rock talk - smrmc · 2018-01-23 · rock talk january, 2018 page 3 of 13 a. recent past trips ---...

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Page 1 of 13 The program was “Our Other Hobbies” and there were some very interesting presentations. We have a very talented group of members. You just never know what people are interested in. I’ll summarize below. Bill Curtin likes to go deep sea fishing and competed in a tournament off Ocean City in which his boat won $42,000 for the tuna they caught; Bill also collects antique bottles; Joe Davis makes and shoots his own primitive bows and arrows out of local materials --- he had 3 very sturdy bows 2 of hickory and 1 of osage orange all with different raw hide skin glued to the front side with homemade glue to strengthen the bows and arrows of “arrow wood” (a viburnum) and reeds – he used wild turkey feathers for the fletching and made his own arrowheads out of different materials and attached them with sinew and homemade glue and he killed a deer with one of his bows and arrows; Gary Lohman collects antiques and brought in a very unusual 1865 patent gizmo that he figured was a small, portable, lightweight kerosene In this issue: November Minutes 2 Upcoming Shows and Events: 2017-18 4 Rocks Minerals, and Fossils in the News 5 John Wolf Memorial Trip to Odessa Delaware November 25, 2017 9 Field Trip Report: HK Penn-MD Quarry, Peachbottom, PA 10 Member’s Finds 11 February Field Trip 12 42 nd Annual Micromount Symposium Flyer 13 Southern Maryland Rock and Mineral Club Rock Talk January, 2018 Next Meeting: January 23, 2018@7:00 PM Program DVD on 2016 Dallas Symposium on Mineral Collecting Refreshments TBD Clearwater Nature Center, 11000 Thrift Road, Clinton, MD.

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Page 1: ROCK TALK - SMRMC · 2018-01-23 · ROCK TALK JANUARY, 2018 Page 3 of 13 A. Recent past trips --- (1). Oct 28, 2017 ---- Joint field trip with DMS to Strawser Excavation Site, Seven

ROCK TALK JANUARY, 2018

Page 1 of 13

The program was “Our Other Hobbies” and

there were some very interesting

presentations. We have a very talented group

of members. You just never know what

people are interested in. I’ll summarize

below.

Bill Curtin likes to go deep sea fishing and

competed in a tournament off Ocean City in

which his boat won $42,000 for the tuna they

caught; Bill also collects antique bottles; Joe

Davis makes and shoots his own primitive

bows and arrows out of local materials --- he

had 3 very sturdy bows – 2 of hickory and 1

of osage orange – all with different raw hide

skin glued to the front side with homemade

glue to strengthen the bows – and arrows of

“arrow wood” (a viburnum) and reeds – he

used wild turkey feathers for the fletching and

made his own arrowheads out of different

materials and attached them with sinew and

homemade glue – and he killed a deer with

one of his bows and arrows; Gary Lohman

collects antiques and brought in a very

unusual 1865 patent gizmo that he figured

was a small, portable, lightweight kerosene

In this issue:

November Minutes 2

Upcoming Shows and Events: 2017-18 4

Rocks Minerals, and Fossils in the

News 5

John Wolf Memorial Trip to Odessa

Delaware November 25, 2017 9

Field Trip Report: HK Penn-MD

Quarry, Peachbottom, PA 10

Member’s Finds 11

February Field Trip 12

42nd

Annual Micromount Symposium

Flyer 13

Southern Maryland Rock and Mineral Club

Rock Talk

January, 2018

Next Meeting:

January 23, 2018@7:00 PM

Program

DVD on 2016 Dallas Symposium on

Mineral Collecting Refreshments

TBD

Clearwater Nature Center, 11000 Thrift

Road, Clinton, MD.

