These were our featured presentations for 2004.

SATURDAY at 1:00 PM - Learn about the Green River Paleobotany Project. Based upon the large collections from Douglas Pass, Colorado and Bonanza, Utah at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, this project aims to help everyone who has material from these areas identify their specimens using the interactive website http://greenriver.dmns.org.

Kirk Johnson is the Chief Curator and Curator of Paleontology of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science where he has worked since 1991. He was the curator responsible for the Prehistoric Journey, Cruising the Fossil Freeway, and Ancient Denver exhibits. He specializes in fossil plants from the Cretaceous, Paleocene and Eocene. He has been interested in Green River fossils since he saw a beautiful fossil leaf in an Audubon Magazine article in 1971.

SATURDAY at 1:00 PM - In the Small Meeting Room - Dr. Peter J. Modreski is a geochemist with the U.S. Geological Survey. He has worked for the USGS in Denver for 22 years. His specialties include mineralogy, mineral deposits, gemstones, and igneous petrology. Pete's work has included the study of mines, caves, volcanoes, and geology in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Hawaii, Poland, and Russia. He is the USGS geologic resource specialist for gemstones, as well as abrasives, quartz, beryllium, cesium, and rubidium. Pete is a co-author of the book, "Minerals of Colorado", published in 1997, and he is an Executive Editor of Rocks and Minerals magazine, and a Research Associate with the Geology Department, Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Pete is presently responsible for public communication and educational outreach for the USGS, and he has given numerous lectures, workshops, classes, and field trips for schools, teachers, professional groups, and the general public.

SATURDAY at 2:00 PM - Three major Isle of Skye localities are described along with their minerals and their contribution to understanding the geological history of Skye. The mines at Strontian, which are world famous for the rare Ba-Sr zeolites brewsterite and harmotome are described along with new discoveries that have caused mineralogists to rethink the geological history of the Strontian mineralization. Finally, the zeolites of the Midland Valley of Scotland are described. These zeolites were formed as a result of extensive volcanism during the Carboniferous period.

Brian Jackson is Head of Mineralogy at the National Museums of Scotland. He is responsible for management of the mineralogy section and the development of strategy, research and public access. During his 39 years at the museum, he has developed specialized knowledge of the collections and a deep knowledge of Scottish mineralogy. He has collected extensively throughout Scotland, visiting the old classic localities and discovering new sites. Zeolites and gems are two areas of special interest.

SATURDAY at 3:00 PM - Green apophyllite with mesolite from Poona, velvety white okenite puffballs from Bombay, water-clear apophyllite from Jalgaon, pale golden powellite from Nasik, and intensely blue cavansite from Wagholi are the paragons of Indian basalt minerals. These and other fine minerals will be discussed in a special two-hour presentation.

Bert Ottens, owner of Ottens Mineralien, has traveled extensively through the Deccan Traps and has written numerous articles on the various minerals of the Deccan Traps for Lapis and Mineralogical Record.

SATURDAY at 8:00 PM - A slide presentation will show many of the important zeolite sites and the minerals present in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Included will be the type localities for zeolites cowlesite, boggsite, and tschernichite at Goble, Oregon; ferrierite-Ca and ferrierite-Na at Altoona, Washington; paulingite-K at Rock Island, Washington; paulingite-Ca at Ritter, Oregon; and erionite at Durkee, Oregon; as well as recent discoveries of spectacular heulandite and mordenite specimens at Challis, Idaho and natrolite and apophyllite in a lava tube near Doty, Washington. The origin of the zeolites at these sites will be presented.

Rudy Tschernich started collecting minerals at age 8 after a trip to Yellowstone National Park and, with help from his parents and the local rock club, his infection grew as a teenager. He received a BA in geology from Western Washington State University and continued graduate studies at Western and the University of Montana. He has traveled throughout the Pacific Northwest and also to India, Ireland, Scotland, Costa Rica, and Australia studying and collecting zeolites for the last 35 years. He has published numerous papers describing rare zeolites and in 1992, he published Zeolites of the World. Rudy is currently the curator of the Rice Museum of Rocks and Minerals in Hillsboro, Oregon. The rare zeolite "tschernichite" was named in his honor.

SUNDAY at 1:00 PM - The re-discovery of the sources of "Olmec blue" jadeites on the south side of the Motagua River in December 1999 later had consequences for archaeology, geology and pre-Columbian historiography. Further searches in the larger area turned up pretty jadeites not used by the Olmecs or Mayas. The speaker will tell of his adventures in these expansions of knowledge.

Richard D. Mandell (a.k.a. Dick) received his Ph.D. in history at the University of California at Berkeley in 1963. He was a librarian and college teacher during the next thirty years. Mandell has published six books (none in gemology) that have been translated into seven other languages. He has curated art exhibitions and written the text for them.

SUNDAY at 2:00 PM - The presentation and demonstration will cover all the popular methods of displaying fluorescent minerals such as displays in ambient light like the "peep-hole method" or a custom display case, displays in a dark room on open shelves, and displays in a dark room in cases. Also, such factors as number of specimens, size of specimens, mineral labels, and windows for display cases will be discussed. He will discuss and demonstrate the four different UV wavelengths; SW, MW, LW350 and LW370 and will also demonstrate the tenebrescence of hackmanite, and show some unusual fluorescent specimens. The future of UV lights and fluorescent minerals will be mentioned. A question and answer time will follow the talk.

Don Newsome founded the international Fluorescent Mineral Society, Inc. (FMS) in 1971 when he and his family lived in CA. He was its first president. He now lives in Renton, WA, and is the northwest regional vice president. Don received the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies (AFMS) National Trophy for fluorescent minerals in 1972 and 1983, and has judged fluorescents at five AFMS shows. Don organized and coordinated the display of 76 cases of fluorescent minerals at the Tucson Gem & Mineral Society show in 1996. Referred to as "Tucson '96" by the FMS, it was part of the society's 25th anniversary celebration. Don retired from the Boeing Airplane Company in 1995 after a 30-year engineering career primarily in aircraft lighting. He started UV SYSTEMS, Inc. in 1992, and invented the SuperBright hand-held UV light series, the patented TripleBright series of UV display lights, the Phosphorescence Display Unit, and the T-12 timer for automated displays. Don graduated from Seattle Pacific University with a BS in physics.

SUNDAY at 3:00 PM - The presentation is a historic tour beginning with the earliest jewelry known in Scotland, moving on to the development of Scottish gem resources and some of the reasons behind this. The talk culminates in describing what new gems have been found in the recent past including sapphires, tourmalines and amolite. The illustrated talk will feature collecting activities across Scotland from the Highlands and Islands to ancient volcanoes near the capital, Edinburgh.

Brian Jackson is Head of Mineralogy at the National Museums of Scotland. He is responsible for management of the mineralogy section and the development of strategy, research and public access. During his 39 years at the museum he has developed specialized knowledge of the collections and a deep knowledge of Scottish mineralogy. He has collected extensively throughout Scotland visiting the old classic localities and discovering new sites. Zeolites and gems are two areas of special interest.

Events for other years can be seen here:

2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004

 

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