Opal Theme Featured at2016 Annual Gala Banquet

Bulletin of the New York Mineralogical ClubFounded 1886 Ë New York City, New York Ë Incorporated 1937

Volume 130, No. 9 America’s Oldest Mineral & Gem Club September 2016

September 14th Meeting:Eric Rampello: “Tips inBuilding a Mineral Collection”

As a collector for over a decade now,Eric Rampello, a current and enthusiasticNYMC member, found that there areparticular methods and strategies that onemay find useful when building a personalcollection. For him, it happenedprogressively over time. He began with apiece of an aquamarine crystal as his firstserious purchase. It taught him theimportance of clarity, quality and color.Since then he learned that when buying anew specimen, there is always a way tobest serve whatever purpose that it has asbeing the newest addition to yourcollection.

Some people buy for fun, some forscience, some for investment and somejust to enjoy what the earth can create. Nomatter your reason, he believes in “buyingsmart” to best ensure that your collectiongrows the way you want it to. Somepeople may just go with a gut feeling or ahunch, but in case you are looking for amore tactical approach to your gem andmineral collection, this program will befor you.

Eric was fascinated with gems at anearly age. The first signs of his interestcame in the form of purchasing tumbledstones in gift shops on family vacations.As he got older, much to his mother'ssurprise, he began asking her to useallowances and money raised from smallwork around the house to purchasepolished gem eggs of different species, aswell as the gold wired stands to displaythese colorful pieces.

(Continues on page 14)

By Mitch PortnoyThis year’s banquet, which is taking

place on Wednesday, October 19, 2016 atthe Holiday Inn Midtown Manhattan, will center on the theme of “opal”.

This gemstone theme was suggestedat last year’s NYMC officers’ planningmeeting and enthusiastically approved.

In the past, the banquet’s gemstonethemes have included colored diamonds(2011), tanzanite (2012), jade (2013), ruby(2014) and garnet (2015).

As a result, you can expect to seecolorful opals galore in the: � Room Decorations� Banquet Posters & Banners� Food & Drink� Table Centerpieces� Banquet Gifts (which will include a

NYMC 2017 opal-themed calendar!)� Banquet Game & Prizes� Video Entertainments� Special Note Card Sets� Silent Auction Offerings� Other Surprises!

You should also expect the meeting’sspecial 3-part lecture by Vivien Gornitz,Anna Schumate and me to be equally ascolorful – more details about this lecturewill appear in next month’s bulletin.

The registration form for this year’sbanquet can be found on page 10 in thisissue. Get it to me as soon as possible – ithelps enormously in the event planning.

See you at the banquet!

Issue Highlights

President’s Message. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Meeting Minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2World of Minerals: Mars Update (IV) . . . . . . . 3Oliver Sacks Remembrance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5No Kryptonite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6More Banquet Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Book: New York Minerals Field Guide . . . . . . 7The 100: Mineralogical Swan Song . . . . . . . . . 8Topics in Gemology: Pricing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Banquet Reservation Form. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Book: A Tale of 7 Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11New Particle?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 New Elements! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Queen of Sea Brooch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Jerrine Anthony (1924-2016) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Mars Had Oxygen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Club & Show Calendars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

2 Bulletin of the New York Mineralogical Club, Inc. September 2016

President’s MessageBy Mitch Portnoy

I want to begin here by thanking BillShelton for his multi-year series of articlesabout the “100” most popular minerals. Thefirst appearance of this helpful regularfeature was in the October 2012 Bulletin;the last is in this one. We are consideringrecompiling all these columns into a specialpublication. Ideas?Don’t miss the mini-biography and tributeto Jerrine Anthony on page 15. This wassubmitted by her daughter, Andrea. Jerriewas the Club’s first female president. Manyof her books, Colorado specimens and(especially) thumbnails have been donatedto the Club for our benefit.The planning for the Annual NYMCBanquet is progressing (theme: opal). Wehave come up with some interesting ideasto make the party really fun and these willgenerate some unusual expenses. If youwould like to be a special sponsor (i.e.,help pay for) for this event, please contactme asap.Is there anyone out there with a passion forChinese snuff bottles? Please contact me ifthis applies to you.

Club Meeting Minutes forJuly 5, 2016 (Tuesday)By Vivien Gornitz, SecretaryAttendance: 50President Mitch Portnoy presidedAnnouncements:� A special welcome was given to the

attending members of many local clubswhose members were invited to attendthis special summer meeting.

� The raffle was held.� There was a NYMC website update.� Mitch announced the passing of

Jerrine Anthony (1924-2016), thefirst female president of the NYMC.

� Michael Walter donated 75 booksformerly in the collection of his father,Martin.

� Members were reminded that they canstill select minerals from the BogenBequest throughout the summer.

� The Club has been involved in thecreation of an educational geology kit.

� The day’s historic events were given.� A video was played about the elements

being created in stars.� A Native Elements game was played.� The four most recent new elemental

names were announced.� The special meeting door prize was

won by Mark Kucera (a copy of Dr.Scerri’s 7 Elements book)!

� Special sets of note cards based on thatsame book were offered for sale.

� Other items for sale were listed.� Upcoming club events through April

2017 were announced, with a focus onthe October Banquet.