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“stove” that could be used to melt lead for

bullets on the battle field and was also sized

to exactly fit and heat up the early “C-rations”

used by Union soldiers – Gary thinks it is a

rare one-of-a-kind prototype; Bob Davidson

built his own model railroad at home and

showed us pictures of the various steps of

construction of the layout and an excellent

video of the final product with his train

traveling through a very detailed and lifelike

landscape of mountains, trees, waterfall, river,

sawmill, bridges, log buildings, etc.; Ralph

Gamba surprised us with a great country song

he wrote and sang and played on his guitar –

the song was a funny spoof of country songs

with words which said, “he did not drink or

smoke or fight and he had never been in jail

and was not lovesick nor was sad or lonely”;

Carole Raucheisen likes gardening and

showed pix of her backyard which she and Al

had landscaped into a beautiful oasis with

rock borders and many paths and flowers and

shrubs; Paula Davis raises chickens that that

lay beautiful different colors of eggs and she

bought in several dozen to give away --- blue,

green, light tan, medium brown, chocolate

brown, and some in between; Dave Lines

finds and collects whitetail deer sheds – deer

antlers that drop off each year in late winter,

before the bucks grow new and larger ones in

the spring and summer – he showed about 10

different ones and explained how, where and

when they are the easiest to find. Harry and

Tina League love horses and have Tennessee

Walkers which they take on trail-rides

throughout Southern Maryland --- their horses

like to do this so much that they “load

themselves” into the horse trailer; Harry and

Tina also rescue and care for various animals

--- and take the wild ones to rehabilitation

centers.

Overall, the program was upbeat and

refreshing. Many people stayed around after

the program ended at 9:15 p.m. asking

questions to the presenters and chatting with

each other. Everyone agreed that it was

something worth doing again. “Well done” to

our Program Chairman, Carole, for the idea

and making it happen.

NOVEMBER MINUTES

Submitted by Dave Lines

DATE: Meeting called to order on

November 28, 2017 at 7:20 p.m. by Acting

President, Bob Davidson.

VISITORS/NEW MEMBERS: None

MEMBERSHIP: Polly, Membership

Vice President: 19 members present at

meeting.

NEWSLETTER: Tim Foard, Editor --

- absent. Tim has been doing a great job with

the newsletter despite his terrible work

schedule.

MEETING MINUTES: Dave,

Secretary --- Minutes for October meetings

approved.

TREASURER: Dave, Treasurer

Treasury in good shape.

FIELD TRIPS: Dave, Field Trips

Chairman

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A. Recent past trips ---

(1). Oct 28, 2017 ---- Joint field trip with

DMS to Strawser Excavation Site, Seven

Stars, Pa for invertebrate fossils. Ten (10)

members. Harry was club’s trip leader. (2)

Nov 18, 2017 --- 27th

Annual Richmond Rock

Swap. Good swap. (3) Nov 25, 2017 --- Joint

Trip with CMMFC (Calvert Marine Museum

Fossil Club) to Odessa, Delaware for petrified

wood. 6 members went. Cheryl reported that

trip went well and she found some good

petrified wood specimens. Someone found a

large petrified tree stump across the road from

the farm on the area now being excavated for

the Community College.

B. Upcoming trips ----

(1) Dec 9, 2017 --- Saturday, 9:00 am to 2:00

pm EST, Diamond Hill Mine, Antreville,

Abbeville County, SC. Fee --- $20 for adults

18 and over, $10 for teens and seniors PLUS

since this is a trip sponsored by the Southeast

Federation, attendees must be members of an

eligible club. Lynchburg club in VA will

work. So attendees must join Lynchburg

Club before they go --- $15. You can

download membership application on their

website at http://www.lynchburgrockclub.org/

and mail it asap. See 11-16-17 email from

Dave with full details.

(2) Local fossil trips this winter --- on your

own and Short Notice TBD --- December and

early January usually has best combination of

lowest tides of the year and ice free tidal

waters. December “full moon” low tide on

Sunday Dec 3rd

--- December “new moon”

low tide on Monday Dec 18th

--- January “full

moon” low tide on Tuesday Jan 2nd

. “Blow-

out low tides” can occur if a strong northwest

wind is also occurring for these low tides ---

great time to look for fossils. Suggest Purse

State Park on Potomac River in western

Charles County or Matoaka Cabins ($4 fee)

on Chesapeake Bay in Calvert County.

