WENDOVER WILL AND ADAMITE

WENDOVER WILL, ALL ~65 FEET WITH A MECHANIZED WAVING HAND, BECKONED VISITORS TO THE STATE LINE CASINO IN WENDOVER, NEVADA. AFTER 120 MILES OF BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS UTAHANS WERE READY FOR A LITTLE ACTION AND AN ADULT BEVERAGE.  PHOTO COURTESY OF WENDOVER HISTORY

Gold Hill is one of those classic collecting areas for Utah rock hounds, and those others pilgrims willing to travel to the far western reaches of that fine state.  Of course, the bi-state town (Nevada-Utah) of Wendover is on the route if one is interested in mining recent gold or needing a motel room and an adult beverage.

In the “old days” I had a research area down west of the Deep Creek Mountains to the south of Wendover and my crew always wanted to stop at the casino for a “good meal”.  They seemed not to really like my cooking campfire meals down in the desert!  So, it was off to the Stateline Hotel and Casino (currently operating as the Wendover Nugget Hotel and Casino), home of Wendover Will.  Seems like a entrepreneur by the name of Bill Smith operated a gasoline station in Utah (right east of the state line).  Never one to miss an opportunity,  when gambling was legalized in Nevada in 1931 Bill added a casino across the state line!  During the years that I was stopping in for a refreshment before heading to the desert, the vehicle was parked in Utah, we crossed a white painted line, and voila---we we in a different world with Wendover Will  welcoming all.

Leaving the world of bright lights and tinkling slot machines behind we heading south but often could not resist a side trip to the old mining town of Gold Hill, Utah.  I previously wrote about the mines and collecting conichalcite, a bright green copper calcium arsenate hydroxide, [CaCu(AsO₄)(OH)]---see that blog on December 8, 2011. The information sign at Gold Hill notes that the usual gold, silver, copper and lead were initially mined but when those minerals became depleted, the boom was over and the town became a ghost.  During World War I, arsenic was in demand as insect control for creatures devastating the cotton fields of the southern U. S.  So, Gold Hill opened up again and mined arsenates. 

COLORLESS AND VITREOUS ADAMITE CRYSTALS ON LIMONITE. SPECIMEN IS 4.3 CM WIDE.

Another mineral that Gold Hill is “famous for” is adamite, a zinc arsenate hydroxide [Zn₂ (AsO₄)(OH)]. Adamite is one of those minerals that usually occurs in the oxidized or secondary mineralized zone where zinc is present, and arsenic was in the hydrothermal solution. 

MODIFIED ORTHORHOMBIC AND COLORLESS CRYSTALS OF ADAMITE.  INDIVIDUALS ARE .5MM OR LESS IN LENGTH.

 Most of the Gold Hill adamite that I have seen is composed of very tiny crystal druses or ball-like clusters that are either yellow or various shades of green in color.  It appears that either iron or copper make some element substitutions.  However, pure adamite is colorless, transparent and quite vitreous. In fact, I paid little attention to my specimen of ademite from Gold Hill since I thought it was just “sort of a pretty” rock with numerous tiny quartz crystals.  But, much to my amazement, under high power of a binocular microscope those tiny crystals (mostly modified orthorhombic) turned out to be colorless adamite.  Some may have hints of very pale green but with my color blindness, it is hard to tell!

A VUG IN THE SPECIMEN CONTAINING AN UNKNOWN SPRAY OF MINERALS.  THE LONGEST INDIVIDUAL ROD IS ABOUT .5 MM.

CLOSE-UP PHOTOMICROGRAPH OF UNKNOWN MINERAL.  ANY IDEAS?

I tried to find other associated minerals in my small specimen,such as austinite, but no luck.  However, there are tiny mammillary structures that are either goethite or limonite, perhaps ?pseudomorphs after smithsonite.  And, there are a few sprays of an unknown mineral present!

PHOTOMICROGRAPH OF TINY MAMMILLARY STRUCTURES OF GOETHITE OR PERHAPS LIMONITE.  ARE THESE PSEUDOMORPHS AFTER SMITHSONITE?

I just need to revisit Gold Hill and do some dump digging; however, it is a fair trip from the Springs and with the price of diesel….!  But wait, all I would need is a couple of lucky pulls on the machine :)
mike

CARTOON OF MODIFIED ORTHORHOMBIC CRYSTALS COMMON TO ADAMITE.

