SPHENE: A NICE GEMSTONE

BEAUTIFUL GREEN AND GEMMY SPHENOID CRYSTALS, SOME TWINNED, OF TITANITE WITH GEMMY PORCELAIN-WHITE ORTHOCLASE VAR. ANDULARIA.  WIDTH ~3.8 CM.  COLLECTED TORMIQ VALLEY, GILGIT-BALISTAN, PAKISTAN.

I grew up in geology classes with the name "sphene" firmly entrenched in my repertoire of mineral names (CaTiSiO₅).  I really didn't know too much about the mineral except that study collection housed a really nice greenish crystal.  During those halcyon days of my youth I believed that all crystals in the field certainly would be almost identical to those specimens in the study collection!  Wow, that thought was one of those "non-truisms  they teach you in school" moments.

   

Later on in sedimentary geology class I discovered that sphene is classified as a "heavy mineral" (specific gravity 3.5+ for sphene) and may be separated (for example in sandstones), along with other "heavies" such as zircon, ilmenite, epidote, apatite, magnetite, garnets, rutile and others.  An analysis of these heavy mineral concentrations often help geologists understand the original source area for the particles in the sandstone--many heavy minerals are distinctive of a specific source area.  For example, one class project determined that the provenance for a particular sandstone was a series of metamorphic rocks a few hundred miles away---the abundance of rutile in the heavy mineral separation lead to that speculation.  Rutile is a common mineral in high temperature-high pressure metamorphic rocks.

Heavy minerals (density greater than ~2.9) may be separated from "lights" (such as quartz and feldspars) by the use of a heavy liquid such as bromoform and a centrifuge.  Further separation may be made with the use of magnetic attraction.

Rockhounds are quite familiar with mining of placer gold.  However, several other minerals form important placer deposits such as the titanium-rich ilmenite beach sands in Alaska. Cassiterite placers are important sources of tin in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Sphene is a common accessory mineral in many igneous and metamorphic rocks; however, the grains are usually small and tough to distinguish with a hand lens.  But, with the use of cut thin sections and a petrographic microscope, a whole new world opens up for the geologist.  Sphene is observable and identifiable.

My next experience with sphene occurred in the shop of a faceter who had stunning specimens of this green to yellow-green, high dispersion, gemstone.  However, these faceted specimens are mostly for exhibit since their hardness is quite low (~5-5.5) and the mineral is brittle and easily breaks.

I now look for sphene stones to examine; however, they are often tough to locate.  The faceted stones have a brilliant luster, some unique colors of green to yellow-green, and maybe even tending to a brownish-green or reddish-green.  In fact, the stones, if cut correctly, exhibit a nice pleochroism-changing colors when looked at via different angles.  A jeweler told me that some of his faceted specimens have a very strong fire especially when displayed with a brilliant cut (refractive index of over 2).  Although I have not seen such, it is my understanding that heat-treated stones will lose their "greenness" and turn red.

So, I have seen many "grains" of sphene via heavy mineral separation and thin sections but was still on a quest for one of those nice green crystals! Where would I find one?  Well, the specimen finally came to me via an unexpected route--in a flat of mixed minerals at an estate auction!  Whatever, I now have these beautiful green crystals--of titanite?  Yep.  Seems like in 1982 the International Mineralogical Association Commission on New Minerals and Mineral Names adopted the name titanite and discredited the name sphene (for its wedge shaped crystals) since the mineral has a high percentage of titanium (CaTiSIO₅).  How could they do such a thing?  RIP sphene.

mike 

Post Script: I recently was able to acquire another crystal of titanite collected from Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia.  It is perched, by itself, on a mass of quartz.

WIDTH OF CRYSTAL ~.88 MM.

