Cate Mueller) Source: EPress

Important - Change in meeting place, January 27

Change in meeting time and place for the January 27, 2007 Estrella Road field trip.

The new meeting place is corner of Estrella Road and Highway #68 (Bullhead to Kingman). 9 AM PST and 10 AM MST.

From Bullhead, take 95 North to 68 East. Go over Union Pass and down into Golden Valley. Turn left (or north) on Estrella Road

From Kingman, take 93 North to 68 West…..go to Estrella Road and turn right.

Any questions, please call Barb Ballard 928-768-6335

Oscar Jasper 13 Jan 2007

A fantastic trip !
Wonderful friendships, out standing jasper, and a beautiful drive. It doesn't get any better than that. Thanks, Corrine and Barb Your the BOMB!
L. Chandler

The "cool" Jasper Hunt

Now, it was just about the "chilliest" "windiest" day of the year....if it wasn't, it sure felt like it! We met at Carl Jr's and drove to the first collecting site..........Awesome, abundant material. We were all bundled and braved the elements! We dug, we hammered, we hauled, we warmed up, just to go out again.

Some time later, we traveled to the second collection site and repeated the above paragraph. But you could see more folks in their cars warming up!

Then we went to the third site, collected there and started home. But here's the surprise, the leaders had marked the "road" and members now had to lead our group out! Well, that was interesting! Did Mario Andretti keep up with Parnelli Jones????? You would have to be there to know the answer!

If you didn't go out yesterday, you missed an incredible field trip! Hats off to Barb and Corinne, our field trip leaders!

Below are some "Kodak Moments" in no particular order.

Reminder!!!

Don't forget our field trip on Jan 13 to "Oscar's Jasper". We're meeting at Carl Jr's, the west end of Needles at 8 AM PST (9 AM MST). I've been told we are going to three different collection sites! Bring lunch (you can tell where my mind is), 4WD required (if you don't want to get stuck in the sand), and we'll have an awesome time! There is a surprise, so be sure to attend!If you have any questions about our field trips, call Barb Ballard, the field trip chair-person.

Some Updated Info

News Flash - Update!

If you notice, there are now links to recent digitized NGMC newsletters. Have patience, these are PDF format and take a little time to load. But, this way you have information all in one place.

Mr. Dave Roan, Outdoor Recreation Planner from the Needles BLM will be the "Program" for the Jan 16, 2007 meeting. He will be asking volunteer's to give information on trails and areas and their impressions. Also he indicated he wants to know if NGMC members find a great unusual rock, formation or plant. I understand he will start talking at 6 PM (of course that is Needles time), so the general business meeting will follow his talk.

Don't forget our field trip on Jan 13 to "Oscar's Jasper". We'll be meeting at Carl Jr's, the west end of Needles at 8 AM PST (9 AM MST). I've been told we are going to three different collection sites! Bring lunch (you can tell where my mind is), 4WD required (if you don't want to get stuck in the sand), and we'll have an awesome time! There is a surprise, so be sure to attend!

If you have any questions about our field trips, call Barb Ballard, the field trip chair-person.

Two more small cabs done in Ruby Zoisite

Some Ruby Zoisite Information

Mike and Leta went to a great collecting site west of Needles and south of I-40. WOW! Below the pictures (of Mike's material) is information I obtained from the Internet about Zoisite.

ZOISITE: ( Fr- zoisite; Ger- Zoisit; Nor- zoisitt; Rus- )
ZOISITE, Ca2Al3(Si2O7)(SiO4)(O,OH)2.

DESCRIPTION: Two compact, massive, zoisite-rich rocks have found use as gemrocks: chromiferous zoisite and manganiferous zoisite. Neither of these two rocks, however, is the most used zoisite-rich rock for fashioing decorative items. That role falls to the zoisite-rich rocks in which red corundum is surrounded by green zoisite plus or minus a dark amphibole, usually referred to as hornblende, but in some records is reported as tschermakite (e.g., www-2.cs.cmu.edu). The zoisite of these rocks is typically granular and tends to appear sugary in most rough. The red corundum is typically a medium to low-grade ruby, which in some rocks exhibits fair to good hexagonal crystal outlines. The black amphibole commonly is manifest as speckles but in some rocks defines streaks that give the rock an overall gneissic appearance.

The following properties are for the zoisite of these rocks: Colors - apple-green (zoisite, likely chromiferous but usually not so-designated ) or rose-pink to purplish (thulite). H. 6 -6½ S.G. 3.15 -3.37 Light transmission - translucent to opaque Luster - pearly to subvitreous. Breakage - uneven to subconchoidal Miscellany - The red corundum grains in some of the ruby...zoisite rocks have corona like shell consisting of an off-white to yellowish material that, according to Chris Wright of Wright's Rock Shop, Hot Springs, Arkansas (personal communication, July, 2005) are "variations in the zoisite".

