BOULDER BUSTER Volume #52 Issue #2, 2017
HELL’S CANYON GEM CLUB
Serving the Valley for
65 YEARS
P.O. BOX 365
LEWISTON, IDAHO 83501
PURPOSE OF HELLS CANYON GEM CLUB, INC.
The purpose of this nonprofit, social club is to promote the rock hound hobby by providing opportunities for the collection, working and displaying
of gems and minerals, as well as educational programs in the field of geology.
MEETINGS: 2nd Friday of each month
Business Meeting: 6:45 pm
VISITORS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME
Dues: Adult [per person] $15.00; Junior [under 18] Free with a responsible adult membership.
2016 BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President
Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer
Past President
1st Year Trustee
Bruce Borgelt
Randy Squires
Lola Collinsworth
MaryLou Northrup
Linn Enger
Nathan Redde
208-935-0806
208-743-8812
509-254-7482
208-743-6944
208-746-4957
1st Year Trustee
Joe Schacher
2nd Year Trustee
Teresa Stephenson
2nd Year Trustee
Richard Pederson
Federation Director
Jerry Northrup
Federation Delegate
MaryLou Northrup
WSMC Representative Dan Cease
HELLS CANYON WEBSITE: http://www.hellscanyongemclub.com
WEBMASTER: Rick Westerholm: [email protected]
208-743-9238
509-758-3880
208-276-7077
208-743-6944
208-743-6944
509-254-1720
===================================================================================================================================
HOW TO FIND OUR MEETING PLACE
To get to meeting location for the Hells Canyon Club, go south on 15th Street in Clarkston.
15th turns into Scenic Way and goes up the hill. Scenic Way turns into Appleside Rd.
Continue south on Appleside Rd to where it turns and becomes Reservoir Rd. The Grange
Hall is located at 2220 Reservoir Rd, at the junction of Reservoir Rd, 6th Avenue and 22nd
Street. Additional parking is available in the Church parking lot across 6th Avenue.
1
BOULDER BUSTER Volume #52 Issue #2, 2017
Meeting minutes January 13 , 2017
No Minutes from December
Treasurer Report--- CD has turned over. Motion passed to keep CD in place until we get more info about
moving it. Report passed and accepted
New Members-- Racheal Spears, Terry and Sandy Munch, Mike Reinlandt
Old Business – Trailer has to be a commercial building not a residence. A $350 one time county fee will
charged and approximately $125 for storm water fee. We continue to find the proper building and move
forward on the project.
Lease on claims-- A meeting is set up at the Kimberly Insurance building for committee to discuss the
lease.
Field trips were discussed and will be listed next month.
Show & Tell-- Joes fish carving that bit him was shown, bite is healing
Attendance 18
Silent auction made $78
FEBRUARY MEETING 6:00PM GAME NIGHT. BRING SNACKS, DRINKS AND GAMES
Minutes by Lola Collinsworth
Hells Canyon Gem Club Game Night
Don't forget to come to game night in place of a
regular rock club meeting on February 10. Bring your
favorite game, dice or deck of cards and be prepared
to have fun. Still held at the grange hall but will begin
at 6:00p.m. Not a game person. Please come
anyway and socialize with other club members. See
you on Feb.10 at 6:00p.m.
Why penquins don't live long
Experiencing the mysterious is: cutting open a
geode, polishing a “drab” stone into a “keeper”,
breaking open a rock to find a opal, you get the idea.
---------------------------------------------->
2
BOULDER BUSTER Volume #52 Issue #2, 2017
Quiz--- What do these three pictures have in common?
=============================================================================
Is a computer masculine or feminine?
Four reasons for each--Men’s version
1.No one but their creator understands their internal logic.
2.The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone
else.
3.Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later review.
4.As soon as you make a commitment to one, you constantly find yourself spending more money on
accessories for it.
Women’s
1.In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on.
2.They have a lot of data but still can’t think for themselves.
3.They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they are the problem.
