JELINITE (AMBER): THE HOLY GRAIL OF KANSAS MINERALS

JELINITE, AMBER, FROM ELLSWORTH COUNTY, KANSAS, KIOWA FORMATION (CRETACEOUS).  COLLECTION OF GLENN ROCKERS.

 I was able to attend the recent 45^th Annual Denver Gem and Mineral Show and found the exhibited specimens quite beautiful.  The Show theme this year was “Copper and Copper Minerals” and varieties of copper-bearing minerals, as well as large hunks of native copper, were spectacularly displayed.  I spent a large amount of time sort of staring into the cases wondering why I could never find such specimens!  I also made the rounds of several dealers and was able to visit with one of my heroes, Bob Jones, the Senior Editor of Rock and Gem Magazine. But, my highlight of the entire Show was getting to see the Holy Grail of Kansas Minerals!

Surficial rocks in Kansas are almost entirely sedimentary—lots of limestones, shales, and sandstones.  Many are quite fossiliferous and excellent collecting opportunities exist for invertebrates of Pennsylvanian, Permian and Cretaceous ages.  However, collectors of specimen minerals often bypass the state.  Mississippian rocks in extreme southeastern Kansas, part of the Tri-State Lead and Zinc District, have produced very nice specimens of galena, dolomite, chalcopyrite, and sphalerite.  Late Paleozoic rocks give up a few geodes with calcite and occasionally celestine.  Cretaceous rocks yield some marcasite and pyrite while the Tertiary and Pleistocene sediments offer numerous types of microcrystalline quartz.  Some outcrops of the Tertiary Ogallala Group have yielded non-gemmy moss opal.  But, generally speaking, Kansas minerals are not “rare” and crystal collectors often head to the east to the Ozarks and Ouachitas, west to Colorado, or north to the Black Hills.

But, there is one Kansas mineral that is quite rare with essentially all of the very few collected specimens coming from a single small locality that is no longer accessible and is now located under several tens of feet of water in a Corps of Engineers reservoir.  That is why I have termed jelinite the Holy Grail of Kansas Minerals!

Jelinite, first described as kansasnite, is actually a type of amber and is a local name honoring the initial collector, George Jelinek, who found the first specimens in 1937-38 along the Smoky Hill River in Ellsworth County, Kansas (Buddhue, 1939a; 1939b).  The amber came from a “layer of soft sulfur-colored clay bounded by two thin lignite layers” (Langenheim and others, 1965).  There was some debate about the exact geological formation that produced the amber and originally specimens were ascribed to the Cretaceous Dakota Formation since this unit contains many more lignite beds than the underlying Kiowa Formation. 

The confusion about the stratigraphic units seems reasonable (at least to me) since at many outcrops in Ellsworth County (and other localities) the rocks appear similar and are difficult to distinguish between.  Bayne and others (1971) noted that: both formations are heterogeneous units of shale, sandstone, and siltstone with pyrite, marcasite, gypsum crystals, ironstone concretions, and lignitized wood fragments. The mostly non-marine Dakota Formation was deposited during the retreat of the Kiowa Sea in a bordering low-lying coastal or deltaic plain.  The underlying Kiowa Formation was deposited in nearshore to coastal environments as the early Cretaceous sea spread northeastward across gentle terrain developed mainly on Permian rocks.  So, the Dakota has sparse nonmarine fossils (such as leaves) in Ellsworth County outcrops while the Kiowa has a few marine gastropods and mollusks.  But, both units have tightly cemented “quartzite” (CaCO₃) lenses (an interesting issue).  It is easy for roadside travelers to confuse the two units without the presence of fossils or a good geologic map. 

 

Both formations have beds of lignite although such beds are thicker and more numerous in the Dakota.  However, detailed mapping of the stratigraphy near Kanopolis Reservoir led Bayne and others (1971) to state “the fossil amber (jelinite) found in the NW SW sec. 18, T. 17 S., R. 6 W. …probably came from such a sequence [carbonaceous clay] in the lower parts of the Kiowa Formation.”  This was a confirmation of previous statements by Langenheim and others (1965).