STRANGE MARKINGS IN THE THE MOENKOPI FORMATION

Since my initial geological contact with the Colorado Plateau in 1967, I have been impressed and “excited” with the Moenkopi Formation.  It may not be as colorful or fossiliferous as other red rocks of the Plateau (i.e. Chinle Formation with the magnificent fossilized wood), nor as cliff forming as the Wingate Sandstone, nor as majestic as the Navajo Sandstone.  However, it has a certain undescribed cachet to which I have bonded!

The Lower and Middle Triassic Moenkopi, and its stratigraphic equivalents, crop out over much of the Colorado Plateau but are especially colorful and well exposed in many of the National Parks and Monuments in Utah.  Most of the unit is red or red-orange in color and the original sediments were deposited in a wide variety of depositional environments including floodplains, tidal flats, stream channels, dunes, beaches, near-shore marine, sabkhas.  The streams, both large and small, generally flowed west or northwest from highlands such as the Ancestral Rockies and perhaps even those associated with the Ouachita Front (southern supercontinent slamming into U.S.)  To the west these streams met marine waters and in places near-shore marine rocks are interbedded with terrestrial rocks of the Moenkopi.  The dominant red colors most likely are the result of oxidation of iron rich minerals found in Precambrian rocks of the exposed highlands.

Tilted and brightly colored beds of the Moenkopi Formation resting on flatirons (darker beds with vegetation) along Green River at the mouth of Split Mountain Canyon, Dinosaur National Monument, Utah.  The Park City overlies massive sandstone beds of the Weber Formation.

The Moenkopi seems to be bounded by unconformities; however, the amount of missing geological time is difficult to determine.  Most likely the entire Middle Triassic is missing between the Moenkopi and Chinle while “some” of the Early Triassic and “most” of the Middle and Late Permian is missing in the lower unconformity (the “Permo-Triassic Unconformity”).  At Dinosaur National Monument (northeast Utah) the Moenkopi rests on the Lower Permian Park City Formation (phosphatic and marine) and is overlain by the conglomeritic Gartra Grit Member of the Chinle (Shinarump equivalent).  At Zion National Park (southwest Utah) the unit rests on the Permian Kaibab Formation (marine) and is overlain by the Shinarump Member of the Chinle.  At Canyonlands National Park the Moenkopi overlies the Permian Cutler Group/Formation (wind, stream, marine) and is overlain by the Chinle.

Most of the Moenkopi is rather unfossiliferous; however, I rather enjoy looking at ichnofossils and trace fossils, and they are quite common and somewhat spectacular. Various sorts of ripple marks are spectacular and the burrows and crawling marks seem enough to get anyone excited.  There are vertebrate footprints in some areas; however, I have not experienced these in the field.

So my advice for what it is worth.  If you are in the Colorado Plateau where the Moenkopi is exposed, take a hike along the outcrop and keep your eye on the rocks!  

mike 

Dessication cracks in a mudstone, San Rafael Swell.

Mudcracks, and "perhaps" raindrop impressions.

Current ripple marks.

Dessication cracks near Moab.

Bioturbation: burrows, large and small, and crawling trails.

TRAVERTINE AT UTAH GEYSERS

Large piece (2.5 feet in length) of travertine (labeled geyserite) collected many years ago at Crystal Geyser and now displayed at a rock shop in Moab, Utah.

As I am fond of stating, a long time ago, several students participated in a field trip to the San Rafael Swell in central Utah.  Among other localities we visited were a couple of "geysers".  I found these features to be interesting since my previous experience with geysers had been in Yellowstone and Iceland, the latter through books and television.  The first locality was near a gasoline station/cafe/store (now abandoned) at Woodside, Utah, on UT 6 south of Price/Wellington. Our class instructor, who was from the area, told us about the D&RGW railroad drilling a water well that somehow failed, turned into a bubbling carbon dioxide mudpot and later into a cold water geyser.

Woodside Geyser in 2004.  Photo courtesy of J. Alan Glennon

Continuing down the road we took in the "more famous", and named, Crystal Geyser about 9 miles southeast of Green River, UT, along the river.  This cold water geyser seemed more spectacular since it had created large terraces (sort of reminded me of Yellowstone) and the eruption was quite impressive.  I collected the requisite rock sample and we moved on to the more important elements of collecting fossils in the Swell.  And, I mostly forgot about these features.

