Tag: geology

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January 18 Virtual Program Meeting Explores Crystals

Pictured above: Actinolite, Quartz point, Axinite. Can you identify the other four?
Photo credit: PLS member Elizabeth Weston

Our Tuesday, January 18, 2022 Program Meeting will be held via Zoom. PLS member David Lacy will provide the evening’s presentation as an overview of Crystals and Crystal Forms.  We will look at the differences between geometrical (ideal) crystal forms and some of the crystal habits in nature, where geometric forms meet the real world.  We will check on just what are the characteristics of a crystal, what is a crystal habit, symmetry in crystals, and the seven crystal systems met in nature.  Some mineral specimens will be visually shared to demonstrate real-world crystal habits. Meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. If you’d like to join us, write marcia.pls.emails [at] gmail [dot] com to request a Zoom link.

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The Tunnel to Nowhere

December’s educational field trip will be at 8AM on Saturday, December 18th to Shoemaker Canyon Road above Azusa.  We’ll be visiting the Tunnels to Nowhere, which were hewn out of solid granite in 1969.  These tunnels were built to provide an escape route out of LA in case of nuclear attack.  Now they sit vacant; a lone sentinel to times forgotten. 

This trip is suitable for any passenger car and is 31 miles from Pasadena.  The walk to tunnel is 2 miles with an elevation gain of 700 feet.   We’ll be on the lookout for various ores and minerals, but this is more an educational/nature walk rather than a collecting trip.  For more details, please contact Rex at rexch8@yahoo.com 

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Tuesday, Nov. 16 Virtual Program Meeting Explores the Chixculub Impact Event with Paolo Sanchez; 7:00 p.m.

Pasadena Lapidary Society’s very own future geologist/geophysicist, Paolo Sanchez, will present “Traces of Extinction: The Search for Rocks and Minerals at Chixculub” for our November program meeting. For those wondering what the heck ‘Chixculub Impact Event’ is, think meteor meets dinosaurs. Paolo will present his current ongoing research examining tektites derived from Chixculub and what their respective chemistries tell us about the minerals and lithologies associated with the impact event, with the potential of understanding the lithology of the meteor itself.

Earlier this year, Paolo was awarded the California Federation of Mineralogical Societies’ (CFMS) Robert O. Deidrich Memorial Fund Scholarship for school year 2020-21. He’s been studying geosciences at UC Berkeley, working his way up to a PhD and possibly obtaining a career as a professional researcher.

There will be no Rock of the Month discussion for this meeting.

The Tuesday, Nov. 16 program meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. via Zoom. To join us, send an email to (new email address!)… marcia.pls.emails[at]gmail.com in advance, using ‘PROGRAM MEETING’ in subject line, and request the Zoom meeting link. We’re looking forward to seeing Paolo – and hope to see you virtually as well!

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Tuesday, Oct. 19 Virtual Program Meeting Focuses on Urban Rockhounding in Tucson; 7:00 p.m.

Among some of our favorite rockhound travel guides are Dick and Mary Pat Weber. For the Tuesday, October 19 presentation, Mary Pat will take us on a Practical Guide to Urban Rockhounding in Tucson.

In a few months dealers, buyers, and collectors will gather together for the largest rockhound  event in the world.  You will find great bargains relating to all aspects of our hobby offered by vendors from all corners of the globe.  If you can’t find it in Tucson, it probably doesn’t exist anywhere.  According to Mary Pat, you will run out of money long before you cross off all the items on your wish list.

With over forty shows from which to choose, it can be a bit confusing for the first-timer.  Mary Pat will offer practical advice for navigating though the “Tucson experience” to make it both efficient and fun.  This program is jammed packed with photo highlights of the biggest club show in the world, including specimens from world class museums such as the Smithsonian and other private collections. If you’ve been thinking about visiting Tucson for the rockhound shows but have yet to, here’s a chance to see what they’re all about.

PLS member Mona Ross will provide October’s Rock of the Month talk on one of the world’s rarest gemstones, Grandidierite.

The Tuesday, Oct. 19 program meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. via Zoom. To join us, send an email to joenmar1[at]verizon.net in advance, using ‘PROGRAM MEETING’ in subject line, and request the Zoom meeting link. Hope to “see” you there!