OTHER NAMES:
Anyolite is the name frequently applied to all gemrocks that consist largely of massive apple-green zoisite plus ruby-red corundum (i.e., medium or relatively low grade ruby) ± macroscopic hornblende. Ruby-zoisite, ruby in zoisite, ruby-in-zoisite and Tanganyika artstone are alternative names given this gemrock, especially in the market place.
Rosaline - marketplace name sometimes given thulite (q.v.)
Ruby-zoisite and ruby(-)in(-)zoisite, as just mentioned, are other designations used for anyolite, particularly in the marketplace. I suspect "ruby" is given primary billing for these rocks because of its likely appeal to potential buyers despite the fact that, considering the relative volumes of these components in these rocks, it would seem more appropriate for zoisite to be given top billing. Tanganyika artstone - another name sometimes given to the green zoisite-ruby ... rock from Tanzania. Thulite - name usually applied to the rose-pink to purplish, zoisite. Thulite that is massive, the common occurrence, is used as gemrock. The term thulite is used widely in scientific literature as the varietal name for any pink zoisite thought to be pink because of its manganese content, as well as in marketplace flyers etc.USES: Anyolite has been carved, usually to exhibit both its red corundum and green zoisite constituents and their interrelationships to advantage -- see above Figure; some jewelry, usually relatively large pieces that display interrelations between major components; also spheres, eggs, hearts, pyramids etc.; and massage points and wands and "palm stones." Thulite has been used chiefly for fashioning cabochons and diverse ornaments. Both the green and pink more or less pure zoisites and saussurite have found use as jade substitutes.

OCCURRENCES: Metamorphic rocks: Zoisite-rich rocks as a group have had so many diferent origins suggested for them that it seems hardly worth repeating most of them here. Thulite, for example, typically as fracture fillings and as veins that transect several diverse, commonly metamorphic rocks, but several other occurrences have also been recorded. Most, if not all, high quality anyolite seems to occur as altered (metasomatized?) masses.

NOTEWORTHY LOCALITIES: Thulite -- Little Chief Mine, Alaska and Telemark, Norway. Anyolite -- near Longido, northeastern Tanzania (formerly Tanganyika). REMARKS: Zoisite was named for the Slovenian noble, Sigmund (Žiga) Zois (1747-1819), Baron of Edelstein, whose interest in minerals led to his financing mineral collecting expeditions. It is said, however, that this mineral, first found in 1805 on the Svinška Planina (Sau-Alps) of Carinthia, Austria, was originally called saualpite and only later renamed zoisite. And, " While at first this may seem a travesty of scientific justice, we can at least rest assured that matters could have been worse. The name ... 'saualpite' ... Literally translated from the German, 'saualp' means 'female pig mountain.'"(/www.laketahoejewelers.com) Thulite was named for Thule, a former name for Norway, not, as many people believe, for Thule, Greenland; it was first described from Kleppan, Souland, Telemark, Norway. The name anyolite is apparently from the Masai (of Tanzania) word for green. Its type locality is near Longido, Tanzania. Ruby-zoisite rocks are difficult fashion because of marked differences of hardness of their chief constituents -- i.e., On the Mohs hardness scale, zoisite and hornblende (or tschermakite) have hardnesses about about 6½, whereas corundum has a hardness of 9. In any case, carvers usually try to fashion these rocks to use the colors artistically and, in most cases, to emphasize the red corundum-rich parts of these rocks. Mineralogically, zoisite is a member of the epidote group, the other members of which are clinozoisite, epidote per se, piemontite, and allanite. Thulite is the only variety of zoisite that commonly occurs as compact masses used as such as gemrock. As already mentioned, the so-called ruby-zoisite gemrocks include large percentages of minerals other than zoisite.

News Flash - Update!

Mr. Dave Roan, Outdoor Recreation Planner from the Needles BLM will be the "Program" for the Jan 16, 2007 meeting. He will be asking volunteer's to give information on trails and areas and their impressions. Also if NGMC members find a great unusual rock, formation or plant, he wants us to let him know. I understand he will start at 6 PM, so the general business meeting will follow his talk.

Also, don't forget our field trip on Jan 13 to "Oscar's Jasper". We'll be meeting at Carl Jr's, the west end of Needles at 8 AM PST (9 AM MST). Bring lunch (you can tell where my mind is), 4WD required, and we'll have an awesome time!

Taken from LA Rocks - A post by Shep

What to do all winter when you can't hunt rocks

Go to Walmart and:

1. Take boxes of condoms and randomly put them in people's carts when they weren't looking.
2. Set all the alarm clocks in housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.
3. Make a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the restrooms.
4. Walk up to an employee and tell her in an official tone, 'Code 3' in housewares... and watch what happens.
5. Go to the Service Desk and ask to put a bag of M&M's on layaway.
6. Move a 'CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area and watch the confusion.
7. Set up a tent in the camping department and tell other shoppers you'd invite them in if they'll bring pillows from the bedding department.
8. When a clerk asks if they can help you, begin to cry and ask, 'Why can't you people just leave me alone?'
9. Look right into the security camera; use it as a mirror, and pick your nose.
10. While handling guns in the hunting department, ask the clerk if he knows where to find the antidepressants.
11. Dart around the store suspiciously loudly humming the "Mission Impossible"theme.
12. Hide in a clothing rack and when people browse through, yell "PICK ME!""PICK ME!"
13. When an announcement comes over the loud speaker, assume the fetal position and scream "NO! NO! It's those voices again!!!!"And last, but not least ..
14. Go into a fitting room, shut the door, wait awhile, then yell very loudly,"There is no toilet paper in here!"

Enjoy the winter

Shep