Check “predicted” times for tides at

http://www.saltwatertides.com . You can also

check “actual current tide levels” at

http://www.tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov//map/

--- which is a great way to see if the tides is

lower or higher than predicted right before

you go.

(3) Possible TBD field trip to Vulcan

Manassas Quarry in Jan or Feb depending on

weather.

PROGRAMS: Carole, Programs Vice

President November -- “Our Other Hobbies” -

-- each member will have a few minutes to

present info about his/her “other hobbies”.

Snacks --- tonight by Polly; November snacks

will be provided by Gary and Cindy. Door

Prize Drawings --- (prizes provided by Dave)

WEBMASTER: Bob, Webmaster –

Website looks good; no problems

OLD BUSINESS: A. EFMLS

insurance (liability) must be paid during

November. Michael at the Nature Center

confirmed.

B. Nametags – Tim S. (absent) ---- status of

ordering new Club Nametags unknown.

C. Proposed Slate of Club Officers for 2018.

Slate approved by acclamation:

President -- Sondra Fielder; Vice President

Membership -- Joe Davis; Vice President

Programs -- Carole Raucheisen; Vice

President Field Trips – Dave Lines; Treasurer

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– Dave Lines; Recording Secretary --- Dave

Lines; Newsletter Editor --- Tim Foard;

Webmaster --- Bob Davidson

D. Club Christmas Party to be held at Dave

and Ann Lines’ home in La Plata, MD at 6:00

p.m. on Saturday Dec 16th

. Potluck --- bring a

dish to share. Fun gift exchange --- bring a

rock related gift ($20 max value) if you want

to participate. Flyer sent by email. 25

members have RSVP’ed “Yes” so far.

E. Continued discussion of what to do with

the money in the club treasury. Purchasing

club T-shirts thought to be too extravagant

given amount available in Treasury.

However, Tina will check online and get

some firm costs for bright yellow “safety” t-

shirts so club members can buy them for club

events and field trips. Joe felt that we should

leave the money alone in the Treasury. The

other idea discussed at the Oct meeting of

“giving $50 honorariums to speakers to help

cover their travel expenses” was not

discussed.

NEW BUSINESS: A. 2018 Rock

Club dues are able to be paid tonight since

Glenda is present and she alone on the

CWNC Staff understands how to use their

new computer system.

B. At Gary’s new job, they tested plastic

safety glasses for impact resistance and found

structural weaknesses in all plastic safety

glasses after 200 hours of sunlight exposure.

We might think about buying new safety

glasses more often and keeping them covered

(in the dark) when not in use.

C. Gary offered to sell five LED flashlights

he invented for long, medium and short wave

UV minerals.

ADJOURNED: Business Meeting

adjourned at 8:10 p.m.

Upcoming Shows and Events:

2018

March: 3 – 4: 55th annual Earth Science

Gem & Mineral Show sponsored by the

Delaware Mineralogical Society. University

of Delaware – Wilmington Campus, Arsht

Conference Center; 2800 Pennsylvania Ave

(Rt 52), Wilmington, DE 19806

March 24-25: 49th Annual Gem and

Mineral Show sponsored by the Che-

Hanna Rock & Mineral Club. Wysox Vol.

Fire Co Social Hall, 111 Lake Rd; Wysox,

PA.

March 24-25: 2018 Mineral Treasures and

Fossil Fair sponsored by the Philadelphia

Mineral Society & Delaware Valley

Paleontological Society. LuLu Temple,

5140 Butler Pike, Plymouth Meeting, PA

(PA Turnpike exit 333, or I-476, exit 20).

