Early in 2020, 26 rockhounds representing clubs from Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma descended on the History and Mineral Museum in Joplin, Missouri, for a day of fun, fellowship, and field finds.
The itinerary included a guided tour of the museum and collecting ore samples from the zinc and lead mining boom days. Also on the docket was a visit to Grand Falls on Shoal Creek for collecting of stream-tumbled lapidary material and marine fossils. Joplin is a prosperous city of 50,150 people with numerous parks, museums, trails, golf courses, andan aquatic center, among other attractions. Joplin is also the home of Missouri Southern State University with an enrollment of about six thousand. The services, attractions, and opportunities found in this city result from a lot of recent hard work, commitment, and love for the community. The current favorable situation is due to rebuilding after a powerful and catastrophic EF5- rated tornado struck Joplin on the evening of Sunday, May 22, 2011. The tornado took 158 lives, and it was reportedly one of the costliest single tornados in U.S. history. After the tornado swept through the area, hundreds of volunteers came to Joplin to reach out to the survivors and rebuild. My wife and I took part in the recovery work and helped my niece, who had lost her home. The city came back stronger with new buildings, homes, and businesses. Today, murals decorate many of the buildings, and art is present throughout the city.
Editor’s Note: Although travel restrictions and quarantine measures have occupied much of how we live life in 2020, just as we always have, Rock & Gem values the stories, discoveries, and experiences related to field trips. Be it solo excursions, small group adventures, or club-sponsored outings; these reports are valuable and entertaining. This account of a field trip serves to inspire.
This story is from the December 2020 edition of Rock&Gem Magazine.
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This story is from the December 2020 edition of Rock&Gem Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MORGAN HILL POPPY JASPER
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THE ACORN
The briolette gemstone has the same design attributes of a regular gemstone, however, the pavilion is elongated and the crown is usually domed. This is perfect for an elegant pendant, earrings or a pendulum.
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To protect a specimen cab, often a cap is needed. In my case, I had a slab with the because of the color of the background and the pattern. This background had a more silicified consistency than most sandstones. It had no graininess like most sandstone, so I'm inclined to compare it to a jasper. The pattern was typical of a dendrite.
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For the first time, the Anne Brontë rock collection underwent complete description and identification, and along with Professor Hazel Hutchison of Leeds University and Dr. Enrique Lozano Diz at ELODIZ (a company specializing in spectroscopy analysis), an analysis of that collaboration, Anne Brontë and Geology: A Study of her Collection of Stones, was published in April 2022 in Volume 47, Issue 2 of the peer-reviewed journal, Brontë Studies & Gazette.\"
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Call in the Seals!
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