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September 18 Field Trip to Palos Verdes for Agate and Glaucophane

Boy, is it hot outside! Nothing beats summertime rock collecting at the beach!

CHANGE IN DEPARTURE TIME! Our next trip will be at 10AM to Palos Verdes on Saturday, September 18th, 2021 to collect striped root beer agates, yellow agates, and bluish green glaucophane. For more information, please contact Sue D at: apple_pis@yahoo.com

Yellow Green Agate from Palos Verdes
Glaucophane from Palos Verdes

Pics above of striped root beer agate, yellow green agate, and glaucophane were provided by PLS member Rex N.

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Caltech Professor George Rossman takes a look at Chinese Andesine Feldspar for Tuesday, Sept. 21 Zoom Program Meeting

A variety of faceted andesines in table-down orientation.

There’s a controversy brewing over a new and beautiful red transparent gem out of the Democratic Republic of the Congo as well as Tibet or an unspecified location in China. Caltech Professor of Mineralogy George Rossman will discuss his research on this red copper-carrying feldspar at our September program meeting.

The Tuesday, Sept. 21 program meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. via Zoom. To join us, send an email to joenmar1[at]verizon.net in advance, using ‘PROGRAM MEETING’ in subject line, and request the Zoom meeting link. “See” you there!

Image borrowed from: http://minerals.gps.caltech.edu/manuscripts/2011/Chinese_Red_Feldspar_I/Index.html

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Tuesday, August 17th Virtual Program Meeting Focuses on Geology of California’s National Parks

Our friends Dick and Mary Pat Weber return to take us on an armchair journey to explore the Geology of California’s National Parks for the main presentation of our Tuesday, August 17 Program Meeting.  Some of the finest examples of geologic features in the Western U.S. are on display in the national parks of our beautiful Golden State. They contain a vast array of different land forms and underlying lithologies (rock types) that have been shaped by nature in different environments ranging from cold and wet in the highest mountains, to the extreme heat in the driest of deserts.

The Tuesday, August 17 program meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. via Zoom. To join us, send an email to joenmar1[at]verizon.net in advance, using ‘PROGRAM MEETING’ in subject line, and request the Zoom meeting link. We’ll be looking forward to ‘seeing’ you online.

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Mining for Koroit Boulder Opal ‘Down Under’ with Gene McDevitt, subject of July 20 Virtual Program Meeting

We’ve got an exciting feature presentation slated for Tuesday, July 20, 2021 when Gene McDevitt, explorer, entrepreneur, lapidary artist takes us on an armchair trip to Queensland, Australia for Koroit Boulder Opal mining. In addition to Koroit Opal, Gene cuts and wholesales other interesting stones such as Mooka Jasper (Mookaite), Noreena Jasper, Tiger Eye, and Rutilated Quartz, among others.

Gene McDevitt, Professional Miner and Cutter. Koroit opal miner since 2001. Photos used with permission from Gene McDevitt.

The Tuesday, July 20 program meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. via Zoom. To join us, send an email to joenmar1[at]verizon.net in advance, using ‘PROGRAM MEETING’ in subject line, and request the Zoom meeting link. This virtual rock hunting journey is not to be missed… hope you can join us!

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Deep Earth subject of Tues., June 15 Virtual Program Meeting

Join us Tuesday, June 15 for a journey through the deep Earth, with Dr. Krista Sawchuk. The deep Earth, which encompasses the mantle and core, makes up 99% of our planet. Because we can’t physically go to the deep Earth, scientists employ a variety of techniques to learn more about it. Dr. Sawchuk will share what we do know about the deep Earth and how her research on the behavior of minerals at high pressures and temperatures is helping us learn more about the chemistry of the mantle.

Dr. Sawchuk recently graduated from UCLA with a PhD in geochemistry. Her dissertation research focused on the high-pressure behavior and chemical reactions of volatile-bearing minerals in Earth’s mantle. Since graduating, she started a postdoctoral research
position at Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico where she continues her high-pressure research. In her spare time she enjoys mineral collecting and curating her personal mineral collection.

The Tuesday, June 15 program meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. via Zoom. To join us, send an email to joenmar1[at]verizon.net in advance, using ‘PROGRAM MEETING’ in subject line, and request the Zoom meeting link. We hope to “see” you there!