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What Do You Do When

Palaeontology Itself Is Endangered

in India? BY SREELATHA MENON ON 20/11/2017

https://thewire.in/198473/palaeontology-

endangered-india/

There are few researchers and fewer teachers

studying vertebrate and invertebrate

palaeontology – leading some to wonder if

India’s story of the evolution of life will

continue to be written for long.

A field photograph of the excavated ichthyosaur

skeleton in the Katrol Formation near Lodai village,

Gujarat. Caption and source: PLOS

There was a lot of excitement when a big

fossil was recently discovered in the Kutch

region of Gujarat by a team of Indian

researchers. However, the very science of

palaeontology – the study of fossils to trace

the evolution of life on Earth – could be dying

in India. Veterans in the field are concerned

that there may not be many fossils being

unearthed in the future as there are hardly any

openings for a palaeontologist in Indian

universities, while the number of students

signing up for the subject has also been on the

decline. According to Mahendra Pal Singh,

the secretary of the Palaeontological Society

of India, about 150 to 200 students pursue a

postgraduate degree in palaeontology every

year in the country. As for research, only

about 15-20 students enrol themselves every

year, he continued. And of these, just three or

four work on research related to

vertebrate/invertebrate palaeontology. The

rest work on areas that have commercial

applications.

“The future of palaeontology in India is bleak.

There are only a few universities where

palaeontology is being taught. The number of

well known palaeontology centres has

diminished for want of faculty,” Singh said.

He thinks the course’s difficulty is an

important factor: “Students are not opting [for

it] because it requires hard field work in

hazardous locations.” But the field itself, as

far as Indian lands are concerned, is rich.

Ashok Mehta, a pioneering palaeontologist

who discovered the first-ever dinosaur fossil

in the country, feels India is an exciting place

to look for fossils. “There is plenty to be

found if only there are people available to

look. But they are not there,” Mehta said.

“The science would be extinct in this country

soon.”

Guntupalli V.R. Prasad, the head of the

department of geology in Delhi University

and the researcher who led the recent

excavation of the big Kutch fossil (an

ichthyosaurus) had been Mehta’s student in

the University of Punjab.

Rocks, Minerals, and Fossils in the News

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Mehta continued that the future of the science

depended on the government’s attitude. “The

question being asked … is if palaeontology

can help build a nation. Is archaeology again a

nation building exercise? The government

does not see it as such – or universities would

be appointing teachers in these subjects. Nor

is it attracting many students,” he said.

Research aside, potential students are

attracted to applied palaeontology more

because the job prospects there are greater.

“So universities are not offering courses in

basic palaeontology but in various branches

of applied palaeontology,” according to

Mehta. “Yet without learning basic science of

palaeontology, you can’t [work on]

applications. But no one is bothered about

this.” According to researcher Ashok Sahni,

applied palaeontology broadly includes

branches of study that have commercial

applications in climate studies and oil

extraction. Such branches include

micropaleontology, palaeobiology and

palaeoceanography.

Other applied courses offered by geology

departments in Indian universities are

petrology, seismology, geophysics,

geochemistry, sedimentology, mineralogy,

coal geology, and so on. But a faculty for

vertebrate or invertebrate palaeontology is

rare. While the IITs in Rourkee and

Kharagpur offer it, Jadavpur University,

Banaras Hindu University and Punjab

University don’t. Vertebrate and invertebrate

palaeontology, both of which deal

predominantly with fossil research, do not

often lead to jobs as teaching posts are hard to

come by. Prasad explained that there are also

few experienced teachers, so the odds of

finding good mentorship have been getting

poorer.

“In well-known centres of paleontological

teaching and research, such as BHU,

Lucknow University, Panjab University,

Jadavpur University, etc., the number of

palaeontologists has gone down drastically

and new, prestigious educational institutions

like the IISERs are not showing much interest

in hiring palaeontologists,” Prasad said

(IISERs: Indian Institutes of Science

Education and Research). “So the country has

very few palaeontologists working on large

invertebrate fossils at present.”