Banded travertine collected at Crystal Geyser in late 1960's.  Dark bands are iron-rich minerals.

I recently was in Moab, UT, and during a browse in the local rock shop came across a large piece of banded travertine labeled "geyserite".  That particular rock triggered something in the back recesses of my mind--a sample collected decades ago at Crystal Geyser, and the fact that geyserite is a hydrous silicon dioxide.  So, in my mind the rock shop rocks are mislabeling pieces of travertine, a form of calcium carbonate.  Mislabeled or not, that specimen rekindled my interest in these geysers and their formation.

The Woodside Geyser is on private land and unavailable for close examination by causal rock hounds, and although I waited for a time in early April 2012 along the highway, I did not see an eruption.  According to J. Alan Glennon (2005)  "the activity of cold-water geysers is similar to their hot water counterparts, except that CO2 bubbles drive the eruption instead of steam. In cold-water geysers, CO2-laden water lies in a confined aquifer, in which water and CO2 are trapped by less permeable overlying strata. If a well is drilled through a confining layer into a CO2-laden aquifer, the borehole provides a path for the pressurized water and CO2 to reach the surface. A decrease in pressure of the water column allows CO2 to outgas and any existing CO2 bubbles to expand. This boiling deep in the system is comparable to water flashing to steam in a hot water geyser. As the CO2 outgasses, it displaces water and starts the eruption." 

Crystal Geyser is the result of drilling (mid 1930's) the Glen Ruby #1-X exploration well into a CO2 charged aquifer somewhere about the 200 yard subsurface level (Jurassic sandstone?).  The degassing of the CO2 and the charged water periodically reach the surface and travertine is deposited, including some terraces.  There are also outcrops of pre-geyser travertine along the Green River that were deposited by CO2-driven springs.  This CO2 may have originated several miles in the subsurface (Allis, 2005). 

Crystal Geyser at maximum eruption in 2005.  Photo courtesy of Gouveia2.

 Geologists like to study subsurface CO2 in relation to possible future storage of atmospheric CO2 in order to reduce global warming, or to actually produce rather pure CO2. The Colorado Plateau has at least 9 producing or abandoned CO2 fields (Allis and others, 2001), mostly associated with fault-bounded anticlines (Shipton and others, 2004).    So, as I understand the situation from the literature (Allis and others, 2005), there are a couple of areas in this part of Utah that contain anomolously high amounts of carbon dioxide in the subsurface.  Farnam Dome in central Utah has CO2 in the Navajo Sandstone (Jurassic) at about 650 yards in the subsurface; however, there is not evidence of leakage to the surface.  Farnam Dome was a major producer of CO2 in past years. A few miles to the south of Farnham Dome is the Ten Mile Graben/Little Grand Wash Fault Zone where faulted structural zones allow CO2 leakage, in charged water, and the deposition of surficial iron-enriched travertine.The Glen Ruby well was evidently drilled along the fault zone and is now Crystal Geyser.  Water actually "blows" out of a pipe  added to the well in the early 2000's.

All-in-all, these geysers are quite interesting, the travertine (not geyserite) is nicely banded (with iron-rich dark bands), and the eruption of Crystal Geyser is pretty spectacular. In addition, there are several other cold-water springs and seeps in the area, and some travertine deposits from previous springs are located on surronding hills.  However, please do not destroy the travertine at the geyser site and if you need a piece, purchase such at a local rock shop.

mike

REFERENCES CITED 

Allis, R., D. Bergfield, J. Moore, K. McClure, C. Morgan, T. Chidsey, J. Heath, and B. McPherson, 2005, Implications of Results from CO2 Flux Surveys Over Known CO2 Systems for Long-term Monitoring: Fourth Annual Conference on Carbon Capture and Sequestration (http://geology.utah.gov/emp/co2sequest/pdf/allis0505.pdf) 

Allis, R., Chidsey, T., Gwynn, W., Morgan, C, White, S., Adams, M., and Moore, J., 2001, Natural CO2 Reservoirs on the Colorado Plateau and Southern Rocky Mountains: Candidates for CO2 Sequestration: First National Conference on Carbon Sequestration, www.netl.doe.gov/publications/proceedings/01/carbon_seq/6a2.pdf