 

COLUMBITE & TANTALITE

I am often confused about identification of minerals in the Columbite-Tantalite series; of course numerous other ideas offer confusion to my mind!  As I understand the situation, columbite (Fe, Mn)(Nb,Ta)₂O₆ [niobium-rich] is in a solid solution gradation with tantalite Fe,Mn)(Ta,Nb)₂O₆ [tantalum-rich) and individual specimens are very difficult to accurately name (without some sophisticated instrumentation).  In fact, pure end members may be rather rare in nature.  The amount of manganese also varies in the specimens. The best bet for field identification seems to be the high specific gravity, (~7.9) for iron-rich tantalite, compared to ~5.3 for columbite.  Both have a subconcoidal fracture, good cleavage in one direction, black to brownish-black color, and a submetallic luster.  Add that to the note of  www.MinDat.org: iron-tantalite is fairly rare and many specimens are actually misidentified as iron-rich tapiolite (tetragonal dimorph of Fe orthorhombic tantalite).  With that in mind, I am uncertain what an ole stratigrapher like me is suppose to do? 

   

Columbite-Tantalite is often found in lithium-and phosphate-rich pegmatites and associated with such minerals as spodumene, beryl and lepidolite.  Mining of these minerals is ongoing as tantalum is used in the manufacture of electronic capacitors.  Niobium has uses in strengthening iron alloys, and in superconducting medical magnets.  Brazil, Australia and Canada seem to be the major producers of tantalum and niobium at the current time.  However, in past years the pegmatites of the Black Hill in South Dakota have produced many tons of the minerals.  Roberts and Rapp (1965)  state:  "The Black Hills have received world-wide recognition for the many excellent specimens of columbite-tantalite collected from pegmatites in the area since first reported in 1884...In addition to specimens, over 65 tons of columbite-tantalite have been produced since 1918 as a by-product of mining other minerals".  I am unaware of current mining for columbite-tantalite in the Black Hills.

TWINNED PARTIAL CRYSTAL OF TANTALITE.  WIDTH ~2 CM.

  I have a small specimen of "columbite-tantalite" collected many years (decades) ago from somewhere near Custer, South Dakota.  At times in my life, especially when younger, my note taking and locality information was not the best; I thought my memory would last forever!  I know this specimen came from near Custer and my best guess is the Tin Mountain Mine west of the city.  The specimen is a section of a twinned crystal and actually is pretty nice.  My guess is that the mineral specimen is an iron-rich tantalite (rather than columbite) since the specific gravity (heft) seems high.  At the Tin Mountain Mine Precambrian metamorphic rocks, mostly a schist, host the zoned pegmatite.

 COLUMBITE CRYSTALS SET IN CRYSTALLINE QUARTZ.  LENGTH ~7 CM.

My second specimen from the columbite-tantalite series was collected closer to home, somewhere west of Colorado Springs.  I purchased this specimen from an out-of-state rock/mineral shop so only have the following information: "Tantalite, St. Peter's Dome, CO".  The specimen exhibits  massive blocky  "slabs" of the mineral surrounded by crystalline quartz.  I suspect the mineral is columbite since Eckel (1997)     stated, "Columbite is probably more common that tantalite in Colorado because of the limited degree of differtiation of the host granites and pegmatites...The earlist reported occurrence of columbite in the state was from Pikes Peak, possibly the Crystal Park or Stove Mountain areas."  Since Stove Mountain is near St. Peter's Dome perhaps the specimen in my collection was mislabeled since the "Dome" is much better known.

MT. ANTERO: HELIODOR & EUCLASE

MT. ANTERO, 14,269 FEET.

Mt. Antero, and neighboring Mt. White, are two of the more spectacular mineral collecting sites in Colorado, and in fact, in the entire U.S. Collectors, both amateurs and professionals, have been chasing beryllium minerals, but especially aquamarines, for decades (at an elevation exceeding 13,000 feet). 

Several years ago, after first arriving in Colorado Springs, I purchased at auction a bucket of material with an included note labeled "Mt. Antero".  It appeared that the material had been screened since the largest size particles were no longer than about 1.5-2.0 cm.  At any rate, I had not been to the Mt. Antero collecting sites at that time so decided that the bucket should be mine.

Like many good projects, time became a factor and I simply let the bucket languish in a garage storage area---until this fall!  One day I found the bucket, took a quick look, and decided that I needed to do some picking.  The results were: numerous small aquamarine fragments [a blue variety of beryl: Be₃Al₂(SiO3)₆], fragments of goshenite [clear colorless beryl], a few small phenakites [Be₂SiO₂], goethite after pyrite cubes, some terminated quartz crystals, lots of broken "milky" beryl and feldspar fragments, and a couple of very interesting specimens.

