April 2019 Newsletter
February News
February 2018 Events Calendar
Pinal Gem and Mineral Club and Geology Museum
Saturday, February 2 –Field trip: meet at the parking area in front of Caliente on the west side of route 79 at 9 AM. Caliente is north of Florence and just north of the Hunt Highway and the railroad tracks
February 2 to February 17 – Tucson Gem and Mineral Shows, over 60 different venues with hundreds of dealers selling minerals, fossils, and gems.
Sunday, February 17 – Program “All Things Rocks” Geology of Pinal County and the Florence area by Ray Grant. 2PM at Pinal County Historical Museum, 715 South Main Street, Florence, free admission.
Wednesday, February 27 – Regular monthly meeting of the Gem and Mineral Society, program information coming soon.
Saturday, February 23 – Class, Mineral identification, 9AM to noon, see flyer attached.
November Field Trip
Pinal Gem and Mineral Society Field Trip
Sunday November 11, 2018
Meet at Library in Florence (on Main Street across from City Hall -778 N. Main, Florence) at 8 AM. Questions call Richard Sichling (801-386-1602).
We will car pool up to the Chrysotile location in the Salt River Canyon and to see Seneca Falls.
November 2018 Newsletter
Dana Slaughter will discuss the geology, history and importance of the Tri-State District (Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas) with a photo emphasis on great specimens. It has been his favorite mineral locality since he was a kid due to the affordability and sheer tonnage of specimens available. Dana has been interested in minerals for his entire life, and he has an incredible memory and can give you unlimited information about minerals and mineral localities. He is interested in all minerals but unlike many collectors he likes dark minerals and radioactive minerals.
Dana (left)
with part of the A.L. Flagg Collection
Tri-State District Minerals
The Tri-State District was mined for lead and zinc and was active from the 1850s until 1970, when the last mine closed. The district has 61 different mineral species but is best known for the galena, sphalerite, calcite, and dolomite specimens. The specimens below are from the Joplin area in Missouri. If you get to the Museum early look around and see if you can find some specimens on exhibit from the Tri-State area.
Calcite on Quartz |
 Sphalerite and Dolomite |
Galena |
Exhibit: Zeolites
| Zeolites are aluminosilicate (containing aluminum, Al, and Silicon, Si) minerals that usually contain a large amount of water. |  |
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This group of minerals was named in 1756 by Axel Fredrik Cronstedt, a Swedisth mineralogist who heated a mineral, which was probably stilbite, and it produced lots of steam. For example stilbite has the formula NaCa4(Al9Si27O72).28H2O (that's 28 parts water for every molecule). There are over 40 naturally occuring minerals in the zeolite group, and more than 200 are made by industry..  |
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Many of the specimens in this exhibit are from India, where large quantities of zeolites have been collected from basalt. Zeolites form where volcanic rocks and ash interact with alkaline groundwater, or over a long time, even millions of years, in shallow marine basins. In addition to forming naturally, zeolites are made by industry. Zeolite crystals have a very open structure, and they can be used for water purification and other types of filtering. |
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