Special Lecture: Dr. Eric Scerri – ThePeriodic TableDr. Scerri’s lecture was preceded by theplaying of a “Periodic Table Song” , setto music of J. Offenbach’s “Can-can”.

Dr. Eric Scerri, Professor of Chemistry,UCLA and science historian, covered theideas leading to the development of theperiodic table—a keystone of modernchemistry and physics. Ninety-two elementsexist in nature and constitute the matter ofwhich all minerals, living things, andmanufactured products are made. Since thediscovery of radioactivity and nuclearreactors, new (although very short-lived)elements have been added to the list,including the recently-discovered nihonium(no. 113), moscovium (115), tennessine(117), and oganesson (118).

As new elements were discovered byanalyzing the composition of minerals, 18th

and 19th century chemists began to noticeperiodicities in chemical behavior andbegan to group them together in variousways. An early grouping scheme consistedof triads of elements, e.g., Cl, Br, I; and S,Se, Te. Elements were originally sorted byatomic weight, but this led tomisplacements for certain elements. DmitriI. Mendeleev (1834-1907), Russian chemist,created a far-sighted version of the periodictable, in which elements were arranged inrows of ascending atomic weights and thoseshowing periodic behavior were placed intovertical columns. He left spaces in his tablefor as yet undiscovered elements and evenpredicted their properties.

The pioneering work of early 20th

century physicists such as J. J. Thompson,Nils Bohr, Wolfgang Pauli, and othersfinally elucidated the structure of the atom.Today, elements are listed by increasingatomic number—the number of protons inthe nucleus. The electrons surrounding thenucleus of the atom are arranged inconcentric shells holding up to 2, 10, 18,36,… electrons when full. The electrons inthe outermost shells determine theelement’s chemical properties. Elements in

a given column contain the same number ofoutermost electrons, causing them to behavein similar ways.

As new elements continue to be added tothe periodic table, will there be an “island ofstability” where a superheavy element canexist for more than a nanosecond? Is there anupper limit beyond which matter cannotexist? Questions for the next generation ofphysicists to answer. Altogether a very mind-stimulating lecture to enliven a hot summerevening.

NYMC Officers Planning MeetingMinutes for July 17, 2016Attendance: Beckman, Gornitz, Kowalski,Kucera, Neary, Portnoy, Rossi, Scal,Schumate, Waldman, WildesLocation: Upper West SidePresident Mitch Portnoy presided.Topics Included:� 2016 Benefit Auction Review� 2016 July Meeting review� No 2016 Open House or Special Sale� 2016 October “Opal” Banquet� 2016 Fall NYC Gem & Mineral Show� 2017 Meetings Overview� Website Update (& Archives Project)

Members in the News� Naomi Sarna and one of her creations

was featured in JCK in May 2016. Seepage 14 for the full article.

Welcome New Members!Connie Berger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NYC, NYMichael Bodnyk . . . . . . . . . . . . NYC, NY

Congrats to Steve Stieglitz for being thefirst member this year to send in hisreservation for the NYMC Banquet!

AFMS Bulletin Article ContestThe results from this year are fantastic!

Category: Advanced Articles2nd Place Trophy� Ice: The Mineral that Shapes the Earth

by Vivien Gornitz (June 2015)3rd Place Trophy� Garnet #2: A Geologic Tape Recorder

by Vivien Gornitz (Sept 2015)7th Place Certificate� Argyle Mine Pink Diamonds

by Branko Deljanin (Sept 2014)

Category: Special Publications1st Place Trophy� Minerals on Worldwide Postage Stampsby Mitch Portnoy (CD-ROM Only)2nd Place Trophy� Oliver Sacks Memorial Issue – SpecialBulletin of the New York Mineralogical Clubby Mitch Portnoy, Editor

September 2016 Bulletin of the New York Mineralogical Club, Inc. 3

The World of MineralsThe World of Minerals is a monthly column written by Dr. Vivien Gornitz on timely and interesting topics relatedto geology, gemology, mineralogy, mineral history, etc.

The Minerals of Mars – An Update (Part IV)(Continued from previous month)

SilicatesSatellite spectrometers show a mix of plagioclase and

clinopyroxene in the southern highlands. Dust-free areas of thenorthern lowlands also exhibit spectral characteristics of andesiticto basaltic andesite rocks, or alternatively, altered clay-rich basalts.Ferroan anorthosites (iron-bearing, plagioclase-rich) and otherfeldspathic rocks have also been detected in the southernhighlands, often associated with clay minerals. Olivine occurs invarying amounts in basalts. Rock enriched in high-Mg forsterite(Fo90, like peridot) surround the largest ancient impact basins, suchas the giant Hellas and Argyre basins. Presumable, the impactsexcavated deeper mafic olivine-rich rocks from the Martian lowercrust or upper mantle. Sheet silicates

Phyllosilicates, or sheet silicates, include the clay minerals,micas, chlorites, etc. Clays, in particular, form through chemicalweathering of rocks by water and are the dominant constituent ofterrestrial sedimentary shales and mudstones. Clays on Marsexhibit spectral absorption features near ~1.4 µm and ~1.9 µm,characteristic of OH bonds, and 2.2–2.4 µm absorptions due tometal-OH vibrations. The 2.2 µm band indicates Al-OH, 2.28 -2.29 µm marks Fe-OH, while bands > 2.30 µm indicate Mg-OH.