4.As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer you could have gotten a
better model!
3
BOULDER BUSTER Volume #52 Issue #2, 2017
A Little About Petrification by Michael Papay
Have you ever wondered how petrification occurs!
How does wood turn into stone!
In so far as I can tell, there are several events that occur in this process. Aside from the fact that the trees
must first grow to provide the wood, the first step in the process of petrification is burial. The wood must
be deeply buried either while still standing or soon after falling in order to prevent its destruction by the
activity of ants, beetles, termites and fungi.
The environment in which the wood is buried must also be anoxia (without oxygen), otherwise
microorganisms would soon destroy the wood. The matrix encapsulating the deeply buried wood must be
rather firm in the sense that it not be too plastic. A thick mud would not be stable enough to maintain the
shape of the wood through the vagaries of time. Instead, the matrix would have to be rather like porous
concrete or consolidated sand. The porosity is important because porosity allows the introduction of
water.
Once the wood is deeply buried in a consolidated, porous matrix in an anoxic environment it can only be
transformed from wood to stone if quartz and water are present under the right conditions. No quartz, no
water, no petrified wood. Fortunately, quartz is a common and abundant mineral, and even the deserts
have their days in the rain. And as the fallen rain passes down through the ground, it picks up and carries
a little quartz dissolved in its waters. This solution then permeates the buried wood. Now the miracle
happens. A little wood dissolves into the water and a little quartz is deposited in its place; and the water
moves on its way carrying away a little carbon, leaving behind a little quartz. The slow process of
removing organic material while depositing quartz may take thousands of years to reach completion. In
fact, petrification may not reach completion before the favorable conditions end. If you have collected
petrified wood in the field you will know first hand that not all specimens are the same.
The most sought after petrified woods are specimens in which the process went to completion leaving
behind highly agatized or opalized wood. The specimens can be sawed and the sawed ends given a
mirror polish to reveal the beauty of the specimen. Specimens too small for sawing are tumbled to mirror
finishes which are highly attractive. Wood that is agatized or opalized may be shunned by collectors that
fail to see the rugged beauty of the uncut, unpolished specimens. Other collectors favor exquisite
specimens as fossils of a bygone age and natural works of art wrought by nature and not the hand of
man. Believe it or not, some portions of a specimen may be preserved as the original wood, while other
portions of the same specimen are lignified or petrified to various degrees. While the rockhound may not
appreciate these specimens, scientists may rejoice over the intact wood for it may reveal through their
methods the ancestry and biology of the tree which otherwise they could never behold.
Via Rockhound Roundup, April 2009
Petrified wood typifies this process, but all organisms, from bacteria to vertebrates, can become petrified
(although harder, more durable matter such as bone, beaks, and shells survive the process better than softer
remains such as muscle tissue, feathers, or skin). More information at this link-- Wiki petrifaction
Yellowstone's Petrified forest --The story behind the Yellowstone forest is that an old volcano began to
erupt and continued for some twenty years. Mineral bearing waters had begun to petrify the once-living
forest. In the span of a couple hundred years, a new forest began to appear and grew for the next five
hundred years. Then the old volcano erupted again. This process reoccurred twenty-seven times, as
twenty-seven distinct layers of buried forest have been exposed in the fossil forest on the south side of
Lamar River Valley. The trees were left standing in the upright position, where they grew many millions of
years ago. The Yellowstone Petrified Forest covers 40 square miles, and many thousands of fossilized
leaves; needles, cones and seeds of over a 100 different kinds of trees and shrubs have been found
there. (Excerpted from The Glacial Drifter, The Pegmatite, via the Prospector 02/'07)
4
BOULDER BUSTER Volume #52 Issue #2, 2017
2017 GEM SHOWS(Partial list, see--- AMFED.ORG/NFMS
March 24 – 26
Fri – 10 – 6
Sat – 10 – 6
Sun – 10 - 4
Rock Rollers Club of
Spokane, Wa.