One surprise find was the appearance of a small broken crystal of heliodor, or yellow beryl.  As I understand the situation at Mt. Antero, heliodor is not all that common. This crystal is certainly not a gem piece as fractures and etching are abundant; however, it is an interesting find.  The yellow color seems due to the presence of Fe+++ (ferric iron).

 

SMALL PARTIAL CRYSTAL OF HELIODOR.  LENGTH ~ 1 CM.

 

The second surprise was a colorless, striated, "flattened", prismatic crystal with one end terminated.  I did not have the slightest idea about what name to give this enigmatic specimen.  So, I begin a search for minerals that might occur with beryl ruling out other clear minerals such as phenakite, quartz, topaz, fluorite, and bertrandite.  Finally, I examined the "Mt. Antero" section of MinDat.org and looked closely at the mineral photos.  Thus, I came upon a single photo of euclase and "hit the winner".  Although it appears to be rare at Mt. Antero, it has been collected and photographed.  I am far from a mineralogist; however, the distinctive shape of the prismatic crystal, along with the striations, have been imprinted in my mind!



 

TERMINATION OF EUCLASE CRYSTAL. WIDTH ~9MM.

 

I suppose euclase should not be unexpected since it is a beryllium mineral [BeAl)SiO₄)(OH)] and closely related to beryl.  In fact, euclase is the product of decomposition of beryl.

Any day collecting at Mt. Antero is a bonus day in your life and does not count against your life span!  Just be aware that numerous active claims exist, and afternoon storms, including lightening, are a distinct possibility.  Flatlanders should always acclimate themselves at a lower elevation before attempting the assent.



 

mike

CALCITE FROM LA GARITA

The San Juan Mountains are known to most geologists as a volcanic terrane since there is a tremendous amount of evidence pointing to numerous volcanic eruptions in the Tertiary (last 66 million years or so). The San Juan’s are also home to perhaps 60 volcanic calderas, usually circular or oblong collapse features indicating ancient volcanoes that “blew their stack”.  The largest of these features is known as the La Garita Caldera, a truly gigantic structure.  Ort (1997) estimates the caldera was approximately 22 X 45 miles in size and produced about 5000 cubic-miles of volcanic material.  The pyroclastic ejecta generally are referred to the Fish Canyon Tuff (a silica-rich quartz latite containing about 40 per cent phenocrysts) that was scattered over a wide area with wind-blown ash perhaps reaching the east coast of the U. S.  There is a radiometric date of 27.8 Ma (Tertiary: Oligocene) on the rock unit (Ort, 1997).

 THE SAN JUAN VOLCANIC FIELD.  MAP FROM BACHMANN AND OTHERS, 2002.

The eruption of the La Garita Caldera is related to the Mid-Tertiary Ignimbrite Flare-Up, a period of very explosive volcanism centered in Nevada, Utah and Colorado approximately 25-40 Ma (Cannon, 2002).  In fact, the San Juan Mountains are the result of several of these volcanic explosions producing both lava rock (basalt) and pyroclastic rocks like ash and tuff.

 

  FISH CANYON TUFF, SAGUACHE COUNTY, COLORADO.

Since the initial blowout of the Fish Canyon Tuff, Carter (2009) has described seven additional eruptions seemly clustered near the center of the La Garita Caldera.  One of these eruptions created the Bachelor Caldera and spewed out the 190 cubic-mile Carpenter Ridge Tuff.  About 27 Ma an explosion created the San Luis Caldera and ejected the 135 cubic-mile Nelson Mountain Tuff.  At 26 Ma the same volcano created the Creede Caldera that expelled the 120 cubic-mile Snowshoe Mountain Tuff.