OMEGA mapped over 90% of the Martian surface at a scaleof 1.5 to 5 km and >5% of the surface at less than ½ km resolution.OMEGA’s observations are supplemented by those of the CRISMimaging spectrometer. The spectral mapping shows the widespreaddistribution of clay minerals throughout the ancient cratered crust.On the basis of their spectral properties, the followingphyllosilicates have now been identified on Mars:

1. Iron-rich smectites (e.g., nontronite)–common2. Aluminum-rich smectite (e.g., montmorillonite)3. Chamosite (iron/magnesium chlorite)4. Illite/muscovite5. Kaolinite6. Chlorite7. Serpentine8. Other hydrated silicates—prehnite, analcime, opal, (silica)

Sheet silicates are largely found in the oldest cratered terrainson Mars. They also occur in layered deposits and fill lake-likebasins. The stratified clays may have been altered from pre-existing rocks by circulating groundwater or by hydrothermalsolutions. Clays in paleo-lakes were probably deposited by runningsurface water. Fe/Mg phyllosilicates are the most abundant andwidespread. In general, Fe/Mg smectites and chlorites are olderthan Al-rich clays, such as kaolinite, montmorillonite, or silicaminerals. Al-rich clays often occur in association with youngersulfate deposits and hematite nodules. This observationunderscores a major geochemical and environmental transition thathappened early in Mars’ history.Sulfate and iron oxide minerals

Sulfate minerals have near-infrared spectral absorptionfeatures between 2.2 µm and 2.5 µm, often with other bands ataround 1.4 and 1.9 µm, that like the clays are associated with wateror hydroxyl ions. Kieserite occurs in layered rocks of eastern TerraMeridiani and Valles Marineris, associated with polyhydratedsulfates. Gypsum occurs in layered deposits of Juventae and CapriChasmae, north of Valles Marineris, in the chaotically jumbledterrains of Margaritifer Terra, east of Valles Marineris, and also indark dunes surrounding the north polar cap. Sulfates are found inAram Chaos as well. Bassanite (CaSO4·H2O) has also beenidentified. Some sulfates like jarosite and alunite may have formedunder more acidic conditions. Sulfate evaporites precipitated inshallow lakes or playas, or in layered strata from groundwater.

Map showing the distribution of hydrated minerals on Mars. It was based on data from NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter CRISM and ESA Mars Express OMEGA. Credits: NASA/JPL/JHUAPL, NASA/MOLA; ESA/CNES/CNRS/IAS/Universite Paris-Sud.

4 Bulletin of the New York Mineralogical Club, Inc. September 2016

Ferric iron oxides display a sharp absorption edge between 0.4µm and 0.75 µm, an absorption band at ~0.9 µm, and a rise inreflectance toward 1.3 µm. Some spectra also show characteristicsulfate bands at ~1.9 - 2.1 µm and 2.4 µm. These spectral featuresare shared by a number of ferric iron oxides including hematite (α-Fe2O3), goethite [α-FeO(OH)], and akaganeite [Fe, (O, OH, Cl)].The sharpness of the spectral features strongly depend on particlesize or degree of crystallinity. For example, particles smaller than~10 nm lack the 0.86 µm hematite absorption band or show weakabsorptions.

Iron oxides often occur together with layered sulfate deposits.These crystalline iron oxide deposits are distinct from the thinnano-crystalline hematitic dust that covers most of the Martiansurface. The Opportunity Rover detected small, round bead-likehematite concretions (nicknamed “blueberries”) embedded insulfate strata at Terra Meridiani. Hematite probably occurs in asimilar fashion elsewhere.Carbonates

Evidence of carbonates comes from spectral features at 2.3and 2.5µm, which best match magnesite, or magnesium carbonate(MgCO3). Other weak absorptions at 3.45µm and 3.9µm,characteristic of carbonates, are also present. Some iron mayreplace magnesium, as suggested by a broad absorption band near1.1µm (FeII). Carbonates may occur together with olivine. Theystratigraphically overlie Fe/Mg smectites, but probably formedcloser in time to sulfates. Carbonates formed by alteration of maficrocks by percolating groundwater or interaction between hotvolcanic lavas and wet, clay-bearing rocks. But acidic, sulfate-bearing brines may have inhibited further carbonate precipitation. The Tale Told by the Minerals of Mars

The history of Mars is divided into four broad periods: 1) thepre-Noachian (older than 4.2 billion years), 2) the Noachian (4.2-3.7 by), 3) the Hesperian (3.7-3.2 to 3.1 by), and 4) the Amazonian(younger than 3.1 by). The oldest, pre-Noachian period wasdominated by heavy impact bombardment, volcanism, andseparation into crust, mantle and core. Extensive volcanismcontinued into the succeeding Noachian period. During the lateNoachian-early Hesperian, episodic intervals of milder climate

prevailed during which flowing water carved out dendritic rivervalleys on the surface. Al-rich clays, also gypsum, polyhydratedsulfates including jarosite and alunite, which formed under moreacidic conditions, and hematite overlay older, Fe/Mg-richsmectites.

