May Speaker: Recent Micro (and Not-so-micro) Collecting in New Mexico

by Laura Dwyer, MSDC Member

Our May speaker, Scott Braley, has been collecting minerals since he was a child and has focused on microminerals and photography for the last 15 years. He was previously a member of the Northern Virginia Mineral Club and the Micromineralogists of the National Capital Area, and is a past president of the Gem, Lapidary, and Mineral Society of Montgomery County.  After retiring from the Air Force, he completed a PhD and is now a professor of radiation protection at a small college in northern New Mexico.

After leaving the DC area in 2016, Scott spent a few years in Colorado before settling in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He has spent considerable time collecting at micro localities across central and northern New Mexico. This presentation will cover some of his more interesting pieces and locations. Some localities are relatively well known, such as Paramount Canyon (Sierra County) and Blanchard (Socorro County), while others are more obscure, like Chili (Rio Arriba County) and the Bullfrog #2 (Socorro County). Minerals will range from agardite to zeolites!