Glennon, J. A., 2005, Carbon Dioxide-driven Cold Water Geysers, www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~glennon/crystalgeyser/index.htm

 Glennon, J. A., 2005, Carbon Dioxide-Driven, Cold Water Geysers, http://www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~glennon/crystalgeyser/index.htm

 

Shipton, Z.K., Evans, J.P., Kirchner, D., Kolesar, P.T., Williams, A.P. and Heath, J., 2004, Analysis of CO2 Leakage Through “Low-permeability” Faults from Natural Reservoirs in the Colorado Plateau, Southern Utah in Baines, S. J. & Worden, R. H. (eds.) Geological Storage of Carbon Dioxide. Geological Society, London, Special  Publications 233.

BROOKITE: TITANIUM DIOXIDE

SPECIMEN FROM MAGNET COVE, ARKANSAS ~17.5 MM IN LENGTH.  NOTE TERMINATED QUARTZ CRYSTALS ADJACENT TO BROOKITE CRYSTALS.  GROUNDMASS IS MAINLY STAINED MICRO QUARTZ CRYSTALS.  SPECIMEN HAS BEEN TREATED WITH ACETIC ACID.

A long time ago, as I am fond of stating, I had the opportunity to spend a short amount of time in Arkansas participating in a geology student field trip.  Now, some of these student trips stick out in my mind like “yesterday” while others are buried in the deep recesses.  I believe rainy and cool weather, coupled with a scarcity of adult beverage locations (for relaxation in the evenings), somehow helped rank this trip as “not very interesting”.  That is unfortunate since, as I think back, there was much to learn, and I messed up by not offering my full attention.  Ah, perhaps one can forgive some youthful discretion.

What I do remember is trying to collect through the brush, mud and bugs at a place called Magnet Cove, and hunting for quartz crystals at Mt Ida.  I still have some of the latter that have been following me around for almost half a century, as well as a couple of other interesting specimens from Magnet Cove.

Earlier this year as I was putting together the blog (March 1) on pseudobrookite from Utah, something rattled my inner brain and I vaguely remembered the mineral brookite from Arkansas.  Did I have a sample stored somewhere?  Perhaps so, but where?  I have moved and changed houses so many times that “stuff” is still packed/buried in boxes and totes.  Sometimes I am able to locate pieces of “stuff”, and sometimes I am convinced that particular piece must not have survived one of the moves 20 years ago.  And, to my deepest regret, I gave away untold boxes of specimens since during one sojourn the moving truck was full and rocks cost scarce money to ship.  Oh well, life goes on.

I did find the brookite specimen, originally held on to because of the “pretty” quartz crystals.  It turns out this was a smart move since Magnet Cove is a premier area in the U.S. for collecting brookite crystals, and although not rare, it is not an overly common mineral.

I later found out that Magnet Cove is of tremendous geologic interest since it (all five square miles) has produced in excess of 100 different minerals, many of them rather uncommon and at least five new to science (such as kimzeyite, a zirconium-rich garnet).  Magnet Cove is an alkaline (low silica, high potassium and sodium minerals) intrusion into the surrounding Paleozoic sedimentary rocks.  The name comes from an abundance of magnetite found in the surface.  The magma associated with the intrusion did not reach the surface and includes some rare and unusual rock types that seem associated with a melt that was originally a CO2-rich basaltic liquid in the earth's upper mantle (Mike Howard, Rockhounding Arkansas).  The intrusion seems related to others scattered across this part of Arkansas including the famous Crater of Diamonds.

And that brings me back to brookite, a mineral that is well-known and collectable from Magnet Cove.  Brookite is a titanium dioxide, TiO_2, crystallizing in the orthorhombic system.  MinDat notes that brookite is one of five titanium dioxide minerals (rutile, anatase, akaogiite, unnamed) that occur in nature---all belong to different crystal systems!  The Magnet Cove specimens usually are pyramidal in shape and often sit on top of, under, or next to terminated quartz crystals.  This combination forms an attractive display and all one needs to do is search the web for collectable specimens.

