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Boston Mineral Club Meeting: Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Doors Open: 7:00 PM Meeting: 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM
TOPIC: Additions to New Hampshire Mineral Species: 2000 - 2010
Presented by: Tom Mortimer
The last decade has seen more than two dozen minerals added to the New Hampshire species list. Tom Mortimer, a 35-year veteran of New Hampshire mineral collecting, will present a talk at the December 2010 BMC meeting highlighting these additions. The talk will be illustrated with digital images of the minerals and be supported with identification data when audience queries arise.
It has been more than two-and-a-half years since Tom last spoke to the BMC. On his previous visit, Tom presented a program on his New Hampshire mineral species display and website: http://mindatnh.org. Substantial progress has been made on this project in these two years. The display (and website) now contains 247 distinct New Hampshire mineral species. Tom will begin his talk with a brief overview of this progress and provide some notable statistics on New Hampshire mineral species collecting.
To complement the presentation, club members are encouraged to bring in New Hampshire mineral specimens, especially those of rare or unusual minerals. The Harvard Mineral Museum opens at 7:00 PM, and at 8:00 PM, we will have a brief business meeting. The presentation should start at 8:15 PM.
Boston Mineral Club Meeting: Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Doors Open: 7:00 PM Meeting: 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM
The 2010 Boston Mineral Club Annual Mineral Specimen Competition
The November meeting of the BMC is being held this year on the second Tuesday of the month, one week later than usual due to Election Day. Our annual BMC Mineral Specimen Competition will be held in the two classrooms next to our normal meeting room. This year’s categories are described in a separate article in this newsletter. Everyone should bring specimens in --beginners and advanced collectors alike. We have a new category this year for collectors with less than 5 years experience. This is a very friendly competition and one of the highlights of our club calendar. Don't miss this opportunity! It’s always a lot of fun. And who knows, you may go home with a blue ribbon!
There will be refreshments and time to socialize after you set out your specimen entries. Everyone present can vote, members and visitors alike, whether or not they have entered any specimens. Voting begins at 8:15 PM.
Annual Business Meeting
Our annual business meeting and election of officers and board members for calendar year 2011 will also be held on this date. The proposed slate consists of the current 2010 officers and board members:
Peter Cristofono.……………President
Barbara Wagner.……..…….Vice President
Nathan Martin…...………….Treasurer
Anna Golitsyna…………….. Secretary
Kevin Czaja……………….....Director
Ed Norton……………………Director
Jim Catterton………………..Director
Rick Cowley………Newsletter Editor
Nominations from the floor are also permitted for any office.
The annual business meeting and officer election will take place as the mineral votes are being tallied.
As usual, free parking is available in the Oxford Street garage.
Boston Mineral Club Meeting: Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Doors Open: 7:00 PM Meeting: 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Cave Exploration and the Genesis of Cave Minerals:
New frontiers, understandings and adventures
Presented by Kevin Downey
This presentation will be a survey of cave projects in karsts worldwide. We are living in a "golden age" of cave exploration, study and discovery. Worldwide projects will be used to illustrate some of these, including many record-setting expeditions. As with any new discoveries, there are now even more questions and areas to study. Caves represent an excellent way to observe and study some types of mineralization at many stages of development. The result is a rare chance to learn about genesis and influencing factors. Cave minerals are far more diverse than often thought, and the array of forms is incredible. This presentation will include some exceptional and unique caves of diverse origins and located in many environments (alpine, coastal mixing zones, rain forests, etc.) and many exotic speleothems (cave formations). Very few of these caves are known outside the speleologic community, but they offer an incredible look into the geologic processes and new ideas about mineral genesis. Caves included have environments with sulfide- and sulfate-consuming micro-organisms that generate sulfuric acids and gasses, and play a very active role in cave and mineral genesis. This is not a highly technical presentation: The caves and expeditions presented are well-illustrated in dramatic photos and should be thought-provoking for anyone who enjoys earth science.
Kevin Downey is known to some as a part-time mineral dealer with a business called Well-Arranged Molecules. He is much better known in the speleologic world as a cave explorer and expedition photographer who has worked in more than 2,000 caves worldwide (44 countries). Significant successes include discovery and exploration of the world’s longest underground river, the deepest cave in Southeast Asia, and the deepest underwater cave in the world. Significant failures are even more numerous, including many attempts to break the world’s overall depth record. Kevin has a lifelong love of geology and mineralogy (BS University of Massachusetts) and is especially interested in "how and why" questions that have to do with caves and cave minerals.
Please join us at 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge MA. (Harvard University Geological Lecture Hall). The Harvard Mineralogical Museum should be open starting at 7:00 p.m. At 8:00 p.m., we will start the meeting. Parking is available for free in the underground garage at 52 Oxford Street, opposite Everett Street. As usual, there will be refreshments, a mineral raffle and access to the club library. Please invite a friend if you’d like — guests are always welcome to attend our meetings, and it’s a great way to introduce them to the club.
September 14, 2010
BMC Show-and-Tell Night
Our September meeting is our club’s traditional Show-and-Tell Night. Members are invited to bring in specimens, photos, etc. from their collecting activities during the summer. Show us what you’ve found – whether collected in the field or discovered at a mineral show. Specimens will be displayed on tables for all to see, and if you’d like to speak to the club about your adventures – this is your chance. Field trip leaders will also report on summer trips and talk about the upcoming fall schedule. The Show-and-Tell meeting is always a fun one, and is a great time to catch up with old friends (and make new ones).
Specimen trading is especially encouraged at this meeting. Come to the meeting with something to show, discuss or trade! Please plan to come a little early to socialize and see the specimens.