A 6-km thick stratigraphic sequence exposed on the walls ofValles Marineris reinforces this general history. The oldest,deepest layers contain olivine-rich basalts with low-Ca pyroxene. Some units are partially altered to chlorite and Fe/Mg smectites.As elsewhere on Mars, Al smectite overlies Fe/Mg smectites inyounger strata near the top of the canyon. Layered deposits withinthe canyon itself contain sulfate units. Younger formations onsurrounding plateaus are partially altered to opaline silica andjarosite.

In sum, Mars enjoyed brief wetter intervals during the lateNoachian-early Hesperian periods, during which water flowedintermittently over the surface. However, much of the aqueousalteration seen in the mineral record may have involvedinteractions with subsurface groundwater. Conditions on earlyMars could have supported primitive microbial organisms, adaptedto a largely cold, possibly even underground existence (on Earth,microbes have been found living at several miles depths). But,because of its relatively small size, Mars was unable to retain anysurface water for long, and grew increasingly arid and cold. Anyremaining water lies locked up as ice at the poles, buried under thesurface, or tightly bound to hydrous minerals.

Further ReadingEhlmann, B.L. and 6 others, 2011. Subsurface water and clay

mineral formation during the early history of Mars. Nature479:53-60.

Ehlmann, B.L. and Edwards, C.S., 2014. Mineralogy of theMartian surface. Annual Review of Earth and PlanetarySciences 42:291-315.

Gornitz, 2011. Mapping Martian minerals. In: 2011 Gem &Mineral Almanac, 125th Anniversary Edition, New YorkMineralogical Club, M. Portnoy, ed., p. 57-61.

Distribution of hematite or iron oxides on Mars--the redder, the more iron. Most of the mapped iron oxides are associated with a surficial dust layer.Credits: NASA/JPL/JHUAPL, NASA/MOLA; ESA/CNES/CNRS/IAS/Universite Paris-Sud.

September 2016 Bulletin of the New York Mineralogical Club, Inc. 5

Oliver Sacks: A RemembranceBy Robbin C. Moran, Ph.D.

Robbin C. Moran is Nathaniel Lord Britton Curator of Botany atNew York Botanical Garden’s Institute of Systematic Botany. Heis an expert on ferns and lycophytes as well as a member of theNew York Mineralogical Club.

Oliver Sacks, a board member of The New York BotanicalGarden, died of cancer at his home in New York City on August30, 2015. He was 82. Oliver was one of the world’s leadingneurologists and science writers, known for his many essays andbooks such as Awakenings, The Man Who Mistook his Wife for aHat, An Anthropologist on Mars, Island of the Colorblind, UncleTungsten, and Musicophilia. Some of these books, or chapters inthem, were adapted for film and/or stage, such as Awakenings(Robin Williams and Robert De Niro), At First Sight (Val Kilmerand Mira Sorvino), and The Music Never Stopped (Lou TaylorPucci and Julia Ormond). Since his death, much has been writtenabout his life, but little has been written about him as a lover ofplants, which he indeed was, especially of ferns and cycads.

Oliver developed an interest in plants as a boy. At age six hewas evacuated from London to a school in the English Midlandsto avoid the Blitz. Separated from his parents and extremely lonelyand unhappy, he took solace in holiday visits to his Aunt Len’splace in Cheshire. She had a garden and delighted in explaining itsplants to an inquisitive young Oliver. They took long botanizingwalks in the forest, stopping frequently to look at ferns andhorsetails. These visits to “Auntie Len’s” instilled a love for plantsthat stayed with him for the rest of his life.

For 23 years Oliver regularly attended the monthly meetingsof the New York Fern Society. The meetings take place at the NewYork Botanical Garden in an area just outside my office. Heusually wore baggy pants, a Fern Society T-shirt, and a greenbaseball cap with the Garden’s logo. Before and after the meetingshe would come into my office to talk about plants and minerals

(another interest we shared). I once showed him a herbariumspecimen of a clubmoss (Huperzia) that I had identified fromMadagascar. The particular species was smoked by the localpopulation for its narcotic effects. Oliver, a neurologist and notedexperimenter with these substances (especially in his earlier days;see his book On the Move), asked me sheepishly if he could havea piece of the clubmoss to experience for himself. I declined,telling him that the specimen could not be used for such purposesand, besides that, I felt uncomfortable with him experimentingwith drugs. He laughed and did not seem at all upset.

One of Oliver’s lesser-known books, Oaxaca Journal, is abouta 10-day fern foray to Oaxaca, Mexico, during January 2000. Thetrip was organized by myself and John and Carol Mickel throughThe New York Botanical Garden. Oliver told me that he waslooking forward to seeing in Oaxaca the Tule tree, a humongousbald cypress (Taxodium mexicanum) visited by Alexander vonHumboldt in 1803, who thought it might be 4,000 years old. Oliverlearned about the tree as a child because it was depicted in his copyof Strasburger’s Textbook of Botany, and later in life he had readabout the tree in Humboldt’s travels. This incident exemplifiedhow well-read Oliver was. On several occasions I told him aboutrecently published books he might enjoy reading, such as DavidLee’s Nature’s Palette, and Daniel Chamovitz’s What a PlantKnows. In all cases Oliver had either read the book already orknew the author and/or had “blurbed” the dust jacket.