Pratul Saraswati, a micropalaeontologist in

the department of earth sciences, IIT Bombay,

thinks it’s not about people not being

interested in palaeontology. “If you ask me to

name some micropalaeontologists other than

myself, I won’t be able to give you more than

five names. If you ask Prof Sahni to name

some vertebrate palaeontologists, he won’t be

able to name more than three or four.”

“The problem is with geology departments as

a whole across the country. Except in the IITs

and central universities, just one or two

faculties teach all the subjects coming under

geology – and that includes palaeontology,”

Saraswati said. “There is no faculty for

geology across India. So it is not just

palaeontology but all the subjects coming

under geology that are taking a beating.”

At the IITs, every subject is taught by a

specialist – which is good because, according

to Saraswati, “It is difficult for a non-

specialist to teach palaeontology.” But in the

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other universities, “One or two teaching all

the subjects in geology is fine till graduation.

For post-graduation and research,” that will

not be enough. In other words,

palaeontologists and its scientists are

endangered in India. What makes this

situation doubly unfortunate is the fact that

palaeontology as such has been receiving

more attention in other parts of the world.

According to John Flynn, a curator and

professor in the division of palaeontology at

the American Museum of Natural History,

New York, told The Wire, “There is a lot of

active training of palaeontologists in the US.

Both the Palaeontological Society and the

Society of Vertebrate Palaeontology here

have large numbers and percentages of

student members.”

Mehta, in fact, counts Germany, China and

the US as havens for palaeontology research.

Another problem that palaeontologists are

facing in India is that there is no place to

preserve their discoveries. For example,

where will Prasad et al keep their recently

found ichthyosaurus?

“The repository of specimens is a major

problem. As in western countries, we do not

have a ‘Natural History Museum’ for housing

prehistoric treasures such as fossils. All

specimens collected by the palaeontologists

are at present deposited in the university

departments where they work,” according to

Prasad. “Our only worry is that… Once we

retire, what will happen to these specimens?

Since they are not properly conserved, they

may be lost forever.” Thus, the ichthyosaur

skeleton he helped unearth is currently housed

in the department of geology at Kachchh

University. “Most western countries have

many national and regional natural history

museums that are important repositories for

fossil specimens. Therefore, a ‘Natural

History Museum’ in India” is needed

immediately “to conserve Indian fossil

specimens.”

The Natural History Museum in Paris has a

collection of five to six million specimens,

according to the International

Palaeontological Association (IPA).

China’s Shandong Pingyi Tianyu Natural

Museum (in Pingyu county of Shandong

province) possesses the complete fossils of

more than a thousand dinosaurs. Flynn said

that there are many such museums in the US

as well.

Sahni goes a step ahead and thinks India

doesn’t have a tradition of saving fossils. “I

donated the bulk of my fossils to the

Government Museum [in] Chandigarh,”

including his dinosaur egg fossils. “I was

asked to establish a museum for dinosaurs of

India by the then Administrator of

Chandigarh, Lt. Gen. Jacobs,” he recalled.

“Today, on retirement, I have no specimens

with me of any value, i.e., they are not the

type of specimens on which taxa are based.”

“In most other countries there are local

repositories well-cared-for in universities or

in institutes and this is not a problem.”

According to the IPA, there are over 5,000

palaeontologists in the world. Zhong Zhongu,

the association’s president, wrote in an email

to The Wire, “I think palaeontology is a basic

science branch of both geology and biology.

It is critical to science education and museum

studies everywhere in the world. As a fast

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growing country, India has great potential to

contribute more to the study of

palaeontology.”

Rock and mineral loans

available for Gr. 4 and home-

schooling by Neil Carleton – Metcalfe Geoheritage Park Committee

http://millstonenews.com/2017/11/rocks-and-minerals-

loan-collections-now-available-for-grade-4-classrooms-

and-homeschooling.html

As a pilot project of Metcalfe Geoheritage

Park, loan collections of rocks, fossils, and

minerals are now available for grade 4

classrooms and homeschooling in Mississippi

Mills.

