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ROOSEVELT DAM AGATE: A Gem Loaded with History
The Roosevelt Dam agate is a very limited-occurrence lapidary material, uncovered during the excavation of the Theodore Roosevelt Dam in Arizona, hence the obvious name of Roosevelt Dam agate.
GEORGIUS AGRICOLA'S: DE RE METALLICA
465 Years Old and Still Relevant
Trisparkle 12 Design Marks New Approach
I want to thank Jim Perkins for his many years of providing outstanding faceting designs for the Rock & Gem readership.
Scientists Looking at a Possibly Undetected Volcano in Alaska
Is there a previously undiscovered volcano within Alaska’s Aleutian chain of islands? A team of scientists recently presented their findings surrounding this possibility during a meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU).
QUARTZ
COMMON, BUT NOT CONVENTIONAL
Discovering the Splendor of SLAG
A pile of slag remaining from copper smelting operations of 1930s Cottonwood, Arizona is one area of focus for Minerals Research, Inc. (MRI), the company pursuing a 15-20 year process to remove the pile using innovative recovery technology.
HUNTING FOR THUNDEREGGS
Uncovering A “Ghost” Volcano’s Treasures
CERUSSITE
GALENA’S GIFT OF A STUNNING SECONDARY MINERAL
Anxiously Awaiting a New Museum Opening
With the year 2021 upon us, Arizona collectors are certainly excited about the pending May opening of the University of Arizona Alfie Norville Gem & Mineral Museum in downtown Tucson. Of course, the excitement extends beyond the border of Arizona and to far reaching locales around the globe.
Captivated By Copper
Soldiers’ Discovery Leads to a Century of Mining at Pearl Handle Open Pit
Filling an Empty Space and Enhancing a Cabochon
I often look for a special feature within a slab when choosing the shape to cut into a cab.
Pterodactyls No Longer Birds of a Feather?
For a couple of decades now, feathered dinosaurs have been all the rage.
The Saga of COLORADO GOLD - 53 Million Troy Ounces and Counting
Colorado has been mining gold even before the region became a territory and is still mining it today.
SPECTACULAR NATIVE SILVER - Rarer Than Gold in Specimen Form
When it comes to naturally occurring precious metal specimens on Earth, finding native silver is not as easy as finding native gold.
PEARL OF THE PACIFIC - San Diego's Pacific Rim Park
Did you know, the Pearl of the Pacific was created in 1998 as a symbol of friendship and unity between the United States, Mexico, China and Russia?
POPULAR PSEUDOMORPHS - More Common Varieties Enhance Any Collection
In part one of this two-part series, which appeared in the December 2020 issue of Rock & Gem, we explained pseudomorphs as minerals whose normal form has changed, so they may look like the original but are now another mineral.
New Era Gems - CARVING A PATH AND CREATING A LEGACY
Think back to your 20th birthday; what were you doing? How did you celebrate?
DIAMONDS - A Luxury Gem Steeped in Fact & Fable
The diamond is one fabled gemstone! For example, google “Hope Diamond” to see all the legends associated with just this one stone said to bring misfortune to its owners.
Cleaning Without Chemicals
Do you have specimens like desert roses, quartz crystal clusters, or geode halves that sat for eons in the open before being collected?
Black Ilmenite and “Titanium White”
The bright-white color that we see in everything from highway lines, donut icing, and tooth-paste to paint, paper, plastics, and ceramics comes mostly from titanium dioxide, the world’s most widely used pigment.
POPULAR PSEUDOMORPH MINERALS
More Than They Seem
Prehistoric Birds Take Flight and Pique Public Interest
Birds have really taken flight these past two decades—ancient birds, that is! A flurry of new research has led to a flurry of books with titles like Dinosaurs of the Air, The Mistaken Extinction: Dinosaur Evolution and the Origin of Birds, Mesozoic Birds: Above the Heads of Dinosaurs, and The Rise of Birds, among others.
Uncommon Dinosaurs
Southern Continents Reveal Uncommon Giants
ZOISITE
A Massive Mineral Marked by Christmas- Like Color and Appeal
Odie House
A good friend, and wonderful artisan both lapidary and silversmith h, Odie is always fun to chat with. There is always something beautiful to see when Odie is in the “house.”
PLEASING PYROPE
Italy’s Uniquely Valuable Variety of Garne
Joplin
Field Trip Findings: Gaining More Than Mineral Specimens
GEOLOGY 101 Columnar Basalt
A distinctive volcanic structure found throughout the world has been given fanciful names: “Organ Pipes” in Namibia and Victoria, Australia; “Kilt Rock” and “Samson’s Ribs” in Scotland; “Giant’s Causeway” in Northern Ireland; “Thunderstruck Rocks” in Romania; “Devils Tower” in Wyoming and “Paul Bunyan’s Woodpile” in Utah, USA; the “Baigong Pipes” in China; and the “Cliff of Stone Plates” in Vietnam. High-resolution satellite images have even shown similar as-yet-unnamed structures on Mars.
Sanding and Polishing Thundereggs
Two basic lapidary machines can be used to sand and polish thunderegg halves quickly. Both involve sanding the pieces dry.
Studying Nature's Impact on Ancient Civilization and Tuning In Online to Make Sense of Meteorites
Okmok. In remote Alaska. A strange name and a strange place for what some scientists and historians now say caused the downfall of the Roman Republic and the Egyptian Ptolemaic Kingdom shortly after the demise of Julius Caesar.