So, the amber did originate in the Kiowa Formation.  However, with the construction and filling of Kanopolis Reservoir in 1948-1951 covering the collecting locality, any refinement of stratigraphy is destined for the far future.

Schowe (1942) examined specimens of jelinite and described them as "light butterscotch in color or some other shade of brown. It is waxy, shines as if polished, is cloudy to translucent, and is made up of more or less concentric bands somewhat like agate. The amber has a hardness of about 3... It is brittle and breaks with a conchoidal or shell-like fracture.”

Although macrofossils seem absent from the jelinite, Waggoner (1996) reported the presence of sheathed bacteria, amoebae and other microfossils.  The presence of succinic acid (C₄H₆O₄) in jelinite led Buddhue (1938) to suggest a conifer origin for the amber.  Langenheim (1969) noted that almost all Cretaceous ambers from North America came from members of the Araucariaceae (a conifer).

I want to thank Glenn Rockers of Paleosearch Inc., Hays, Kansas, for showing me his specimen, letting me hold the Holy Grail, and for allowing photographs.  Glenn informed me the specimen in his possession was purchased by an unnamed person at an estate auction and was part of the original Jelinek collection.  He also stated there is a much larger specimen floating around in a private collection.  Now, if I could only find an estate auction like that! 

  

REFERENCES CITED

Bayne, C. K., P. C. Franks, and W. Ives, Jr., 1971, Geology and Ground Water Resources of Ellsworth County, Central Kansas: Kansas Geological Survey Bulletin 201.

Buddhue, J. D., 1938a, Some New Carbon Minerals—Kansasite Described: The Mineralogist, v. 6, no. 1. 

Buddhue, J. D., 1938b, Jelinite and Associated Minerals: The Mineralogist, v. 6, no. 9. 

Langenheim, J. H. 1969, Amber-a Botanical Inquiry: Science v. 16, no 3.

Langenheim, Jr., R. L., J. D. Buddhue, and G. Jelinek, 1965, Age and Occurrence of the Fossil Resins Bacalite, Kansasite, and Jelinite: Journal of Paleontology v. 39, no. 2.

Schoewe, W. H. 1942. Kansas Amber: Kansas State Academy of Science, Transactions no. 45.

Waggoner, B. M. 1996, Bacteria and Protists from Middle Cretaceous Amber of Ellsworth County, Kansas: PaleoBios v. 17, no.1.

mike

ARIZONA GLAUBERITE PSEUDOMORPHS

CALCITE PSEUDOMORPH AFTER GLAUBERITE.  LENGTH ~5 CM.

 One of the more interesting groups of minerals are the pseudomorphs, or false form minerals--essentially a new mineral recrystallizes and replaces the original mineral.  During this chemical change the replacing mineral takes on the crystal form of the original mineral and that crystal form commonly is atypical for that particular replacing mineral!  That is, the shape of the original mineral is maintained by the replacing mineral. 

For example, both azurite and malachite are quite recognizable copper minerals with azurite being blue in color while malachite is a bright green.  Both minerals are copper carbonates with azurite (Cu₃(CO₃)₂(OH)₂)) crystallizing usually as prismatic crystals while malachite (Cu₂CO₃(OH)₂) crystals are often slender prisms.  Azurite is unstable and with weathering some of the carbon dioxide (CO₂) chemically changes into water and the +++copper cation becomes ++copper cation.  This seems a fairly complex chemical change for such beautiful minerals!

Near Lake George in the pegmatites of the Pikes Peak Batholith, hematite is a pseudomorph after siderite.  Hematite is an iron oxide (Fe₂O₃) and often a weathering product, in this case of siderite, an iron carbonate (FeCO₃) with a rhombohedral form.

At many rock and mineral shows vendors will display glauberite pseudomorphs that were collected from near Camp Verde, Arizona, north of Phoenix.  At this locality exposures of the Verde Formation are well-exposed in an abandoned salt mine.  The Verde was deposited in a large lake that occupied a tectonic basin in central Arizona during the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs, approximately two to eight million years ago (Ayres, 2009).  Near the end of the lake cycle the water became quite saline and evaporitic minerals such as halite (sodium chloride-- NaCl) and glauberite (sodium calcium sulfate-- Na₂Ca(SO₄)₂ were deposited.