Oliver was a compulsive writer. When I picked him up at theairport in Oaxaca, he was standing at an airline check-in counterwriting hurriedly in a small notebook. Felt pens of different colorsstuck out of his mouth, each color (as I later learned) used todenote various subjects such as green for plants, black forphilosophy, red for cultural features. He was recording aconversation with a man seated next to him on the flight fromMexico City. That conversation was the beginning of what was tobecome the Oaxaca Journal. During the Oaxaca tour, I often hadbreakfast with him, and he would read aloud to me what he hadwritten about previous day’s events. Much of what he read isexactly as it appears in the Oaxaca Journal. He had anextraordinary ability to write a very good first rough draft.

I learned to be circumspect about what I told Oliver. Herecorded nearly everything, even if off-color or personal. On theOaxaca trip, while John Mickel was animatedly and excitedlyexplaining the field characteristics and virtues of a fern, I remarkedto Oliver that “John is having a pteridological orgasm.” Thatcomment found its way into Oaxaca Journal. Similarly, Oliver

Oliver Sacks visiting a titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum) in 2004. (Photo byRobbin Moran.)

Oliver Sacks at a meeting of the New York Fern Society, March 2013. Note thetablecloth. (Photo by Robbin Moran.)

6 Bulletin of the New York Mineralogical Club, Inc. September 2016

once accompanied me to the La Selva Biological Station in CostaRica where I was teaching a course, Tropical Plant Systematics,sponsored by the Organization for Tropical Studies. I told himabout two students who took my first course in 1998 and gotmarried two months later in a tree at the biological station (one ofthem was a canopy researcher). Later, while Oliver was recordingthis story in his notebook, the very student who got marriedwalked by and introduced himself. Oliver replied, “I was justwriting about you!”

In his apartment Oliver cultivated a whisk fern (Psilotum),horsetail (Equisetum), and assorted ferns. He enjoyed pointingthem out to visitors, explaining how they dispersed and reproducedby liberating spores, and how the whisk fern, at least superficially,resembled some of the earliest vascular plants that first colonizedthe land. He especially delighted in hearing about adaptations offerns, the fossil history of ferns, and their uses by people. Hekindly wrote a foreword for my book, A Natural History of Ferns,which covered these topics and others.

In 2005 Oliver developed a rare form of melanoma in his righteye. Although treated, he eventually lost color vision and then allsight in the eye (read his account in The Mind’s Eye). Tragic asthis was, the melanoma, at least, seemed defeated. Things werefine until January 2015. While attending a meeting of the NewYork Fern Society, he got up to use the bathroom and noticed adiscoloration of his urine. After seeing his physician, he learnedthat this was caused by the eye cancer having metastasized to hisliver, and it was estimated he had less than a year to live. Withina few days, he was back to writing. He published several essaysabout his terminal cancer and thoughts on life in the New YorkTimes. These essays have been collected in a book calledGratitude, whose title sums up Oliver’s overwhelming feelingabout his own gift of life. The essays are well worth the read fortheir insight and wisdom. “Above all,” he wrote, “I have been asentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and thatin itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.”

This article first appeared on Botanical Electronic News,November 17, 2015.

Scientists Still Can’t Make KryptoniteBy Ben Taub

Chemists at the Polish Academy of Sciences have discoveredthat the element krypton may not be quite as unreactive aspreviously thought, and that while it might not be able to formSuperman-slaying kryptonite crystals – for which it would need tobond with nitrogen – it can bond with oxygen, forming kryptonmonoxide.

As a noble gas, krypton’s atoms have a full outer shell ofelectrons, and therefore display an extreme reluctance to undergochemical reactions and bond with other substances to formmolecules. Therefore, like other noble gases such as helium andargon, krypton was for a long time thought to be inert.

However, in 2003, scientists reported that under certainextreme conditions, krypton could be coaxed into reacting withhydrogen and carbon atoms in order to form compounds. Buildingon this, a new study in the journal Scientific Reports providesevidence that krypton can also bond with oxygen to form kryptonoxides, but only under intense pressure.

Though the study authors did not actually observe thischemical reaction in practice, they did use genetic algorithms inorder to determine the theoretical likelihood of krypton-oxygenmolecules forming. Such algorithms enable scientists to simulatethe chemical interactions between atoms and molecules underpre-defined hypothetical conditions, and have previously been usedto reliably predict the viability of many chemical reactions.

According to the team’s calculations, krypton and oxygenatoms can be brought close enough together to form a covalentbond – whereby an electron is shared between the two atoms – ata pressure of 285 gigapascals. The stability of the compoundsgenerated by this reaction is dependent upon several factors, suchas the number of bonds formed and the spatial arrangement ofatoms in relation to one another.

For instance, according to the algorithms used by theresearchers, these compounds can only survive if the ratio betweenkrypton and oxygen atoms is 1:1, producing krypton monoxide.Moreover, stability can only be maintained if atoms are connectedto each other in zig-zag chains, with no intermolecular bondsbetween these chains.