The Crystal Hill Mining District is located a few miles north and west of the community of La Garita near Carnero Creek.  The District was founded in 1881 by prospector and mining man Mark Biedell.  Crystal Hill produced native gold and silver from a collapse breccia structure for a few years before mining operations ceased, mostly by 1900.  Two small, short-lived mining camps sprang up in the area. The first, Biedell, appeared in 1881 and 1000 men were mining by 1883; the second sprang up in 1886 and was known as El Carnero (GeoZone, 2011).  The latter area was producing from “lead carbonate” (BLM information sign), a mineral I presume is cerussite (PbCO₃).  Eckel (1997) did not mention cerussite at Crystal Hill but did note its occurrence at the Bonanza District about 30 miles away: “…cerussite followed angelesite and covellite as shells on massive galena.”  

In the 1940’s mining evidently returned to Crystal Hill in the form of the Crystal Hill Mining Company (BLM information sign); however, I was unable to locate additional information about this later activity.

Voynick (1994) noted that “exploration geologists returned to Crystal Hill in the late 1970’s, delineating a large, low-grade zone of disseminated gold near the top of the hill.  The Crystal Hill Mining Company developed an open-cut heap leach mine recovering 30,000 troy ounces of gold in four years”.  In 2009?  U. S. government “stimulus funding” allowed the BLM to reclaim, at least partially, the old mine.  BLM now allows access on the reclaimed area but warns that the main pit is off limits and is situated on private land. 

   SLENDER TERMINATED QUARTZ CRYSTALS FROM THE CRYSTAL HILL MINE. WIDTH ~ 4.2 CM.

The Crystal Hill Mine is best known for producing terminated quartz and amethyst crystals and I wrote about these specimens in a posting on November 19, 2011.  However, another interesting specimen mineral coming from Crystal Hill is aragonite/calcite.  Voynick (1994) described the crystallization process as: “The last solution [a high-silica solution] which leached downward from the surface carried calcium carbonate from dissolved limestone.  The silica crystallized as drusy quartz and, in vugs, as well developed crystals of clear, smoky, and amethyst quartz crystals…  The dissolved limestone recrystallized as white needles of drusy calcite.”

 

  CALCITE CRYSTALS OVERLAIN BY GLOBULAR ARAGONITE. WIDTH ~ 5 CM.

My Crystal Hill specimen has scalenohedron calcite crystals overlain by rounded aragonite and is quite impressive.  John Betts (John Betts Fine Minerals) states that the aragonite fluoresces green and the calcite fluoresces blue-white under UV illumination.  However, I have neither a short-wave nor long-wave lamp to check this statement.

REFERENCES CITED

Cannon, E., 2002, The Mid-Tertiary Ignimbrite Flare-Up: www.colorado.edu/GeolSci/Resources/WUSTectonics/CzIgnimbrite/ignimbrite_intro.html.

Carter, J., 2009, La Garita: the World’s Largest Eruption: AssociatedContent,  www.associatedcontent.com/article/1001330.

Eckel, E. B., and others, 1997, Minerals of Colorado: Golden, Fulcrum Publishing.

GeoZone, 2011, The Lost Mine of Saguache Creek:
www.thegeozone.com/treasure/colorado/tales/co014b.jsp#prospecting

Ort M., 1997, New Results for the 27.8 Ma Fish Canyon Tuff and the La Garita Caldera, San Juan Volcanic Field, Colorado: Commission on Explosive Volcanism,
http://staff.aist.go.jp/s-takarada/CEV/newsletter/lagarita.html

 Voynick, S. M., 1994, Colorado Rockhounding: Missoula, Mountain Press Publishing Company.

MT. GUYOT

MOUNT GUYOT, PARK COUNTY, COLORADO.

 Mt. Guyot is a spectacular mountain located on the continental divide in Park County, Colorado, west of Jefferson at an elevation of 13370 ft.  The mountain may be accessed by traveling west from Jefferson on Pike National Forest Road 35 and then taking the left fork up Michigan Creek on Forest Road 54 to the summit of Georgia Pass (11,585 ft.).  The last several miles FR 54 are a high clearance, 4-wheel drive road.  Mt. Guyot is the major peak immediately west of the Pass and one can access the summit “trail” from the Pass.  However, please note that after the first quarter-mile the “trail” is a pure steep talus slope and quite moveable under human weight!