Here are some of the summer field trips and events that we look forward to hearing about:
June 6. Green’s Farm Garnet Locality field trip, Roxbury, Connecticut
June 12. Connecticut Museum of Mining and Mineral Science swap/sale, Kent, CT
June 26-27. Gilsum Rock Swap, Gilsum, New Hampshire
June 26. Beryl Hill field trip, Royalston, Massachusetts
July 17-18. Poland Mining Camps field trip to Mt. Mica and Mt. Apatite, Maine
July 24-25. Moat Mountain and Ossipee area field trip, New Hampshire
July 31. National Park Service “Geology Rocks” event on Spectacle Island, MA
August 7. Manhan Mine field trip, Easthampton, Massachusetts
August 13-15. East Coast Gem & Mineral Show, Springfield, Massachusetts
August 29. Connecticut pegmatite field trip
We would also like to hear about your non-club collecting trips and summer vacations. All club members are encouraged to participate!
WELCOME ALL NEW MEMBERS!
June, 2010
Diamond Prospecting
Presented by Peter Gleba
For our June meeting, BMC member Peter Gleba will discuss perhaps the most sought after of all gem minerals: diamonds. Peter’s presentation will highlight the geology and genesis of diamonds, including both earthbound and extraterrestrial manifestations. This will be followed by a discussion of the geochemistry and petrology used to locate diamonds. Not only can geochemistry determine whether a kimberlitic pipe contains diamonds but it can be used to determine the ore grade and quality of the diamonds as well. A number of localities for diamonds will be presented, both in situ and glacial float. In particular, the diamond discoveries in Canada and a real-life “Indiana Jones” story in what was once British Guyana. And, very briefly, Peter will discuss the marketing and polishing of stones. Lest you think this presentation is too exotic, keep in mind that diamonds have been reported to have been found as close as upper New York State.
Join us for what promises to be a very interesting and informative evening.
Please bring in specimens that would complement the presentation (diamonds, kimberlite, etc.). Did you find something great on a recent BMC field trip (Littleton, Massachusetts, or South Glastonbury, Connecticut)? How about on the Maine Mineral Symposium trip to Mount Mica or at the Topsfield show or Micromounters Symposium? Bring it in to the meeting for show-and-tell.
May 2010
Crystallographic Symmetry
Presented by Professor Bernhardt J. Wuensch
Department of Material Science and Engineering, MIT
For our May meeting, we welcome Professor Bernie Wuensch, a member of the BMC, who will speak to us about crystals and crystallography. What does triclinic mean? What about monoclinic or Miller index? Any of us who have ever opened a mineral book have seen these terms, but what do they mean? Bernie will present us with images that will help us to understand the various symmetries that crystals can display and why.
The faceted external surfaces on crystals have long attracted the interest of mineralogists and collectors. This external symmetry arises from the fact that the internal arrangement of atoms in a crystal, on an atomic scale, is also symmetric. Moreover the arrangement of atoms is periodic just like brickwork or fabric patterns (but in three dimensions, not merely two). The symmetry of physical properties of a crystal must conform to the symmetry of its atomic arrangement.
Join us for what promises to be a very interesting and informative evening.
April 2010
Doors Open: 7:00 PM
Meeting: 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Introduction to Faceting
By Carlos Gristani
For our April meeting, we welcome Carlos Gristani of Hollis, New Hampshire, a member of the Capital Mineral Club, longtime mineral collector, micromounter and amateur faceter. Carlos’ presentation will cover:
- What is faceting?
- Anatomy of a gemstone
- The faceting process (selecting rough, preparing the stone, faceting the stone)
- Getting started (equipment required, suppliers and costs, learning)
As the club gears up for the new field collecting season, we’ll learn how we can turn all the gem-quality tourmaline, beryl, and amethyst we’re sure to find into fabulous faceted gemstones!
Join us for what promises to be a very interesting and informative evening.
To complement the presentation, members are encouraged to bring in gem minerals, self-collected or not, particularly any that could potentially be faceted.
The Harvard Mineralogical Museum should be open starting at 7:00 PM. We will hold a brief business meeting and then start the presentation at about 8:15 PM. As usual, there will be refreshments and a mineral raffle. Please be sure to invite a friend — guests are always welcome to attend our meetings.
March 2010
Welcome to the Dark Side:February 2010
Minerals of the Manhan Mine in Easthampton, Massachusetts
Long time club member Dana Krueger will present a talk on the minerals of
the Manhan River Mine in Easthampton, Massachusetts. Sometimes called the “Loudville” mine after the name of a nearby village, the locality was worked for lead and silver in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the dumps are still accessible to collectors today. Collectible minerals include wulfenite and pyromorphite in thumbnail to hand specimens, as well as numerous other secondary minerals as micros to thumbnails. Photos will be shown of most of the known minerals from the locality, taken of specimens from Dana’s own collection and that of Harvard University. Most of the specimens were collected originally by current or former BMC members in recent decades, and illustrate that this is still a lively area for field collectors.
To complement the presentation, members are encouraged to bring in specimens from the Manhan Mine, and also pyromorphite and wulfenite from worldwide locations.
Also bring in specimens you acquired from the recent BMC auction. Did you find any treasures in those silent auction flats? We’d love to see what you bought.
Also bring in specimens you acquired from the recent BMC auction. Did you find any treasures in those silent auction flats? We’d love to see what you bought.
The Harvard Mineralogical Museum should be open for us starting at 7:00 PM. As usual there will be refreshments and a mineral raffle. Also, invite a friend if you’d like — guests are always welcome to attend our meetings.