The study of rocks and minerals in grade 4

introduces students to the science of geology.

The best way to learn about rocks and

minerals is to have specimens available for

study. Pictured here, from Rocks Box 9, are

hands-on samples of the metamorphic rock

gneiss.

The 15 loan collections, each in a sturdy bin,

include sedimentary, metamorphic, and

igneous ROCKS – gneiss, granite, limestone,

marble, sandstone, schist, shale – Ordovician

age FOSSILS, about 450 million years old –

brachiopod, cephalopod, colonial and solitary

coral, crinoid, gastropod, trilobite – and

Precambrian age MINERALS, about 1 billion

years old – calcite, feldspar, mica, quartz.

Each loan collection includes a class set of

hands-on samples for students to study,

measure, compare and contrast, classify,

describe, draw, photograph … These

examples, from Rocks Box 12, are feldspar,

an abundant rock forming mineral of the

Canadian Shield in our area.

Each loan collection also has a large specimen for classroom

display. This fossil sample is colonial honeycomb coral from

Rocks Box 1.

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During the Ordovician Period, about 450

million years ago, our part of the world was

near the equator. The shallow, tropical

oceans that covered the North American

protocontinent were rich in early marine life.

Their fossils can be are found in the

sedimentary limestone of our area. Diorama

image courtesy of the Manitoba Museum.

The 8 classroom sets of specimens in Rocks

Box 15 are for student testing. Rocks

limestone + sandstone + shale + marble.

Minerals calcite + feldspar + mica + quartz.

Pictured here are testing samples of mica, a

common sheet or flake mineral of the igneous

and metamorphic rocks of our region.

TEACHER NOTES The illustrated teacher

notes that have been prepared for each Rocks

Box include descriptions, explanations, and a

glossary of geological words.

COST The 15 loan collections are free.

Donations for their upkeep are welcome.

LOAN PERIOD Each Rock Box can be

borrowed for a day or so, or a week, or

longer.

LESSON PLAN Classroom teachers and

homeschool instructors are asked to

contribute a lesson plan to each Rock Box

they borrow.

RESERVATIONS By email on a first-

come-first-serve basis.

CONTACT Neil Carleton

<[email protected]>

Website http://metcalfegeoheritagepark.com

/

Metcalfe Geoheritage Park in Almonte is

located at 250 Almonte Street, at the bottom

of Bay Hill below the lower falls.

John Wolf Memorial Trip to

Odessa Delaware November

25th, 2017 Article and photo by Cheryl Reese

Six Members from the Rock club joined the

CMM (Calvert Marine Museum), DVPS

(Delaware Valley Paleontological Society),

MGS (Maryland Geological Society), DMS

(Delaware Mineral Society) and WVFC

(West Virginia Fossil Club) on a field trip to

Odessa Delaware to look for fossilized

Cypress wood from the Pleistocene and

Miocene eras. It was a beautiful sunny day as

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we met up at the park and ride, given

instructions to the site and off we went. I

believe there may have been at least 25

people. Once there, we had 4 acres of corn

field to look thru which was very difficult as

the corn stalks and the fossil wood are

basically the same color. There was also a lot

of green “weeds” throughout which someone

said the farmer probably planted to enrich the

soil for next years planting. I walked the

entire length and back of a row of corn using

my garden scratcher to push away the corn

stalks resulting in very little material. I only

found a few pieces which were very small.

We had heard that larger pieces had been

found a week earlier across the road in a field

that was being excavated for a new building.

Several people went over and I was told they

were finding small pieces of wood. I drove

over and had much more success finding

larger pieces that were just lying on the

furrows left by the excavators. I ended up

with several pieces of 4+ inches and

numerous smaller pieces. I had a hard time

leaving the area thinking, “just one more

piece”, which is what I do when sharks tooth

hunting. Always believing the next one found

will be the biggest. There were only 2 people

left when I finally decided to call it a day.