Spokane County Fair & Expo
Center, N. 604 Havana at
Broadway, Spokane, WA
Vonnie Dillon 509-951-8173
[email protected]
April 22 – 23
Sat – 10 – 6
Sun – 10 – 4
Yakima Rock and
Mineral Club
Central Washington State Fair
Grounds Modern Living
Building, 1301 South Fair
Avenue, Yakima, Wa 98901
Marti Sondgeroth, 2013 S 41st Ave., Yakima,
WA 98903, Phone evenings 509-248-6401
leave a message, Cell daytime 509-9103484, [email protected]
April 22 – 23
Sat – 10 – 5
Sun – 10 – 4
Lakeside Gem and
Mineral Club
Benton County Fairgrounds
1500 South Ok
Kennewick, WA
Mary Lou Omstead, 509-783-2798
PO Box 6652 Kennewick, WA 99336
May 19 – 21
Fri, Sat – 10 – 6
Sun – 10 – 4
Bitterroot Gem and
Mineral Society
79th Annual Gem
and Mineral Show
and 2017 NFMS
First Interstate Center
Ravalli County Fairgrounds
100 Old Corvallis Road
Hamilton MT
Steve Vieth, 406 381 7597
[email protected]
Oct 21 – 22
Sat – 9 – 6
Sun – 9 – 4
Hells Canyon Gem
Club
Nez Perce County Fair Building
1229 Burrell Avenue
Lewiston, ID 83501
Linn Enger 208-746-4957
[email protected]
Standing Committees
Gemshow Committees
1. Membership Chairman --- Linn Enger
1. Show Chairman --- Rock Club Officers
2. Juniors Chairman -- David Dabritz
2. Show Treasurer -- Marylou Northrup
3. Fieldtrip Chairman --
3. Dealer Chairman – Lynda Grebe
4. Program Chairman --
4. Advertising Chairman -- Randy Squires
5. Show & Tell Chairman --
5. Displays Chairman -- Joe Schacher
6. Claims Chairmen – Nate Reade, Randy
Squires, Jerry Northrup
7. Historian Chairman --
6. Demonstrations Chairman -- Travis Heath
8. Library Chairman --
8. Silent Auction Chairman -- Jerry Northrup
9. Hostess Chairman.--.
9. Kids Corner Chairman – Don Johnson
with Dan Cease
10. Admissions Chairman – Lola Collinsworth
7. Floorplan Chairman -- Rick Westerholm
10. Bulletin Editor --- Ed Shoemaker
11.--Security Chairman –Bruce Borgelt and ?
12.--Raffle Chairpersons.-- Nate & Lynda Grebe
13.--Floater for show.-- Bruce Borgelt
5
BOULDER BUSTER Volume #52 Issue #2, 2017
METEOR OF THE MONTH
Bright Green Fireball over Wisconsin and Illinois
The American Meteor Society has received over 185 reports so far (and counting…) about a fireball event
seen over Wisconsin last Monday, February 6th 2017 around 01:27CST (07:27 UT.). The green fireball
was seen primarily from Illinois and Wisconsin but witnesses from Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, New
York, Kentucky, Minessota and Ontario (Canada) also reported the event. The preliminary estimated
trajectory plotted from the witness reports shows the meteor was traveling from the Southwest to
Northeast ended its flight on Lake Michigan somewhere between Sheboygan, Wi and Manitowoc wi.
For more info and video follow this link to the AMS website -- American Meteor Society
The Lyrids will be the next major active meteor shower!
Active from April 16th to April 25th
The Lyrids are a medium strength shower that usually produces good rates for three nights centered on
the maximum. These meteors also usually lack persistent trains but can produce fireballs. These
meteors are best seen from the northern hemisphere where the radiant is high in the sky at dawn.
Activity from this shower can be seen from the southern hemisphere, but at a lower rate.