THE "SALT MINE" NEAR VERDE, ARIZONA.

 I am uncertain about the chemistry but sometime in the last two million years carbonates, calcite (CaCO₃) and/or aragonite (CaCO₃), or a sulfate, gypsum (CaSO₄-2(H₂O)), replaced the unstable glauberite as a pseudomorph.  I presume that groundwater percolating through the sediments and rocks provided the appropriate replacing elements.

GYPSUM PSEUDOMORPH AFTER GLAUBERITE.  LENGTH ~10 CM.

  I also recognize there is a name similarity between glauberite and Glauber’s salt, the latter being a sodium sulfate decahydrate (Na₂SO₄-10H₂O), for which the mineral was named.  In past years some glauberite was mined to produce Glauber’s salt, a substance used in the chemical industry.  Glauberite itself is mostly colorless to cream to gray in color, rather soft at 2.5 on the Moh’s Scale, and has a white streak.  Glauberite is impressive due to the unmistakable, large, well-formed, tabular- to wedge-shaped crystals that define the mineral.  This characteristic shape seems enough to distinguish the mineral from others.  However, as noted above, there is a problem--glauberite is unstable and often is replaced by other minerals producing pseudomorphs and these “false form minerals” seem more common in the record than true glauberite crystals! 

In my collecting at the salt mine I was able to secure: 1) a beautiful large specimen of several crystals of gypsum that were pseudomorphs of glauberite, and a “typical” crystal of calcite pseudomorph after glauberite.  I also collected a transparent and non-crystal specimen that an Arizona geologist identified as thenardite (a mineral that was unfamiliar to me).  Thenardite is a sodium sulfate, Na₂SO₄, that also precipitates in evaporitic lakes and playas.  Interesting, but perhaps confusing to non-geochemists, are the facts that thenardite: 1) is the salt of sulfuric acid; and 2) and becomes Glauber’s salt with the addition of water!

A couple of other interesting comments about glauberite might be in order.  In New South Wales, Australia, opal (SiO₂-nH₂O) is found as a pseudomorph after glauberite.  At Watchung, New Jersey, both prehnite (a calcium, aluminum phyllosilicate, Ca₂Al(AlSi₃O₁₀)(OH)₂)) and quartz (SiO₂) occur as pseudomorphs after glauberite in basalt cavities.

I am somewhat out of my realm of comfort here since I am not a mineralogist or geochemist and do not fully understand some of the processes taking place during the formation of pseudomorphs.  However, the glauberite pseudomorphs are quite interesting and make excellent display specimens.  For additional information on the Camp Verde specimens please see Ayres (2009) or Thompson (1983).

REFERENCES CITED

Ayres, S., 2009, The Verde Formation: A Story That Holds Water: Verde Independent (newspaper), November 18, 2009. 

Thompson J. R., 1983, Camp Verde Evaporates:  Mineralogical Record, Vol. 14 No. 2, p. 85-90.

PETRIFIED WOOD: WHAT ARE THE STRUCTURES?

UPPER (TOP) OF A PARTIAL LOG REPLACED BY MICROCRYSTALLINE QUARTZ (PETRIFIED WOOD) WITH VARIOUS INTRUDING STRUCTURES.  ARE THESE TUBES PRIMARY OR SECONDARY?  

 In a blog on August 11, I reported on the existence of a quite large piece of mammillary chalcedony observed during a trip to South Park Basin, Colorado.  The blog also contained information about the geology/formation of the Park so that will not be repeated here.

The northern part of the Park (north of US 24) has numerous mountain ranges in the east such as the Kenosha and Tarryall Mountains where the bed rock is generally Precambrian in age.  On the western flank rocks of Paleozoic age front the Mosquito Range.  South of the highway the landforms are more subdued and a wide variety of Cenozoic, volcanic-related rocks overlie Mesozoic bedrock; however, the Mesozoic rocks often crop out in north northwest trending ridges (easily seen near Hartsel and extending north) (Scarbrough, 2001 ).  My interest, in various collecting trips to South Park, has generally been in the southwestern part of the Basin where Scarbrough (2001) has outlined the Cenozoic history as follows:

Deposition of Denver (South Park?) Formation concurrent with Laramide tectonism (compressional mountain and basin building) in the early Tertiary.