Field Trip Report: HK PENN-

MD Quarry, Peachbottom, PA by: Tina League; photos by Cheryl Reese

On Saturday, December 2, 2017 eight

members of SMRMC (Cheryl, Orion, Aby,

Tim, Joe, Jim, Harry and myself) accepted an

invitation from Dave Fryauff of GLMS-MC

to join in on the mineral collecting trip at the

HK PENN-MD quarry. Members from the

Delaware club also joined the group of about

30 or so attendees. Everyone managed to

survive through the cold early morning safety

briefing and paperwork signing. Once the

business was concluded, everyone hopped in

their WARM vehicles to drive down the 4

tiers to the bottom of the quarry. With safety

gear donned and buckets/tools in hand, we all

fanned out across the quarry to see what we

could find.

There were plentiful serpentine specimens in

many shades of green. Williamsite (a

translucent green chrome mineral that

polishes like jade) was the key mineral that

was searched for. Tim stated that he found

some dark green mineral which might take a

good polish, but not sure what it was. We all

found beautiful serpentine specimens and

some magnesite. There were plenty of other

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mineral specimens in a multitude of colors

that I have yet to identify. The rocks were

broken up into many different sizes (from

large boulders to small fist size-pieces that

didn't require any hammering). They only real

labor required was hauling heavy rocks to the

truck or reducing some of the larger ones

down to a reasonable handling size. The

serpentine "flakes" of green that were

scattered across the quarry floor were very

nice for collecting. The colors ranged from

"dull to very dark" green. The sunshine did a

nice job of warming everyone up as the

morning progressed.

The noon quitting time arrived in the blink of

an eye and as usual.....I had to be dragged out

of the quarry by Harry and Joe. We were the

last ones to leave and thanked our host for a

wonderful day. We would like to return to

this site in the future. The drive home to

southern Maryland was pleasant and

uneventful....in other words, we didn't get

lost. Yeah!

Member’s Finds

A few of the specimens, mostly serpentine

and quartz shown here, collected by Orion

and Aby Jurkowski during the field trip to the

HK Penn-MD Quarry, PA. Photos by Tim

Foard.

Collected any interesting specimens? Send a

photo or two to the editor at

[email protected] for inclusion in

the next issue of Rock Talk.

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“February Field Trip --- Feb 17

th Field Trip to Purse State Park from

10:00 am to 3:00 pm --- meet at parking lot

there (I will provide physical location to meet

at Jan Rock Club meeting) at 10:00 a.m..

Low tide will be lowest of month due to “new

moon” --- could be even lower if we have

north winds. We will look for fossils (shark’s

teeth, crocodile teeth, turritella, oysters and

petrified wood), rocks (Maryland gemstone

“Patuxent River Stone”), arrowheads/artifacts

and seaglass. *[ We will have a special guest

from Vancouver, Canada who contacted us

through our website.] Sign up at January

Club Meeting. Trip will be contingent on ice

free beach.”

The Southern Maryland Rock and Mineral

Club

Meetings take place on the 4th Tuesday of

each month at 7:00pm

Clearwater Nature Center, 11000 Thrift

Road, Clinton, MD.

For More information, call:

(301) 297-4575

We’re on the web: SMRMC.org

SMRMC OFFICERS

PRESIDENT Sondra Fieldler

Membership Chairman Joe Davis j1964d J196j1964

d@j1ii

Programs Chairman Carole Raucheison

[email protected]

Secretary David Lines

da Holden

[email protected]

m

Field Trip Chairman David Lines

[email protected]

Treasurer David Lines

[email protected]

Editor Timothy Foard

[email protected]

Webmaster Bob Davidson

Bob. Davidson2 @Yahoo.com

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