Photo by Germano Fretti, http://www.mindat.org/photo-448694.html
Rruffite is a crystal named after the Rruff Project which is building a database of Raman spectra, X-ray diffraction data, and photos of very small minerals. This specimen is from the Jote Mine in Chile and belongs to Luigi Chiappino.
Happy Thanksgiving! To whet your appetite for dinner, here are some pictures of rocks and minerals that look like food. This is a traveling exhibit, so maybe it will be at a rock show near you.
Bill and Lois Pattillo: http://rockfoodtable.com/index.html
Start off with a tasty fruit salad.
Bill and Lois Pattillo: http://rockfoodtable.com/index.html
The main course: ham, a yam, and lima beans.
Bill and Lois Pattillo: http://rockfoodtable.com/index.html
Cherry cheesecake for dessert.
Bill and Lois Pattillo: http://rockfoodtable.com/index.html
The whole spread.
As viewed at the November 2014 meeting.
This is a gold sheen obsidian from the personal collection of our members M. Mueller and C. Maazouz. Obsidian is an igneous rock, which means it is formed from lava as it cools and solidifies. Obsidian is usually black. However, some types of obsidian have gas bubbles that create a gold or silver sheen like this.
Photo by Stephanie Reed
This is what a typical Show-Me Rockhounds meeting looks like.
You’ve heard of petrified wood, but have you heard of petrified palm? It’s made from trees of the extinct genus Palmoxylon, which were very similar to palm trees. The process is the same: when the palms died, sometimes they would be covered by water or dirt before they rotted. Then, as groundwater flowed across the ground it carried dissolved silica which would fill the xylem and phloem inside the palm. The result is solid silica in the same shape as the plant. They usually turn out much smoother and more uniform than other types of petrified wood, and petrified palm can be cut, polished, and used as a semiprecious gemstone. It’s mostly found in the Catahoula Formation, Texas, and Louisiana (where it’s the state fossil).
Amy O’Connell’s Petrified Palmwood sold at http://lapidaryart.com/amy.html
As you can see, petrified palm’s distinctive round spots make great cabochons.
Photo by Stephanie Reed
We had a great time selling rocks at the 36th Annual Shows of Integrity Fall Gem & Mineral Show in Kansas City! If you missed it, mark your calendar now for the spring show on March 13-15, 2015 (same location, the KCI Expo Center). It will be even bigger!
Photo by D. Reed
When you spin our wheel, every spin is guaranteed to win a prize. This year, the prizes included turquoise, shark teeth, and Apache tears.
Photo by Stephanie Reed
Some of the rockhounds who helped set up and run the booth.
Smiley face agate photo by Cobalt123 from https://flic.kr/p/dVdpEA
An agate dressed up for Halloween, hanging out at the Tucson Rock and Gem Show 2013. Thanks for following us all the way through Agate Month and learning all about these beautiful minerals!
If you’d like to see a list of even more types of agates, go here: http://stoneplus.cst.cmich.edu/agate.htm
Photo by Jerry Schaber at http://www.agateoftheworld.com/timan2.html
Shadow agates are hard to photograph, because it’s more of an effect. When you move shadow agates back and forth, you can see deep, dark areas that appear to move. They look like they are deep inside the stone.
These aren’t technically types of agate according to Mindat, but sometimes they will be described this way in rock shops or on rockhound websites. And these pictures are so great I couldn’t possibly pass them up. An agate with red, orange, or yellow plumes in just the right arangement can be called a flame agate, because it looks like fire.
Photo by Vítězslav Snášel from http://www.mindat.org/photo-114774.html
Frost agate describes the cracked finish on these beads (again, it’s not a mineralogical term). They can also be called cracked agate. The frost effect is heightened when they are blue. Whatever they are, I would totally wear earrings made with these beads.
Cloud agates look like they contain clouds. They can have a gray or transparent matrix and the inclusions are usually white and foggy to look like clouds. The one on the left has a bit of a drusy effect which makes it look like a puffy cumulus cloud. The cloud agate on the right has a blue “cloud” inside. The North Lincoln Agate Society has given its friend some googly eyes.
Show-Me Rockhounds Kansas City 