When this occurs, the substance – which should exist as a darkcrystal – can remain intact even when the pressure is raised to 500gigapascals. However, since such extreme pressures only occurdeep within the core of some planets, where neither oxygen norkrypton are found, it seems impossible that krypton monoxidecould actually exist in nature.Source: iflscience.com from March 4, 2016

Kryptonite is a fictional compound containing krypton and nitrogen.

September 2016 Bulletin of the New York Mineralogical Club, Inc. 7

New York Rocks & MineralsA Field Guide to the Empire State

By Dan R. Lynch and Bob LynchNew York Rocks & Minerals features comprehensive entries

for 105 different types of common rocks and rare finds. Theeasy-to-use format means you’ll quickly find what you need toknow and where to look, while the authors’ photographs depict thedetails needed for identification—no need to guess from linedrawings. New York Rocks & Minerals features incredible, sharp,full-color pictures and facts for rocks andminerals and provides fascinating informationabout everything from garnets and “Herkimerdiamonds” to fossils and labradorite.

Dan R. Lynch has a degree in graphicdesign with an emphasis on photography fromthe University of Minnesota Duluth. But beforehis love of art and writing came a passion forrocks and minerals, developed during hislifetime growing up in his parents’ rock shopin Two Harbors, Minnesota. Combining the two aspects of his lifeseems a natural choice, and he enjoys researching, writing about,and taking photographs of rocks and minerals. Working with hisfather, Bob Lynch, a respected veteran of Lake Superior’sagate-collecting community, Dan spearheads their series of rockand mineral field guides—definitive guidebooks that help amateurs“decode” the complexities of geology and mineralogy. Bob Lynchis a lapidary and jeweler living and working in Two Harbors,Minnesota. He has been cutting and polishing rocks and mineralssince 1973, when he desired more variation in gemstones for hiswork with jewelry.

King Tut’s Dagger Was ‘Made from a Meteorite’By Robert Sawatzky

New research shows that an iron dagger buried with KingTutankhamun was made from a meteorite.

It even suggests the Egyptians knew what they were workingwith.

Archaeologists and historians have been fascinated by KingTut’s mummified remains and the mysterious objects found in histomb since their discovery in the 1920s.

In the past, scientists have claimed that an iron dagger, foundalong with a gold blade in King Tut’s tomb, may have come frommeteorites.

Other ancient Egyptian iron artifacts have also been suspectedto be meteoritic, since smelted iron was rarely used.

But now, researchers from Italy and the Egyptian Museumhave used X-ray fluorescence spectrometry to accurately find outwhat King Tut’s knife was made of, according to an articlepublished in the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science.

They found its makeup of iron, nickel and cobalt matchedother meteorites in a database, and “strongly suggests its meteoriticorigin.”

The authors said the Egyptians knew what they were using.“We suggest that ancient Egyptian attributed great value to

meteoritic iron for the production of fine ornamental or ceremonialobjects,” the article said.

Source: CNN from June 2, 2016

8 Bulletin of the New York Mineralogical Club, Inc. September 2016

Collector’s Series – “The 100"The 100 is a monthly feature of interest to mineral collectors written by Bill Shelton, based upon his many years ofexperience as a mineral collector, educator, author, appraiser, philanthropist and dealer. Comments as well as suggestionsfor new topics are most welcome. Contact him at LAELIASON@msn.com.

Mineralogical Swan SongWe began “The 100” in January, 2013 – and now it comes to

an end. I’ve heard some feedback about the number of localitiesdata based on mindat.org. The lowest number I recall is 9(charoite) and only a half-dozen of the one hundred topicsdiscussed in this series were below 100. Maybe that suggests rarity– it might just be restricted geographically since one can buy allthe charoite they want. It should be clear that rarity, availabilityand value are unrelated concepts.

Vivianite is a great collector species where both very largecrystals and intimate fossil associations are readily found. Whalebones from Virginia may have crystals; the Kerch area in the

Ukraine may have variousclams, snails, etc. withcrystals on top. New Jerseyh a s p r o d u c e d fo s s i lbelemnites with crystals andreplacement present. Now,large crystals occur – and atmore than one place. Utah andBolivia have examples toseveral inches but the recordplace; at least that I am awareof, the Cameroons where

examples to six feet long are noted. Palermo, New Hampshire onceproduced modest vivianites and you may be able to purchase orcollect one. Virginia and South Dakota are some other possibilitiesin the United States.

Despite the widespread occurrences noted here and the factthat mindat.org lists 575 others, Dana calls this a rare mineral. So,your source regarding rarity may influence your opinion as to whatis rare. I’d say it is readily available and can be found frommultiple sources. Very large pieces and certain ones on pyrite, etc.may not hold together well. So, be a little careful regarding theones you buy to keep. Some reports say vivianite is colorless whenmined and shifts to blue or green when exposed to light and maybeto the atmosphere. Both ideas are unconfirmed by me personally.I know some pieces darken with age and that may not be a goodthing. No fluorescence is reported as one might predict since it isan iron-rich species.

Zeolites comprise a large group with nearly 100 species. Afew are said to be rare but others are extremely widespread and

many seem to be of greatinterest to the collector. I musthave heard a thousand timesthat a great collection can becompleted for a relatively lowcost in this group. Many willfluoresce; see Robbins (1994)for a full account. They remainas minor gem producers;analcime and pollucite serve asexamples. Associated minerals

that may be mistaken as zeolites include apophyllite and a fewothers. Collectors should pay close attention to a few speciesbecause of the fine specimens they routinely produce.