Radiant: 18:04 +34° - ZHR: 18 - Velocity: 30 miles/sec (medium - 48.4km/sec) - Parent Object:C/1861
G1 (Thatcher)
more information including animation here -- Lyrids meteor shower
========================================================================
Quiz answers----THEY ARE ALL MAAR VOLCANIC CRATERS
Kilbourne
Hole is a
maar volcanic
crater, located
30 miles west
of the Franklin
Mountains of
El Paso,
Texas.
Another maar,
Hunt's Hole,
lies just two
miles south of
Hunts Hole
Kilbourne
Hole. These
holes are rare examples of volcanic action without a
mountainous rim.
The theory of maar formation is that rising magma super-heats
water-saturated earth, far enough below the surface that a high
pressure can be contained. At some point, the pressure is too
much, and a steam explosion occurs, throwing the earth out in
Kilbourne Hole & Hunts Hole with light
a catastrophic event. Country rocks are fragmented and
snow
expelled in the atmosphere (together with fragments of the
6
BOULDER BUSTER Volume #52 Issue #2, 2017
magma), eventually creating a deep crater, the bottom of which sits below the pre-eruptive ground
surface.
Kilbourne hole is over a mile wide, and over 300 feet (91 m) deep, with crumbling basalt cliffs all around
except at the southwest corner. The basalt cliffs resemble the cliffs of the Devils Postpile National
Monument near Yosemite National Park, with the characteristic reddish purple hexagonal columns,
except that they are not as tall. The cliffs are about 40 feet (12 m) high. Lava chunks exist in abundance.
The basalt column fragments are each larger than a person.
Hunt's Hole is a little smaller, with basalt cliffs only at the northeast and southeast sides of the crater.
Layers of ashfall and crumbling sediment also rise about 40 feet (12 m) high, on the south rim of the
crater. This ashfall section on the south rim will not support a person's weight; it is safer to stay on the
basalt cliffs and the sand dunes. Sand dunes have collected on the east sides of the both craters, rising
about 100 feet (30 m) above the desert floor.
A dry lakebed lies on the floor of each crater. Green peridot crystals occur in the lava.
The biggest and strangest maars ever found on Earth.
Most maars are about 1,000 feet (300 meters) wide.
Rarely, they reach a mile (1.6 kilometers) across. Their
size is limited by fuel — the hot lava quickly boils off
available water, shutting down the reaction.
But Alaska's enormous Devil Mountain Lakes maar is
more than 5 miles (8 km) wide, by far the largest on Earth.
That's comparable in size to the calderas atop Hawaii's
Kilauea volcano and Oregon's Crater Lake at Mount
Mazama.
Devil Mountian lakes
Maar lakes, also referred to simply as maars, occur when
groundwater or precipitation fills the funnel-shaped and
usually round hollow of the maar depression formed by
volcanic explosions.
A dry maar results when a maar lake dries out, becomes
aggraded or silted up. In some cases the underlying rock is
so porous that maar lakes are unable to form. After winters of
heavy snow and rainfall many dry maars fill partially and
The three maars near Daun (Germany)
temporarily with water
7
BOULDER BUSTER Volume #52 Issue #2, 2017
Tucson Gem and Mineral Show
Tucson's gem show actually includes more than 40 different shows at dozens of locations around town,
from exhibit halls to hotels and sprawling camps of roadside exhibit tents. The mix is slightly different
every year, and most shows are open to the public with free admission.
The Tucson Gem & Mineral Show® packs the downtown Tucson Convention Center over the final
weekend of mineral madness, pulling in thousands of treasure-hunters from around the globe. Free
seminars and a Junior Education Area with hands-on activities make this show a big draw for families!
