The Geological Society of San Antonio
Newsletter
Volume
XXI No 1 January 2006
Volume XXI
No.1 January 2006
The
Geological Society of San Antonio Newsletter
Volume XX<> No. 10 October 2005
MEETING
Tuesday January 24
6:30-8:30 PM
PROGRAM
"Corundum – A Visual
Experience"
by Will Heirerman
REFRESHMENTS
Rosalinda Erickson
Shirley
Morrison
The SocietyÕs primary goals are to provide for the dissemination of
knowledge and information concerning all of
the earth sciences, to provide a format for the exchange and sharing of
personal experience in the various fields,
and to promote interest among its members and the general public in
the earth sciences.
Membership dues are currently $10.00 per year, payable on January 1 of
each year. Dues must be paid by
the
March meeting in order to remain on the
membership list.
PRESIDENT'S
MESSAGE: HereÕs to a very happy an very
eventful new year for our club.
We are
looking forward to seeing Mr. HeirermanÕs real man-made rubies and sapphires
which will be available for purchase at our meeting. Valentines Day could come early. I have invited the members of the Gem and Mineral club to be
our guests for the presentation.
HereÕs a
challenge for you: win a prize rock (see it at the meeting) donated by Doris
Santee for the member who enrolls the most new members by our March 28
meeting. Reminder to renew your
dues with Betty Tillick. Still
only $10 for single or $15 per family.
Food for
thought, car pooling is a lot of fun and a chance to get to know our friends
better. We have some senior
members who are not allowed to drive at night which prevents them from coming
to our activities. Please call me
if you need a ride and we can try to coordinate a solution.
Reflection
time to comment on the past: We
were very appreciative of Dr. Ed RoyÕs interactive presentation on geologic
time that was very educational in November. We invited him to join us again in our activities. Our auctioneer, Larry Tillick, did a
great job of collecting a lot of money for the club. The donated items from the members were outstanding
specimens and greatly appreciated.
You really deserve recognition and a big thank you.
If you missed the December party at the Middleton's new house, you missed a very merry get-together. Rosalinda did a great job of coordinating it. There was smoked turkey and ham from Rudy's and a lot of fixings from everyone else. We had a friendly exchange of gifts with Judy Hood in charge. Our voluntary show and tell program included a partial viewing of Gail's 3 hour video of the Canyon Lake trip, Betty's heavy and rare Canadian chunk, Larry's very large gem, Glen's New Jersey puddingstone, My fluorescent rocks, and Hugh's selected readings. We had Rosalinda's dog
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Huey who was very sociable until he snored during one of the presentations. All the guests left happy!
Reminder
that we need your contributions for the raffle and bring something for the show
and tell table. See you soon
Mamie
From
Claude Townsend: The
Fredericksburg Gem and Mineral Club will have their Rock Show on January 21,
10-6 and January 22 10-5. Claude
and Eula are participants.
Field
Trip: Mark your calendar for going
to the Tessman ranach for petrified wood on Sunday February 5. Meet at 9 a.m. on the left side of the
Wal Mart parking lot in Floresville with your $5. Fee. Bring water, food, collecting
containers, and sun protection.
Layered clothing recommended.
By Nita Bhalla
Hidden in
the depths of sugarcane plantations, the marshlands of Mare-aux-Songes have
been forgotten for centuries. But,
the recent discovery of a mass grave of dodos, the extinct flightless bird
whose name became synonymous with stupidity, has rekindled interest in learning
how the bird lived, what it ate and its natural habitat.
The rare
find in southeast Mauritius by a Dutch-Mauritian team will enable researchers
to discover more about the Indian Ocean island's native bird, which was wiped
out in the late 17th century.
The Mon
Tresor and Mon Desert (MTMD) sugar estate, where the 2,000 year-old dodo bones
were
found, now
plans to use the information gleaned from the fossils to recreate the original
environment of the dodo.
"There
has been so much interest in the discovery that we have realized we need to do
something to bring more awareness of the dodo," said Christian Foo Kune,
MTMD's general manager.
"Our
aim is to recreate the dodo's original habitat so that people can visit the
area and rediscover how Mauritius was when the dodo was alive," Foo Kune
said.