Two completely different rock units, separated by a major fault, are present in the Georgia Pass/Mt. Guyot area.  The Pass exposes outcrops of Early Proterozoic (“Precambrian”, ~1700 million years) metamorphic gneiss and amphibolite (dark colored heavy rock composed mainly of the mineral hornblende).  The Mt. Guyot massif is composed of an intrusive igneous quartz monzonite (a rock similar to granite but with significantly less quartz) of mid-Tertiary age.   It appears that the Mt. Guyot exposures are part of the much larger Bald Mountain Sill located approximately two miles to the south.  A sill is an igneous feature where the magma is intruded into previously existing rocks parallel to their bedding planes (as opposed to a dike where the magma cuts across bedding planes).    Separating these two rock units is a branch of the Elkhorn Thrust Fault (a low angle fault that has moved the older gneiss/amphibolite over the younger quartz monzonite).

There is evidence of hydrothermal alteration in the quartz monzonite and I was able to collect some really nice crystalline pyrite and chalcopyrite.  Cavities in the rock often contain micro- crystals of double terminated quartz and one specimen has fragile quartz crystals about the diameter of a “horse hair”.  One older mine was noted with a collapsed adit; however, I was unable to locate records of metallic ore production so perhaps the mine was an exploratory shaft.  Scarbrough (2001) noted the occurrence of the Horn Mine, a “uranium deposit’ in the general area of Georgia Pass/ Mt. Guyot; however, I was unable to locate the mine, or additional information.  I presume the uranium is associated with the Proterozoic rocks. 

Geologists, but perhaps few others, will recognize the name Guyot for whom the mountain was named.  In a history of geology class Arnold Guyot will always be remembered as one of the modern “fathers” of the science of glaciology.  Guyot was born in Neuchatel, Switzerland, in 1807 and graduated with a Ph.D. from the University of Berlin in 1835 (The Natural History of Lakes).  He became friends with the eminent Swiss geologist Louis Agassiz and begin studying the mountain glaciers of the European Alps, including moraines, glacier flow, and erratics.

In 1838, Guyot started a long-term project to study the geographic distribution of continental glaciers, testing the theory proposed by Agassiz that much of northern Europe had, at one time, been covered by glaciers.  He also became the first scientist to describe the differential rate of flow in an ice sheet demonstrating that such flow occurred on the molecular level.

 In 1848 Guyot immigrated to the United States and with the help of Agassiz, then at Harvard, and Joseph Henry, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, begin to establish a network of weather stations in the northeast.  Eventually this network became nationwide and was the forerunner of the U.S. Weather Bureau.

 In 1854 an academic position opened at Princeton and Guyot became the first Blair Professor of Geology, a position he held for over three decades and is considered the founder of the Princeton Department of Geology.  Guyot also had a strong interest in meteorology and geography and specialized in taking barometric measurements of Appalachian peaks in order to determine their elevations.  In 1856 he established the Princeton Museum of Natural History.

Professor Guyot has been honored by the naming of three “Mt. Guyots” (New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Colorado), the Guyot Glacier in Alaska, and the Guyot Crater on the moon.  In addition, the flat-topped seamounts on many parts of the ocean floor are named “guyots”.

BACK WALL OF CIRQUE.

Arnold Guyot would have been proud of his namesake in Colorado as the mountain displays a spectacular example of a glacial cirque.  A cirque is one of the most distinguishable pieces of evidence pointing to the existence of a mountain glacier and is a semicircular bedrock feature created as glaciers scour back into the mountain. A cirque is where the snow and ice forming the glacier first accumulates.  The valley below the cirque displays the characteristic “U shape” and has several paternoster lakes (known as the Michigan Lakes).

LOOKING DOWN GLACIAL VALLEY AT MICHIGAN LAKES.

Mt. Guyot certainly is not as famous as some of the nearby fourteeners but is a great mountain for a partial day hike, and displays some fantastic glacial landforms.  Arnold Guyot would be proud.

SUMMIT OF MT. GUYOT.

REFERENCES CITED

Scarbrough, Jr., L. Alex, 2001, Geology and Mineral Resources of Park County, Colorado: Colorado Geological Survey, Resource Series 40.

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