Later in life I was able to return to Arkansas on a couple of non-collecting geology field trips and became fascinated with the folded and faulted Ouachita Mountains (although never to Magnet Cove or Mt. Ida).  These mountains, continuous with, and related to, the Appalachians to the east and other Texas mountains to the west, were the result of continental collision in the late Paleozoic.  This collision compressed and uplifted the area and created very high mountains.  Today, after much erosion, the mountains are much lower but the folds are well-outlined by resistant layers of chert and novaculite (see Pick & Pack, October 2010).  Living in Colorado I feel somewhat close to the Ouachitas since the Ancestral Rocky Mountains in our state are most likely related to this compression zone.  Remember, these mountains shed off the debris that we know as the Fountain Formation.

There are a number of really good articles about Magnet Cove minerals, including;

The Arkansas Issue of Rocks and Minerals, 1989, July-August issue on collecting minerals from Arkansas, including Magnet Cove.

Howard, J. M., 1999, Brookite, Rutile Paramorphs after Brookite, and Rutile Twins from Magnet Cove, Arkansas: Rocks & Minerals, v. 74, no. 2, p. 92-102.

Howard, J. M., 2012, Rockhounding Arkansas: Magnet Cove at http://www.rockhoundingar.com/magcove.php

 

Howard, J. M. and A. Chandler, 2007, Magnet Cove: A Synopsis of its Geology, Lithology and Mineralogy at: http://www.geology.ar.gov/pdf/pamphlets/magnet_cove.pdf

mike

PHOTOMICROGRAPH OF BROOKITE. LENGTH ~9 MM.

PHOTOMICROGRAPH OF BROOKITE ADJACENT TO TERMINATED QUARTZ CRYSTAL.  LENGTH OF BROOKITE ~5 MM.

 

ADD SOME MAGNESIUM: GET A MOON ROCK

FIELD SPECIMEN OF TOPAZ-BEARING RHYOLITE FROM THOMAS RANGE, UTAH, WITH CRYSTALS OF PSEUDOBROOKITE.  ENLARGEMENTS BELOW.  WIDTH OF SPECIMEN ~7 CM.

Last fall I was pounding around on some rhyolite brought home from a 2010 field trip to the Thomas Range in western Utah (see April 3, 2011 posting).  A few members of CSMS had visited the Range in hopes of collecting topaz crystals (that was accomplished).  And, we also had aspirations of collecting giant red beryl (“bixbite”) specimens since this is one of the rarest and most expensive gemstones in the U S.  Current prices for good faceted stones range up to ~$10,000 caret.  Alas, Jerry found a few tiny hexagonal flakes (non-gemmy) and we were not to become wealthy.  But, even those tiny crystals are prized by collectors.  I picked up a single cube of bixbyite and later found a second specimen attached to a topaz crystal while sorting rocks at home.  Thus, last fall I dug out the rocks and thought perhaps a new bixbyite would show up or, never giving up hope, a crystal of red beryl.  But that was not to be.

In a serendipitous moment of breaking rocks, I did locate a few small crystals of pseudobrookite--- not a common mineral and an exciting discovery.  I noted to the field trip group back in 2010 that pseudobrookite might be present at the topaz diggings and so watch out for small sprays of black minerals.  In fact, that was about all that I knew about the mineral—it was dark colored, some sort of a titanium mineral, occurred in tiny needle-like crystals (often), and was not related to the mineral brookite.  I thought that amount of information was not too bad for an ole paleontologist!

So, in whapping the rhyolite I noticed some small dark minerals in the cavities and reached for my hand lens.  It appeared that the elusive pseudobrookite had been found and this discovery was confirmed when I examined the specimen under a binocular microscope.  Not quite red beryl, but good enough.

This finding piqued my interest in the mineral and I decided to learn a little more.  Not everything about aging is great but one of the “good things” is being able to study a subject in depth.  So, out came the mineral books and to my disappointment they were essentially void of information, or even recognizing the mineral existed!  However, the premier mineral site on the web, www.MinDat.com, came to the rescue and the following is abstracted from their site.

Pseudobrookite is an iron-titanium oxide, Fe₂TiO₅, and has both needle-like and tabular crystals.  I presume the name comes from its non-relationship with Brookite, a titanium oxide (TiO₂) mineral often with tabular crystals.  It does occur in colors other than “dark”, such as black, reddish-brown, and brownish-black.  The crystals have a hardness of 6 and a “shiny” (metallic or adamantine) luster (due to the titanium).  It usually occurs in younger volcanic rocks, especially rhyolite, in lithophysal (vugs caused by expanding gases) cavities.  According to Minerals of Colorado, pseudobrookite is found in the rocks at Ruby Mountain in Chafee County.  This seems reasonable since the Ruby Mountain rocks are mostly a topaz-bearing rhyolite.