Middle Tertiary erosion, then deposition of lake beds, volcanism in the form of lavas and extensive airfall deposits, igneous intrusions, and fluvial deposits.

Pleistocene glaciation in the adjacent mountains producing outwash deposits.

Deposition associated with Holocene fluvial systems.

One of the best-known volcanic-associated units is a formation usually mapped as the Florissant Lake Beds. These beds crop out near Lake George and represent deposition is a basin partially occupied by a late Oligocene Lake.  Thousands of fossil plants and insects (and various other vertebrates and invertebrates) have been extracted from these beds and have produced a wonderful snapshot of life during this time period.  Today, Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument preserves several of the outcrops.

Heading south from Hartsel on CO 9 and 53 Rd, the Antero Formation of Oligocene age (probably equivalent to Florissant Lake Beds) crops out.  However, good exposures are somewhat rare since the rocks are highly weathered at the surface; the landscape is a gently rolling surface.  But, a little prospecting and walking will likely produce specimens of petrified wood.  In fact, I was able to even locate wood in ditches along a gravel road.  However, a word of caution---the land ownership situation in South Park is a jumble of Colorado State land, BLM land, and private land.  In fact, a representative from a federal agency told me that the only way for a novice (like me) to determine land ownership was to take my GPS, get a latitude and longitude reading, and compare such with a federal data base.  An easier way is probably to visit with the ranchers and request permission to prospect.

The Antero Formation is a clastic and volcaniclastic unit that contains water-laid ash, air-fall tuff, siltstone, sandstone, and algal limestone and …contains fossil plants, insects, mollusks, and vertebrates (Epis and others, 1979; Scarbrough, 2001).   A number of writers have noted the presence of petrified wood in South Park, perhaps beginning with Orvando Hollister in 1867:  This Park has salt springs, beds of gypsum, coal shales, veins of chalcedony, carnelian, and other curious stones and minerals.  It has not been thoroughly explored and no one fully knows its resources or curiosities.  Silicified wood abounds in its lower portion, and at one point, about 30 miles west of Pike’s Peak, there is a small patch of petrified stumps still standing, one of which is fifteen feet in diameter [now Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument].

Although I saw much wood in the area, one particular partial log really attracted my attention, mainly for its seemingly internal structures—as seen on the photo.  I don’t know what these structures represent but could guess they might be some sort of activities related to insects.  I am hoping that someone in cyber world will notice these structures and help me out! 

A more detailed account of South Park geology, and the petrified wood and chalcedony, will appear in the CSMS Pick & Pack (probably September) 

REFERENCES CITED

Epis, R.C., Wobus, R.A., and Scott, G.R., 1979, Geologic Map of the Guffey Quadrangle: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Map I-1180.

Hollister, O. J., 1867, The Mines of Colorado: Samuel Bowles & Company, Springfield, MA. reprinted 1974, Promontory Press, New York.

Scarbrough, Jr., L. A., geology and Mineral Resources of Park County, Colorado: Colorado Geological Survey Resource Series 40.

Wallace, C. A., J. A. Cappa and A.D. Lawson, 1999, Geologic Map of the Gribbles Park Quadrangle, Park and Fremont Counties, Colorado:  Colorado Geological Survey Open-File Report 99-3 (with map).

GOETHITE, GOETHE, AND KANINCHEN

Know thyself? If I knew myself, I'd run away.

                                                                                  Goethe

I have always been fascinated by the specimens of goethite collected from rocks of the Pikes Peak Batholith.  I knew the mineral was an iron oxide --Fe⁺³O(OH) --and usually some sort of a secondary mineral (in the sedimentary rocks I was used to seeing) but that was about the extent of my knowledge.  Before arriving in Colorado Springs I had always assumed goethite was what I studied in mineralogy class- an ugly sort of “rust”, an iron mineral without much going for it, or some botryoidal lumps.   As students, we used to assume that much of the iron/rust found in the Dakota Formation in central Kansas was goethite and called it bog iron.  Therefore, I was greatly surprised when long time CSMS member Ray showed me his collection of goethite crystals—WOW.  His specimens had delicate sprays of black and shiny acicular crystals and were beautiful.  Ray told me that the mineral is associated with the quartz and amazonite crystals in the vugs of the batholith.  In these type of deposits I believe goethite is a primary hydrothermal mineral.  Which got me wondering—where did the iron come from? Was it leached from some of the iron minerals in the granite such as hornblende?  I don’t know the answer so perhaps some mineralogist could give me some help? 