The plump bird
which weighed about 20 kg (44 lbs) was discovered by Portuguese sailors in the
late 16th century.
Unaccustomed
to predators, it lacked fear of the human settlers who not only hunted the
bird, but
also
destroyed its habitat through deforestation of ebony and tambalacoque trees.
They also
introduced alien species such as goats and pigs which forced the dodo to
compete for
food and
passing ships brought diseased rats to the island paradise -- all of which
contributed to its extinction.
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MORE
DIGGING
Experts say
the well-preserved fossils included femurs of adult birds and chicks as well as
a
very rare
part of the bird's beak, only a few of which exist in the world.
There were
also bones of the giant Mauritius tortoise, which became extinct around the
same
time as the
dodo, and hundreds of seeds of trees that no longer grow on the island.
Researchers
hope analysis of tissues inside the bones will reveal what the bird and
tortoise ate.
MTMD is
planning nature trails, a museum and an information area to educate people on
the tiny
island's
national symbol and use it to promote awareness about preserving the
environment.
Researchers
say the grave, which was only two meters deep and two meters wide, yielded
around 19 kg of fossils.
They
believe if the entire 10 acre marshland is excavated, they are likely to find
hundreds more fossils. "It is
amazing that we didn't have to dig so far to find such results, so you can
imagine what would happen if we explore the entire area," says Alan
Grihault, who was part of the research team and author of a book on dodos.
Grihault
says it remains uncertain how the dodos and tortoises in Mare-aux-Songes died,
but initial ideas suggest it may have been the result of a widespread epidemic
or a severe cyclone.
MTMD has asked the Dutch-Mauritian research team back to do a major excavation in June, but have decided to keep theexact site a secret to keep fortune-seekers away.
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Augustine
Volcano on Alaska Island Erupts
By DAN JOLING, Associated
Press Writer
A
volcano on an uninhabited island erupted early Wednesday, spewing ash about
five miles into the sky and prompting air traffic authorities to warn planes to
steer clear of the cloud.
The ash
from Augustine Volcano was not expected to reach Anchorage, the state's most
populous city nearly 200 miles to the northeast, meteorologists said.
Flights
was restricted temporarily in a five-mile radius around the volcano and for
50,000 feet
above
it, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Mike Fergus. The ash can
clog jet engines.
Cargo or
passenger traffic from Asia usually fly through the area to Anchorage but could
be easily rerouted, Fergus said. "It's not posing any significant traffic
problems," he said.
The
cloud, moving at about 20 mph, appeared to have low concentrations of ash, said
Bob Hopkins of the National Weather Service office in Anchorage.
Residents
on the Kenai Peninsula, east of the volcanic island, reported seeing ash, said
geologist
Jennifer Adleman of the Alaska Volcano Observatory.
The few
residents in the area were warned to reduce outdoor activity, keep windows and
doors closed, and avoid outdoor exercise.
The
4,134-foot volcano last erupted in 1986. Ash from a seven-mile-high column
drifted over
Anchorage
and forced flights to avoid the skies over Cook Inlet.
___
Bejing
– A fossil hailed as an important find for the theory that birds evolved
from dinosaurs is rally a composite of fossils from different creatures, a
Chinese scientist says.
Xu Xing, an
eminent paleontologist in Bejing, said he has found fossils that prove the
fossilized turkey-sized creature unveiled last year may not be the evolutionary link some thught it was.
XuÕs claim
has forced paleontology circles, which greeted the find with some fanfare, to
take a second look. And the
controversy has highlighted the pitfalls of international research projects
involving fossils that are often smuggled out of China and sold overseas.
Scientists
have other evidence that birds evolved from dinosaurs, and XuÕs finding doesnÕt
overturn the theory.
The
National Geographic Society convened a press conference in October to announce
the discovery of the dinosaur, dubbed Archacoraptor liaoningensis, which lived
120 million to 140 million years ago.
Unlike
feathered dinosaurs discovered earlier, the Archaeoraptor showed evidence it
could fly, they said. The
Archaeoraptor fossil, however, included specimens that had been smuggled out of
China and thus are of uncertain provenance.
