TUCSON ELECTRIC PARK SHOW

The Tucson Electric Park/Kino Sports Complex Gem and Mineral Show is an event held prior to the main Tucson Gem and Mineral Show and is a gathering rock hounds will not want to miss if in the Tucson area.  The Show, usually held the first two weeks of February at the sports complex, is just off I-10 in the southern part of town.  There is no admission charge and an advertised 20 acres of free parking complete with shuttles— major selling points for a fun and inexpensive time.   Well over 250 vendors display wares at the Show and that is the main attraction---the funky items for sale are diversified, to say the least.  There are large jade tigers, at least a million beads, chairs constructed from petrified wood logs, enough dop sticks to supply the CSMS group for decades to come, thousands of pieces of costume jewelry plus some high end blue topaz (guaranteed non-heated treated!), the largest tumblers in the world, wooden canes, “Navajo” rugs with a tag stating “Made in PRC (China), trilobites by the thousands (including numerous fakes), the self described Amethyst Capital of Tucson, and since this is Arizona—several rifles and pistols.  I was somewhat fascinated with the fake trilobites as most were really bad—the bugs were cast in a black resin and then cemented to a gray limestone with matching gray cement.  Put on a few tool marks and throw it on the “For Sale” table.

On the other hand, there were some really nice mineral specimens for sale at reasonable prices.  I found the best displays, and the least expensive minerals, at a section of the event called the RV Show. This area included “mom and pop” shops, and individuals, both living in their parked RV’s and displaying their collections on tables.  Most were very interested in visiting with potential customers and many had some very nice specimens.  This frugal rock hound was able to purchase some really nice water-clear, yellow-orange, wulfenite crystals collected from the “79 Mine, 4^th level, Hayden, Gila County, Az” for $1!  A collector who lives near Grand Junction, Colorado, was showing, and selling, a fantastic collection of Utah Lace Opal collected from his claim near Milford, Utah.  But perhaps the most impressive specimens, at least to me, were some of the giant crystal quartz points collected in Brazil.

So, everything at the show is free to look at and the parking is easy and free—a great way to spend an afternoon or a day.  The displays are often quirky and who would not want to take home some genuine plastic turquoise beads.

mike

Carved Tiger

Petrified Wood Chair

Take Home A Crystal Skull

A Quite Large Quartz Crystal Point

Buy Your Genuine Coon Skin Hat

Always an Amethyst Cathedral

CSMS 2011 OFFICERS

CSMS 2011 Officers

The annual CSMS banquet and officer installation was held 20 January at the Best Western hotel in north Colorado Springs.  President Ron "Yam"Yamiolkoski passed the gavel to incoming President Roger Pittman (who also served a few years ago); however, Yam will continue on the Board as Past President and 2011 Show Chair.  Other officers include Kay Thompson--Vice President; Ann Proctor--Treasurer; Joan Peterman--Secretary; Roni Poteat--Membership Chair; Teri Stoiber and Ann Proctor--Editors; Sharon Holte and Al Zelenak--Members at Large.  Life Member Ray Berry administered the "oath of office".  Bob Germano, Jennifer Beisel, David Olsen, and Drew Malin rotated off the Board (thanks for the service).  The Society also was honored by the attendance of several life members, including Roy Wilson (50 years), Kay Thompson, Eloise Berry, Charles Webb, Steven Veatch, Raymond Berry, Jack Thompson and Michael Wheat.  Mike Nelson gave the address, "Geology and Physiography of Colorado".  Frank Rosenberg serves as the "official" photographer.

mike

Life Members with Roy Wilson holding the pick

Yam and Roger

Bill & Betty Cain, active in the Rocky Mtn. Federation

 

 

                                           

SIGNAL BUTTE: A GEOLOGICAL ODDITY

SIGNAL BUTTE IN THE FALL.

Traveling along county roads west of Woodland Park, Colorado, travelers may spot a rather out-of-place conical peak, Signal Butte (another name, according to the USGS GNIS is Cheops Pyramid).  The peak, not really a butte at all (butte = an isolated, limited tableland capped with a horizontal and protective covering; Thornbury, 1962), is not readily visible from U.S. 24 nor from the lowlands of CO 67 north of Woodland Park.  Signal Butte is located at Lat. 39.05860 degrees N and Lon. 105.2228 degrees W and is best accessed from Divide—north on Teller Co. 51 for 11 miles, right on FS 363 (Phantom Creek Rd.) for 0.6 miles until FS 362 (Signal Butte Rd.) for 3.3 miles.  There is a small parking area and the route to the summit seems obvious.  One can also access the Butte from CO 67 near Westcreek; however, the roads are 4-wheel drive, several are washed out, and most of the land is private.  Whatever the route, the Butte is obvious as a distinctly shaped conical peak at 9459 feet in elevation and nearly a thousand feet above the adjacent creek.