GOETHITE AND QUARTZ FROM PIKES PEAK BATHOLITH.  KEVIN'S  COLLECTION.

GOETHITE SPRAY FROM PIKES PEAK BATHOLITH.  KEVIN'S COLLECTION.

In the sedimentary environment (bogs) goethite is secondary and the result of oxidation of iron carried in circulating solutions.  So the iron comes from where?  Is it a weathering product, oxidation and hydration, of iron-rich detridal grains? Bog iron was one of the first ores mined in colonial North America and was eagerly sought out by settlers moving west across the continent.  Hematite was commonly mixed in and is also considered to be a “bog iron”.

That got me to thinking about limonite and perhaps it was this mineral, rather than goethite, that was in the Dakota.  What I have found out is that limonite, Fe+³O(OH)-nH₂O, is a combination of several “real” minerals---goethite, lepidocrocite, akaganeite, maghemite, hematite, pitticite, and “jarosite group” minerals and the term is used “for unidentified massive hydroxides and oxides of iron, with no visible crystals, and a yellow-brown streak” (www.MinDat.org).  So, I suppose limonite would be a good generic choice for the Dakota iron oxide.

Goethite/limonite also commonly forms pseudomorphs.  One of the more famous localities in the U.S. is at Pelican Point on Utah Lake near Provo.  At this locality pyrite cubes are replaced by goethite.  In doing so, pyrite the iron sulfide (FeS₂), has the sulfur ions replaced by oxygen and hydrogen and the result is a new mineral goethite (FeO(OH)), an iron oxyhydroxide.  The mineral pyrite crystallizes in the cubic crystal system with the actual crystals commonly manifested in cubes, octahedrons, and pyritohedrons.  Goethite is orthorhombic (three mutually perpendicular axes, all of different lengths—far from the cubes of pyrite) and if crystallized, forms acicular needles or flattened plates.  What one observes at Pelican Point are beautiful cubes, originally pyrite, but now goethite.  I collected crystals many decades ago but am now uncertain as to the land status and collecting possibilities. 

GOETHITE AFTER PYRITE.  PELICAN POINT, UTAH.

What I was really interested in when starting this offering was to find out more about the namesake of the mineral-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.  I had read parts of Faust in a college lit class and did not find it interesting at all, and sort of forgot about the man.  A few years ago I had the opportunity to spend several weeks in Germany working with some institutions on starting cooperative undergraduate research programs.  I also was enrolled in a “beginning” German language class, and it was a tough one.  I especially was pleased that the class did not involve “tests”!  But, I learned enough to order dunkles Bier (dark beer), Brot and Brotchen  (bread and rolls), Brat or Wurst (sausauge), and Spitzbein (cured pig knuckles).  What more could I ask for?  And, I could understand the train schedules.  In addition, my spouse could understand the language much better than I could---so we traveled all over Germany on the trains and gained weight eating the aforementioned foods and partaking of adult beverages.  The only problem we really had, and it was not much, was early-on in Belgium where I could not quite understand the entire menu, especially Kaninchen.   I tried to question the staff but they were clueless as to an English translation.  Finally one bright young man held up two fingers beside his ears and said “Bugs Bunny”.  The translation of the dinner---rabbit.

While traveling I had always wanted to visit the city of Weimar---for a couple of reasons:  1) it was located in the former East Germany (I was living in Frankfort, formally West Germany); and 2) the constitution for the post-World War I German Reich was drafted here (1919) and the resulting government was informally known as the Weimar Republic.  This stuck out in my mind from a high school history class since the government was a parliamentary representative democracy (although very shaky at times) and was displaced by Adolph Hitler and his Nazis in 1933.