There were 45 separate shows in 2016, and we are still receiving listings for 2017. Nearly 50,000 people
visit shows over the two weeks. The Tucson Gem & Mineral Show® is the original feature show, which,
when combined with the dozens of satellite shows, helps make up the Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossil
Showcase. Upcoming dates are:
Winter Shows
Fall Shows:
January 28-February 12, 2017
September 7-September 10, 2017
January 27-February 11, 2018
September 6-September 9, 2018
click on this link for the full 2017 schedule.................Tucson Gem Shows - schedule
========================================================================================================
Denver Gem & Mineral Showcase
Denver, Colorado United States
Show Dates: September 6-17, 2017
Venues:
No. of Vendors:
10 gem, mineral, fossil, bead, and jewelry shows
673
Overview:
For ten days ten separate shows feature over 900 vendors and exhibitors, each displaying and selling their gems,
minerals, jewelry, and lapidary tools and supplies. For world-class mineral specimens don’t miss the three-year-old
Denver Fine Mineral Show at the Denver West Marriott, the longstanding prestigious Colorado Mineral & Fossil Show
(CMFS), the Denver Gem & Mineral Show (known as “The Main Show”) at the Denver Mart, or the Denver Coliseum
Show (DCS). And you can always find a hidden gem or mineral treasure at the Denver Expo at the National Western
Complex, the Jewelry, Gem & Mineral (JG&M) Expo, the Colorado Independent Warehouse Show in Lakewood, or the
Miners Co-op in the DCS parking lot. For fossils, Oh my!, between CMFS and DCS, Denver hosts one of the highest
concentration of fossil dealers and dinosaurs found anywhere in the world. Jewelry and bead lovers’ shows are the
International Gem & Jewelry Show and Bead Renaissance, both at the Mart.
More information at this link --Denver Show
================================================================================================================
Quartzsite Arizona Swapmeet
Show Dates:
January 1 - February 28, 2017----9 gem, mineral, fossil, bead, and jewelry shows.-----889 Vendors
Overview: The Quartzsite shows are famous among professional and amateur lapidaries and jewelry artists. The small
desert town lies about 18 miles east of the Arizona-California border, and about 250 miles northeast of Tucson. A quiet
town of about 3,000 year-round residents, that population explodes during the January-February show, making
Quartzsite a vibrant outdoor desert shopping mall. About 3,000 vendors from all over come to Quartzsite to sell virtually
anything and everything, including serious dealers (about 500) of rocks, minerals, gems, fossils and jewelry. Of the ten or
more shows happening simultaneously there are four that are strictly rock and mineral related: Desert Gardens Show,
QIA Pow Wow, Prospector’s Panorama, and Tyson Wells Show. Prices are notoriously cheap — compared to Tucson,
where costs for many of the same items tend to be quite higher. All shows have free admission and parking — though
very difficult to find — and no registration is required. More info here---Quartzsite Swap meet
8
BOULDER BUSTER Volume #52 Issue #2, 2017
BANDED IRON FORMATIONS BIFs: Why then and not now?
By John Washburn, Geology Assistant
After the earth was formed out of the debris of the universe, it was a fiery, molten landscape of lavas
known as the Hadrian Era of the Precambrian. Then the earth began to cool and water began to collect
from water-bearing meteorites bombarding the firmament. Then 3.8 billion years ago, anoxic (without
oxygen) life was established in the oceans and thus began the
Achaean or ancient life Era. Since there was no oxygen at this time,
all life was anoxic. All the minerals that formed were sulfides
precipitated out of the oceans' waters. These sulfides were
composed of metals extruded from the black smoker vents along the
expanding mid-ocean ridges.
Meanwhile, in the shallows of the continental margins, a new life
form related to our modem corals, the stromatolites, was flourishing.
This life form was a type of blue-green algae. It built up a
calcareous structure upon which it could collect sunlight through shallow water for photosynthesis.
Whenever sediment covered the algae, it would secrete more calcareous material to gain sunlight again,
and thus it would build up layered mounds. Some of these mounds have been beautifully preserved in
the Kona Dolomite of the Upper Peninsula of
Michigan.
During the process of photosynthesis, oxygen
was expelled as waste. Oxygen, at this point,
was poisonous to all life forms, including the
blue-green algae. But when the mounds were
high enough to stay moist, yet free of
overoxygenation, they were safe. While oxygen
was building up in the shallow waters, free iron
and silica were being eroded from the lavas on
land and dispersed into the shallow margins of
the continents. The free iron and oxygenated
waters combined to precipitate iron oxides
(Hematite).
