Prez Says...

by Dan Teich, MSDC President

The ground beneath Capitol Hill in DC, my home, isn’t exactly hard metamorphic rock; it’s sedimentary mudstones made of materials washed down from the Blue Ridge Mountains, dating back to the early Cretaceous. Amazingly though, only several blocks away, dinosaur bones were found during sewer excavations in 1898. But that’s about it, at least on Capitol Hill. Reddish clay and crumbly rock, yup. Anything else, nope. Last month Thomas Hale made those of us in DC a bit jealous of the mineralogy just south of us in Virginia. A video of his talk to MSDC may be found on our YouTube channel HERE.

It turns out that Virginia is more than the rolling hills of Shenandoah, especially when it comes to geology and mineralogy. Gold, radioactive minerals, industrial minerals, garnets, amazing metamorphic rocks, amethyst, amazonite, and more are found across the Commonwealth. The eastern coastal plain areas are also a fossil-collector’s dream come true – at least for ancient marine life, that is.

Andy Thompson has a write-up detailing Thomas’s detailed trek across Virginia elsewhere in this newsletter (you also can find it HERE). But that said, DC isn’t totally left out of the picture. The Smithsonian has snagged a few large gold nuggets from Virginia! The Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology Gems and Minerals also has a number of excellent Virginia specimens, including garnet, apophyllite, and prehnite.

Our October meeting continues our journeys across mines and minerals with Frederick Paraskevoudakis taking us all the way back to ancient Greece seeking out silver mines of yore. Metal extraction has been part of human history for millennia and Frederick’s talk will blend geology and history, bringing us to the present day. 

On October 11th, members of MSDC will be gathering at a member’s house for a picnic and social. Members should have received an email invite, if not, please contact MSDC Treasurer John Weidner (Jfweidner42@gmail.com) for details. If you have not replied to the invite, please do so – we need to know an approximate attendance for our catering.

The event is free to members, but we kindly ask you to do the following three things:

1) bring a food item (appetizer, main dish, or dessert) to share;

2) bring show-and-tell items to discuss with others; and

3) look through your collection to identify minerals you would be willing to donate to our annual mineral sale fundraiser at the NVMC George Mason Mineral Show. I will be gathering the minerals and preparing them for the show. 

Have a friend or relative who like minerals? Consider gifting them a membership!