Upon arriving in Weimar I was sort of stunned at the beauty since the city was largely spared from carpet bombing by the Allied Air Force during WWII—why, I don’t know.  The city was full of very old buildings and a tremendous amount of history.  I was able to visit the Town Church St. Peter and Paul (Herder Church) where Martin Luther visited/preached during his numerous visits from 1518-1540; it is an important part of the Protestant Reformation.  The Duchess Anna Amalia Library includes a 1534 Luther Bible.  Here in Colorado Springs we think that 1850 is old; however, this church is 300 years older!

Weimar was also the home of perhaps Germany’s most important classical playwright, historian, and philosopher-- Joseph Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805).  Now, somewhere in grade school our class read the story about William Tell (Wilhelm tell), a play penned by Schiller.  In thinking about it, the story was a pleasant little offering about a bad guy vs. the good guy (Tell) who shot an apple off his son’s head.  Moral of the story, good guy wins.  However, I have gone back and looked at a less sanitized version and the story is quite violent (probably unsuitable for our class).  The play does concern the legendary Swiss archer Wilhelm Tell, but the main thesis seems to be the Swiss struggle for independence from the Hapsburg Empire in the 1300’s.  In the end Tell puts an arrow in the heart of the bad guy, “It is William Tell’s work [he said].  Oh Lord have mercy on my soul”.

One of the things that was sort of interesting to me as I toured Schiller Haus was how short Schiller’s bed was.  He was a not a tall person!

During his final years in Wiemar, Schiller was a friend of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832).  Goethe was brilliant and evidently a genius (no IQ tests then); he was a politician, lawyer, diplomat, poet, writer, novelist, and scientist.  In childhood he would memorize long parts of the first five books of Moses (the Jewish Torah), Virgil’s Latin epic poem Aeneid, and Ovid’s poem Metamorphoses.  I have trouble memorizing my name sometimes!

GOETHE CA. 1828 FROM ORIGINAL PAINING BY JOSEPH KARL STIELER.

As I said, I read part of Faust and it turned me off---no more Goethe for me.  But I understand his greatest literary piece may be Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship.  It is, according to some, one of the top ten novels of all time.  I have not had the energy to tackle this one.  As a botanist (self -taught) he wrote the Metamorphosis of Plants, and also maintained a magnificent garden at the Goethe Haus.  I was in awe in the Garden being able to see plants that Goethe may have touched, or at least planted their ancestors.

But, germane to this piece, is that Goethe inherited a love and curiosity about rocks and minerals from his father.  In addition, he inherited his father’s mineral collection, added to it, and studied them.  All-in-all, his collection included nearly 19,000 stones (as they liked to call them) and may have been the largest in Europe during his life.  And, he advised the local government on "mining".  Some, not many, of his minerals are on display in the Goethe Haus while the majority seem tucked away in museum(s).  I always wondered, where in the world did he display/keep these specimens? 

So, the mineral goethite was named for Goethe in 1806 with the type locality at Hollertszug Mine, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany (www.MinDat.com).   What I don’t know:  1) is Goethe responsible for the mineral's discovery; 2) did he name it for himself (as at least one author stated); 3) if not, who named it?

As a final side note---in reading the German newspaper Der Spiegel I found out that Germany made the final payment on reparations demanded by the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I---- on October, 3, 2010.  Now, that little tidbit may win a trivia contest sometime!  I didn't know that any country ever paid off their war debts!

If that doesn’t win then what about the word von in both Schiller’s and Goethe’s name?   This term, von, may indicate where a person is from, his or her place of residence.  However, in the case of Schiller and Goethe von is a nobiliary particle (how is that for the word of the day?).  In the case of Schillar and Goethe a “rich” aristocrat "enobled" (second word of the day) them, made them part of the family, and certainly gave them some resources to continue their humanistic activities.  

As for Faust, he was ultimately saved despite his evil deeds because he continued to strive for perfection right up to the end (instead of not doing so and falling into mediocrity).  Perhaps we can learn from that point. (Thanks Heinz).

A man can stand anything except a succession of ordinary days.

Goethe

mike