AIR PHOTO OF SIGNAL BUTTE.  FROM MAP CARD.

 From a geological point of view, Signal Butte is interesting as it exposes middle Tertiary igneous rocks (~1/4 sq. mile) almost in the center of the massive Pikes Peak Batholith (~1300 sq. miles, Tweto,  1979).  The Precambrian Batholith (~1.1 Ga), with exposures of pink granites and pegmatites, has been intruded (igneous magma cooling below the surface and within the granite) by gray colored igneous rocks “of felsic to intermediate composition with an age of 20-40 M.Y.” (Tweto, 1979).  I have been unable to locate much additional geological information about Signal Butte but will continue to search the literature.  The rocks that I collected from the Butte are dark gray in color, and with a texture close to aphanitic (fine-grained) to porphyritic (larger crystals within the groundmass) with visible lathes of feldspar crystals.  Wilson and Bryant (2006) stated the rocks at Signal Butte were a “pyroxene-hornblende trachydacite” from a “plug”.   Trachydacites contain major amounts of sanidine feldspar with minor quartz.  The Signal Butte rocks contain the accessory minerals pyroxene [group] and hornblende.  If Wilson and Bryant (2006) are correct and the Butte is a plug then the magma crystallized in a neck and/or volcanic vent.  At a later date, erosion removed the surrounding granite and the plug was left as a major landform.  Perhaps the rocks are hypabyssal and cooled in an intermediate position between the surface and deep within the crust---the volcanic neck never reached the surface.  That might explain the somewhat larger crystals (larger than basalt crystals)  in the rocks that I observed.  Please understand that I am out of my comfort zone describing the probable origin of Signal Butte without a more detailed study.  However, Tweto (1979) did show a fault extending north from the Butte; perhaps, the magma came from a zone of weakness in the granite. 

TRACHYDACITE CROPPING OUT AT SIGNAL BUTTE.

                                                                                                                              

Wilson and Bryant (2006) have provided fission-track dates of 42.2 to 45.2 M.Y. for the trachydacites---an Eocene event.  That seems to be the approximate age of plugs near Boreas Pass west of Como but suggesting any relationship to these rocks are beyond my knowledge.  The dates do seem to be in the middle between the major igneous events of the Laramide Orogeny (~60 to ~80 M.Y.) and the outpourings of volcanic rocks in the Oligocene (~25 to ~30 M.Y.). 

Signal Butte is in the area devastated by the Hayman Fire of 2002.  This burn consumed forests and buildings on nearly 140,000 acres of land and caused damages in the tens of millions of dollars.  I did notice that some new pine trees have reached two feet in height and some aspens are now up to four feet so the forest is slowly returning.  However, it will take hundreds of years for the streams, now clogged with sediment, to return to some semblance of local base level and equilibrium.  A fantastic photo of the fire burning on Signal Butte may be observed on the Teller County website at: http://www.co.teller.co.us/HaymanFire/HaymanInfo.htm

Signal Butte has a fabulous view from the summit, is an object of geological interest that is close to Colorado Springs, and worth the easy trip to observe to some rather different rocks.  After all, how many of the readers have seen an example of pyroxene-hornblende trachydacite?

There is a trail to the summit and the hike is well worth the view, and, the rocks are quite interesting.

REFERENCES CITED

Thornbury, W.D., 1962, Principles of Geomorphology: John wiley and Sons, New York.

Tweto, O., 1979, Geologic Map of Colorado: U. S. Geological Survey, scale 1:500,000.

Wilson, A. B. and Bruce Bryant, 2006, Isotopic Ages of Rocks in the Northern Front Range, Colorado: U. S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2006-1051. 

mike

WELCOME

The Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society is an incorporated, non-profit organization with the following goals: 1) To promote and disseminate knowledge of the earth sciences, especially as they relate to mineralogy, lapidary, and fossils; 2)  To encourage study, collection and fashioning of minerals; 3) To accomplish the same through social meetings, lectures, programs, displays, shows, and field trips; 4) To publish a monthly newsletter (10 issues per year) the Pick & Pack; 5) To sponsor satellite groups that allow more focused attention to specific areas of interest--crystals, fossils, faceting, jewelry, and micromounts; 6) To sponsor two groups for younger rockhounds--Pebble Pups and Juniors.

Monthly general meetings are held at the Colorado Springs Senior Center, 1514 N. Hancock; 7:30 pm, third Thursday of the month.  Visitors are always welcome.  For additional information see www.csms.us
 
CSMS is a proud member of the:
American Federation of Mineralogical Societies    www.amfed.org
Rocky Mountain Federation of Mineralogical Societies     www.rmfms.org
Colorado Federation of Gem and Mineral Societies

This is the initial blog of a new project.  Blogs will appear periodically so check back often.

mike