Analcime, chabazite, heulandite, natrolite and stilbite areamong the most prevalent examples. When found with mineralssuch as prehnite, calcite and quartz, the potential for excitingspecimens is great. We are fortunate to live in an area that is oneof the best anywhere for this type of material. All the way fromNova Scotia to Connecticut, New Jersey and Virginia we findintermittent exposures with nice specimens. Quarries, sea cliffs,road cuts and construction sites are all noted for specimenproduction. You probably have as good a chance of finding asample from the zeolite group as anything else in this seriesbesides calcite and quartz. I can’t imagine not mentioning the hugeimportance of Indianspecimens, many withone or more zeolites thatare available in themarket place. It is anenticing possibility for aspecialized collector andalso a sub-collection forothers.

In 2016, I purchaseda “pectolite” fromMerelani, Tanzania. Mysuspicions about theidentity of this specimenwere soon confirmed by RAMAN testing. It turns out that thepiece is natrolite, a common zeolite. The real point to focus on ismany zeolites look similar to other minerals and often, to otherzeolites. Pectolite is a non-zeolite that clearly belongs in thiscategory.

It pleases me to end with zincite because it is a very wellknown species from nearby Franklin, New Jersey. Maybe we canagree that it is iconic for this species with 86 localities and nonefiner than Franklin. Enough good samples exist so collectors andmuseums all manage to have one or more in their holdings. TheSeaman museum has a nice crystal with a hole in it that onceserved as a watch fob. I can’t imagine zincite as a gem or jewelryitem but apparently it was at least once. Be aware that a finecrystal of much size is in fact very rare and will cost a princelysum.

Vivianite from Bolivia

Zincite from New Jersey

Stilbite from NYC

September 2016 Bulletin of the New York Mineralogical Club, Inc. 9

Topics in GemologyTopics in Gemology is a monthly column written by Diana Jarrett, GG, RMV, based on gemological questions posed toher over the years by beginners and experts alike. Contact her at diana@dianajarrett.com.

The Task of PricingWhen news releases lauded the recovery of a gigantic 1,111

carat diamond from Lucara Corp. at the end of 2015, it wasacknowledged as the largest such find in over a century. True, thesemammoth rocks don’t turn up every day. Over the yearsspectacular finds do turn up and fuel the imagination as to howsuch behemoths will be cut and what its final carat size will be aftercareful planning.

Here’s a list of some of the last century’s output of largediscoveries—all of which are some pretty awesome crystals.� The Red Cross dazzles as a 205.07 carat canary yellow stone having weighed

375 carats when discovered at the Kimberly Mines in 1901.� Cullinan I—Great Star of Africa weighs 530.4 carats, a pear shaped

diamond sitting in the head of the Scepter with the Cross.� Cullinan II—2nd Star of Africa is the 2nd cut stone of the largest diamond

ever discovered at 3,025 carats in 1905.� The Lesotho Brown--- found in the Letseng mine in 1967 weighing 601

carats and was eventually polished into 18 diamonds, the largest being a 71.73emerald cut known simply as the Lesotho.

� The Incomparable, an 890 carat brown crystal was discovered by a little girlplaying in a rubble heap outside her uncle’s house in the Congo in the 1980s.Polished, it took the form of 407.78 carats as a Fancy Deep Brownish-YellowIF diamond.

� Golden Jubilee found at the Premier Mine as a large brown rough of 755.5carats in 1985 and was later cut by Tolkowsky into a fire rose cushion cut of545.67 carats.

� The Centenary found in 1986 at Premier Mine was a 599 carat rough, latercut into 273.85 polished carats by the legendary cutter Gabi Tolkowsky.

� The Millennium Star discovered in 1990 as a 777 carat crystal was deemedD/IF when slimmed down to 203.4 carats.

With such huge crystals setting a precedence, it seems likethere would have been developed a system for pricing the biggies.Still it remains a bit of a conundrum today to value the super sizeddiamonds.

UK-based mine owner Gem Diamonds is a leading globalproducer of high value diamonds, serving up jumbo stones for thecouple of really deep-pockets who can afford such extravagances.The firm cuts, polishes and markets a selection of diamonds tobetter pinpoint the sweet spot for selling the largest diamonds in theworld. Late in 2015, its biggest sale to date, a Lethoso prize (a 357-ct crystal from Letseng mine) garnered $19.3 million.

Over the past decade, the company uncovered four of almosttwo dozen of the largest colorless diamonds ever found. But theywant to push that percentage. To achieve that, they are cutting andpolishing a fraction of their production with a focus on upping theflawless end-products.

Mine owners today don’t seem to be too eager to sell off theirlarge finds quickly, however. That said it’s easier to find buyers for

rough than for finished goods. A cut stone, no matter howspectacular has just a few buyers and it may take years to finesseone sale.

The promotional machine created by Gem Diamonds formarketing these rarities turns the spotlight on the entire niche ofthe highest-end goods, says Lucara CEO, William Lamb. ‘’Priorto Gem going into production, the world didn’t hear about theselarge stones,” Lamb said. “Gem has paved the way for us increating the market for these larger stones.”