Xu contends
the Archaeoraptor is a combination of two fossils: one of the body and head of
a birdlike creature and the other of the tail of a different dinosaur. He said he has found another fossil, in
a private collection in China, that conatins the mirror image of the supposed
tail of the Archaeoraptor. It is
totally one of a kind, 1st time anyone has seen anything like this
before, said Czerkas who runs the Dinosaur Museum in Blanding, Utah.
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Corundum
Corundum, Çkuh
RUHN duhmÈ, is the
second hardest pure mineral. Only diamond is harder. Corundum occurs as
transparent nuggets in gravel, and as nontransparent grains and rare
transparent crystals in rocks.
Varieties
of transparent corundum are polished and used as gemstones. Gemstones from
corundum include the ruby, sapphire, Oriental amethyst, Oriental emerald, and
Oriental topaz.
The colors
of the gemstones are caused by impurities in the corundum. For example, the red
of the ruby
is caused by the presence of traces of chromium, and the blue of the sapphire
by
iron and
titanium. Gemstone corundum comes mainly from Australia, southeast Africa,
Sri Lanka,
Myanmar, and India.
Nontransparent
corundum is used as an abrasive (grinding, smoothing, and polishing material). Emery, a
common abrasive, is a natural mixture of corundum and other minerals. Abrasive
quality
corundum and emery are mined in Turkey and Greece. From the internet
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ÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ.
Denzil & Marta Harroun Lamar & Helen Pfeiffer & MUSEUM Bob Stephens
1910 E. Pyron 27542-3 IH 10 West 18524 Bandera Road
San Antonio, Tx Boerne Tx 78006 Helotes, Tx 78023
( 210)-533-7778
(210)-698-2666
(210)-695-4567. ÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ
The Earthworks Editor
Norma Tindall
| 2006 Show Calendar | ||||||||
| Texas | ||||||||
| Feb 25-26, Pasadena, TX -- 31st Annual Clear Lake Jewelry, Gem, & Mineral Show. | ||||||||
| Pasadena Convention Ctr, 7902 Fairmont Pkwy. Sat 10-6; Sun 10-5. | ||||||||
| Mar 4-5, Corpus Christi, TX -- Gulf Coast Gem & Mineral Society Show. Al Amin | ||||||||
| Shrine Ctr, 2001 Suntide Rd. Sat 10-6; Sun 10-5. | ||||||||
| Mar 4-5, Dallas, TX -- North Texas Earth Science Show. Brookhaven College, | ||||||||
| 3939 Valley View Lane. Sat 10-6; Sun 11-5. | ||||||||
| Mar 4-5, Big Spring, TX -- Big Spring Prospector's Club. 37th Annual Gem & Mineral | ||||||||
| Show. Howard County Fair Barn. Sat 9-5; Sun 10-5. | ||||||||
| Mar 11, Cedar Park, TX (Austin) -- Show--Sue Ellen's Gemstones LLC. Holiday Inn | ||||||||
| Express, 1605 E. Whitestone Blvd (Hwy 1431). Sat 10-8. | ||||||||
| Mar 24-25-26, San Antonio, TX -- Southwest Gem & Mineral Society. 46th Annual | ||||||||
| Fiesta of Gems. Freeman Coliseum, Morris Activity Ctr, SBC (AT&T) Ctr Pkwy, | ||||||||
| Enter Gate E. Fri 10-6, Sat 10-6, Sun 10-4. | ||||||||
| Apr 8-9, Abilene, TX -- Central Texas Gem & Mineral Society. Abilene Civic Ctr, | ||||||||
| 6th & Pine Sts. Sat 10-6, Sun 10-5. | ||||||||
| Apr 14-16, Marfa, TX -- Moonlight Gemstones. 17th Annual Big Bend Gem & Mineral Show. | ||||||||
| American Vets Bldg, Highland Ave., Fri 9-6, Sat 9-6, Sun 10-5. | ||||||||
| Apr 29-30, Lubbock, TX -- Annual Show -- Lubbock Civic Ctr., Sat 10-6, Sun 10-5. | ||||||||
| May 27-28, Ft Worth, TX -- Ft Worth Gem & Mineral Club Show. Amon Carter Exhibit | ||||||||
| Hall, Will Rogers Memorial Ctr, 3401 W. Lancaster. Sat 9-6, Sun 10-5. | ||||||||