The amber shown is from Sumatra, Indonesia. It fluoresces a nice blue under Long Wave UV light. Also photographed under white light. Size 3″ x 2″.
Photographed under Fluorescent Long Wave UV light 
Photographed under white light
Photos by Dan Snow
Not Rocks
October Meeting
As you know, our next meeting is Saturday, October 20 at the Sutton Geosciences Museum, Flarsheim Hall, Room 271, at UMKC. Please be aware that on that day they are having the Kansas City Marathon from 7:00am-1:00pm and there will be multiple road closures, so allow extra time to arrive. A map of the marathon route is here.
Additionally, I am very sorry I haven’t updated the website in 8 months. Please reach out if you are a club member and are interested in helping to run the website.
Rainbow Gem Suncatchers
Gem Stickers on a window on an overcast day. Photo from Rainbowsymphonystore.com
Would you like to have rainbows in your home? These window clings look like clear plastic stickers in the shapes of cut gems, but they also contain diffraction gratings so that they will turn light from the Sun into shiny beautiful rainbows.
What your home will look like after installation of the rainbow gem window clings. Results may vary. Photo from Rainbowsymphonystore.com
If you are interested, buy them from the Rainbow Symphony store. I am not affiliated with Rainbow Symphony and I won’t make any money if you buy these. I saw these when I was purchasing ISO compliant eclipse glasses and thought of the club.
Carborundum
In Mark Sherwood’s case at the Spring 2017 show. Photo by Stephanie Reed
At Mark Sherwood’s talk “Earth Science… Facts, Frauds and Scams” he mentioned carborundum (also spelled carborundrum). It is made of silicon carbide, but it is not a natural mineral that you can find in the ground. If you want to find some carborundum, look in a chimney. At an iron foundry, the carbon and silicon in the smoke rise and precipitate on the inside of the chimney. When the chimney is cleaned, they find these nice silicon carbide deposits. They are iridescent and pretty enough to buy, but don’t be fooled. Some sellers will say that carborundrum or moissanite and pretend like it is from some secret mine or even a meteorite, but it is really a man-made mineral.
Note: Moissanite is a naturally occurring silicon carbide, but it is very rare and it doesn’t look like the specimen pictured above. It actually looks like tiny green glass crystals. They are usually heat treated to increase clarity. If so, the seller needs to disclose that the specimen has been heated or they are being fraudulent. Buyer beware.
Rooster Rock
Rooster Rock, Crown Point, and the Vista House (top right, on top of Crown Point). Photo by Lyn Topinka, http://columbiariverimages.com/Regions/Places/rooster_rock.html
Photo by Thomas Kuo, from Google Maps. This is Crown Point and the Vista House seen close up from the other side.
Celebrate the new Year of the Rooster by going to Rooster Rock State Park in Portland, Oregon. Rooster Rock is a large basalt feature located on the Oregon side of the Columbia River at River Mile (RM) 129, just below the base of Crown Point. It is also called Woutoulat or Crow’s Roost, sometimes. There is a Vista House on top of the Crown Point, which is a lava flow. The state park has many amenities including: a boat ramp into the Columbia River, fishing, swimming, windsurfing, hiking, ADA accessible picnic shelters, parking lots, restrooms, two disc golf courses, and a clothing-optional beach. Also, Lewis and Clark camped there on November 2, 1805.
Sources: http://columbiariverimages.com/Regions/Places/rooster_rock.html http://oregonstateparks.org/index.cfm?do=parkPage.dsp_parkPage&parkId=126
Baker’s Quarry Cake
This is what happens when you ask a geologist to bake a cake. http://blogs.agu.org/mountainbeltway/2011/01/24/east-wall-of-bakers-quarry/ has a very funny description of the quarry and how it was formed. Make sure you read the whole thing!
Historical records indicate that quarrying operations began in earnest around 9:30pm, although there is anecdotal evidence of small scale nibbling, particularly in the Strawberry Granite, prior to that time. Though only crumbs were removed, a few locals reported their findings to others. Resulting hype and rumor-mongering built up public anticipation to a frenzied hum. When the echoes of dinner had faded, industrial-scale excavations began at Baker’s Quarry.
The real Baker’s Quarry is a mine in Monroe, North Carolina, also known as Martin Marietta Materials. This is what it looks like.
From Google Maps
Geode Cake
Cake by Whisk Cake Company, http://www.whiskcakes.com
A talented baker made this geode layer cake with fondant for the layers and a rock candy geode surrounded by gold and silver leaf. I am very impressed with the banding in the geode. It looks very tasty. This cake was recently featured on Cake Wrecks in their Sunday Sweets section, which is a day of beautiful cakes to contrast with the awful cakes on other days. There are other geode and rock-related cakes including a malachite cake posted that day, so be sure to go to the Cake Wrecks post “Oh Em Geode” and see the rest.
Curb Showing Hayward Fault is Replaced
Hayward, California is the home of the Hayward Fault, which is a break in the Earth’s crust. Geologically speaking the Hayward Fault moves very fast. You can see that the tectonic plates are always moving when you look at the roads. Since it only moves a few millimeters a year, the roads and/or curbs don’t crack but instead gently wiggle apart at the seams.[*] See how this curb at Rose and Prospect has moved over time?
This is how the curb looked in 1974. It has already drifted several inches from where it was originally. Photo from http://www.geologyfieldtrips.com/haywardresidential.htm
This is how the curb looked in May 2012. See how far this piece has moved away? Photo by Andrew Alden at oaklandgeology.wordpress.com
If you want to go to California and see it for yourself, you are out of luck. The city has just replaced the curb. This is probably the first time that road work has made it into the New York Times. Read the article here: A Curb is Repaired and a Seismic Marker is Lost
[*]Note: Cracks in the road are not caused by plate tectonics. They are caused by thermal expansion/contraction, road salt, heavy trucks, and degredation of the road bed.
Delightful Daylilies
Photo by Stephanie Reed
The Snows had a delightful daylily party at their place this weekend! First there was food, then we viewed their amazing rock collection in their impeccably organized basement (complete with a fluorescent rock display that rivals several museums), then we saw their daylily garden and had a walk through the woods! There was even a real turtle in the yard! Ed brought some teeth for Martin to identify and there are some photos of the teeth. I didn’t know there were so many different shapes and colors of daylily so there are tons more photos on the Google+ here.
Since this is ostensibly a website about rocks and fossils, here’s a picture of two of the teeth. I don’t remember what Martin said they were.
Photo by David Reed
Now With HTTPS
Good news! Showmerockhounds.com now uses HTTPS by default, so it will be better and more secure. As the EFF points out as part of their Encrypt the Web initiative, strong encryption protects our users in various ways, including defending against surveillance of content and communications, cookie theft, account hijacking, and other web security flaws. HTTPS sites also rank higher in Google search results. The best part is that you don’t have to do a thing. Just keep visiting showmerockhounds.com .
For more information, see here: https://en.blog.wordpress.com/2016/04/08/https-everywhere-encryption-for-all-wordpress-com-sites/
Show-Me Rockhounds Kansas City 