Once the oxygen built up to a sufficient level, it
hampered the growth of the algae which then reduced the oxygen in the water, and then silica, in the form
of chert and jasper, were deposited. As the algae recovered, more iron oxide was deposited and the
cycle was repeated over and over. Each band of iron and chert was very thin, but over time, became
hundreds of feet thick. These became the banded iron formations (BIFs) of the Lake Superior area
(Mesabi, etc.) and other areas in Africa, Australia, and South America. These would all become major
sources of iron for our modem society. One BIF became the lapidary material we call Mary Ellen Jasper.
Eventually the oxygen level of the earth's atmosphere was saturated at what is known as the GOE, or
Great Oxygen Event. As oxygen built up in the atmosphere from degassing of the ocean waters, more
and more life forms evolved to live in the oxygenated air and water. While shallow areas had oxygenated
water that precipitated the hematite/silica BIFs, the deeper waters were still anoxic. It has been
postulated that this segregation remained until there was a catastrophe that disrupted the balance and
thoroughly mixed all the waters to have the same chemistry. It may be coincidental that BIFs stopped
forming 1.8 billion years ago, which is when the Sudbury, Ontario bolide impact occurred. Or, it could be
that this bolide was the mechanism that ended the BIFs, as proposed by Slack and Cannon.
References: Slack, John F. and William F. Cannon, 2009, "Extraterrestrial Demise of Banded Iron
Formations 1.85 billion years ago." Geological Society of America, Geology,vol.37, No. II, pp. 1011-1014.
Clos, Lynne M., 2008, "North America Thru Time: a Paleontological History of our Continent,"
9
BOULDER BUSTER Volume #52 Issue #2, 2017
Mineral collecting is a lot like paying taxes ...… you work hard and end
up in the hole!
You Might Be a Rockhound If -- Your wife knows you are down in the basement sorting rocks but can't
quite find you nor does she remember that pretty wall down there.
KNOW YOUR ROCKS
Leaverite: Also known as Dropite, Junkite and Crudite. This type of rock should be discarded
immediately. It constitutes 90% of most rocks. This includes Sourgrape Agate and Mutilated Quartz.
Sack Rock: This is material that is stuffed into a sack but falls out as the bearer struggles back to the car.
If taken home, it will be tossed into a corner and forgotten.
Wonder Rock: You always wonder why you brought it home. and where you found it.
Braggin' Rock: Also called Pocket or Eating Rock. This material is licked, rubbed, spit upon and fondled
until it assumes a near polish and is frequently passed around for admiration.
@#%&+ Rock: A large heavy. possibly angular rock that falls on your foot as soon as you have removed
your hiking boots.
From - Gem Time 06/ 98 Via MWF Newsletter 12 / 02
DICTIONARY TIME….
Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.
Gargoyle (n.), olive-flavored mouthwash.
Flatulence (n.) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.
Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.
Coffee (n.), the person upon whom one coughs.
Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.
10
BOULDER BUSTER Volume #52 Issue #2, 2017
ROCKHOUND RIDDLES
1. Name a likable rock.
2. What mineral is always hungry ?
3. How do geologists measure water?
4. What should all geologists know?
5. What mineral catches thieves?
6. What is an opening in a fence?
7. How do you keep a boat from drifting?
8. What vegetable is used to weigh gemstones?
9. Where do fossils sleep?
10. Name a citrus rock.
11. What is a teenage snake?
12. A through F paid. What about G?
Answers at bottom of the page.
From Fossil Trails – 10/96
Quiz Answers 1. Gneiss, 2. Apatite, 3. in quartz, 4. their faults, 5. copper, 6. agate 7. ankerite, 8. carat, 9.
in a bonebed, 10. limestone, 11. serpentine 12. geode
11