Now, here is an interesting tidbit.  There is a solid solution series between pseudobrookite and armalcolite with magnesium substituting for part of the iron.  The “interesting” point behind this is that armalcolite, (MgFe²⁺)Ti₂O₅, was first identified from samples collected by Neil ARMstrong, Edwin ALdrin, and Michael COLins (Apollo 11) on the “Moon” at Tranquility Base.  Since then the mineral has been identified worldwide from several localities, including Utah, Wyoming, Montana and Texas.  Now, there is a fact for a trivia game!

mike 

CRYSTALS OF PSEUDOBROOKITE IN TOPAZ-BEARING RHYOLITE.  LONGEST INDIVIDUAL ~2 MM.

CRYSTALS OF PSEUDOBROOKITE IN TOPAZ-BEARING RHYOLITE.  LONGEST INDIVIDUAL ~4 MM.

WELCOME TO CHAOTIC FUN: QUARTZSITE, ARIZONA

PART OF THE FLEA MARKET, A WELL-MANAGED PART, WHERE VISITORS MAY PURCHASE, WELL JUST ABOUT ANYTHING INCLUDING RV WIND SOCKS. 

Quartzsite, Arizona is…….?  Well, I find it hard to describe the small desert community located near Exit 17 on I-10 in the far western part of the state.  Perhaps the best term is one used in a Phoenix newspaper—“chaotic fun”.  Somewhere in the neighborhood of a thousand hardy people stick out the summer months in town (the locals say it is hard to determine) where temperatures of 115 are common.  However, come January and February a million visitors descend to the area, mostly in RV’s of every type, shape, age, color and condition.  It sometimes looks like half the population of Minnesota is in town. The local RV parks are full, but the most amazing site is to examine the thousands of vehicles “dry camped” in the desert---no water, sewer, or electricity.  Just a weekly trip to town to “dump” and fill up the water tanks. 

Most vehicles sprout satellite dishes that provide a boob tube when the generator is cranked up.  The BLM manages the “La Posa Long Term Visitor Area” (camping) near town but many/most RV’s, tents, station wagons, vans, panel trucks, you name it, just head out in the desert.  It is a sight to behold.

Besides the warm January and February weather, visitors (“The largest gathering of Rv’ers in the world” according to a local web site) head to Quartzsite for the outdoor (tents and tables) rock, gem and mineral shows and perhaps the “world’s largest flea market”.  New venues added in recent years include hobby and craft shows, a classic car, and a sports and vacation show.     

Any rock hound will immediately recognize the name “Quartzsite” although he/she has never even seen the locality.  Visit almost any club meeting in the late fall and you will hear comments such as “going to Quartzsite this year”?  I’m heading down right after the first of the year”.  People with our interests drive and/or camp at Quartzsite to look at, and usually buy, rocks and minerals and lapidary supplies.  There are literally hundreds of vendors willing to supply a rock hound’s every need, especially during the “really big show’ in January.  As February begins many vendors, and some visitors, are on the way to Tucson.  However, the Desert Gardens rock show continues until the end of February.  By early March most vendors and visitors are pulling out for other parts.

I have visited Quartzsite a couple of times, but never in January.  My experience in February has been fairly high prices and big rocks.  It seems that many vendors in February are selling slabs and cutting material rather than mineral specimens.  Perhaps the specimen dealers moved on.  I also found prices to be, in my opinion, rather high.  Many of the rocks and gems could be purchased at a lower price in the numerous rock shops that I have visited.  And, most of the tools were comparable in price to the local hardware.  But then again, I am not a price negotiator, and have never adapted to that culture.

One place that did disturb me was a booth selling remnants of a cave.  It appears that workers had destroyed a cave and hauled out tons of drip stone, stalagmites, and stalactites.  A sad site.

But, the Quartzsite shows are am amazing place to visit and certainly “chaotic fun”.

mike

ROCKS ANYONE?  BARRELS AND BARRELS FOR SALE.

A 20 POUND PIECE OF ALABASTER FOR $80!

MAYBE AN 18 POUND SLAB OF PLAIN OLE BASALT FOR $36.

ARIZONA PERIDOT WAS A BARGAIN WITH A SMALL 15 POUNDER GOING FOR $45!