According to reports from the Kimberley Process whichrecords and certifies rough diamond shipments, about 125 millioncarats were mined globally last year. Contrasted to othercommodities, these stones aren’t sold on any exchange and themarket itself is much less liquid than most commodities.

Establishing a better idea of valuations would help create apoint of reference others can adopt as the discovery of similarlylarge stones (like the Lucara) steps up. Over half of the biggestdiamonds in the last decade have been found in the two yearssince Lucara opened in Botswana in 2012, yielding that 1,111-carat diamond found in 2015. Prior to that, one has to look backto 1905 at the 3,106- carat Cullinan stone as the largest found.

Lucara is not the only mine harvesting the mega-stones. Evenso, rough over 100 carats is an anomaly. Petra Diamonds Ltd.routinely finds exceptional stones at their deposits which includethe Cullinan mine. The top producers like De Beers, Alrosa PJSCand Rio Tinto Group rarely recover rough larger than 100 carats;and never on par with those by Gem Diamonds and Lucara. Oneof the reasons that similar large stones have gone un-publicized isthat De Beers has traditionally offered them to its top customersat a price cut.

At the onset, Brandon de Bruin, head of sales at GemDiamonds reported lacking the know-how to price the jumbodiamonds. “When we started, we had very little understanding ofthe value of our production. But by doing what we are, you get areal feel for the market.”

We have yet to understand how China’s economic slowdownwill impact these mega-diamond sales. Up until now, the largeststones have been more or less immune to a wider drop in demandfor diamonds brought on by China’s economic downturn. Roughprices have slipped recently to the lowest since 2010. Still, avidinterest in these superb natural wonders signals that there shouldalways be a buyer for these extraordinary stones. As sellerscollectively pool data on sale prices it will become more feasibleto estimate their values going forward.

The Lesotho BrownAerial View of the Letseng Mine

10 Bulletin of the New York Mineralogical Club, Inc. September 2016

Bring an additional friend or loved one!130th Anniversary New York Mineralogical Club Banquet

Date: October 19, 2016 [Wednesday Evening]Time: 6:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. [Social Hour & Silent Auction from 6 p.m. - 7 p.m.]Place: Holiday Inn Midtown Manhattan, 57th Street Between Ninth & Tenth Avenues, NYCCost: $30 for Members/Guests (Advance Payment); $35 for Non-Members (or Payment at the Door)

Gala Dinner Menu (tentative)Salad

Choice of Entree:chicken • fish • beef

Potatoes & VegetablesSelection of Breads & Rolls

Red & White WineSoft Drink Assortment

“Garnet” Dessert SelectionCoffee & Tea

Special Guest Lecturers

Vivien Gornitz, Anna Schumate, Mitch Portnoy“The Sparkle of Opal”

Amount

Please reserve _______ seat(s) for me at the Banquet @ $30.00 ($35.00) each.I will probably be ordering G Salmon G Chicken G Beef for my dinner entree(s).

Also included are my 2017 New York Mineralogical Club membership dues ($25 Individual, $35 Family).

I am adding a wine/dessert donation to help make the banquet an affair to remember. (Each bottle costs about $25.)

I’d like to get one of drawstring backpacks which highlights the Club. (Each backpack costs $5.00)

Please reserve a set of the following boxed note card sets for me (Includes envelopes for $6.00 each):G Opal! G Mineral & Gem Bookplates G Jade G Native Elements G Crystallography G Thin SectionsG Diamonds G Birthday Mineral Cards G Malachite G Quasicrystals G Lapis Lazuli G Quartz

I wish to make an additional donation as a sponsor to help support the Banquet and the NYMC.

» Total Included Comments:

Name(s)

Street Address Apt. No.

City State Zip

Phone Email

Send in the reply order form above by October 17, 2016.We must receive this RSVP in order to guarantee your reservation(s). Make your check payable to the “New York Mineralogical

Club” and send it to: New York Mineralogical Club Banquet, P.O. Box 77, Planetarium Station, NYC, NY 10024-0077.Or call Mitch Portnoy (212) 580-1343 or email him at mitchpnyc@aol.com.

September 2016 Bulletin of the New York Mineralogical Club, Inc. 11

Review of A Tale of Seven ElementsBy Robert E. Buntrock

A Tale of Seven Elements by Eric ScerriOxford University Press: New York, 2013. ix + 177

ISBN 978-0195391312 (hardcover). $19.99

Per the author’s introduction, the periodic table, always afavorite among chemists (including this reviewer and the Bookand Media Reviews editor), currently has a heightenedawareness in the public eye. “Alternative” periodic tablesabound. In addition to books aimed at scientists,1-4 at least twobooks on the periodic table and the elements aimed at generalaudiences have recently been published.5-7 In A Tale of SevenElements, Scerri expands his coverage of elements in hisprevious book1 to cover seven “missing elements”. Theseelements are the “infra-uranium” elements (as opposed totransuranium elements), the last to be discovered among the first92 elements.

The introduction covers a wealth of topics, includingdisputes on scientific priority, both scientific and sociological,answering the question of what constitutes priority of elementaldiscovery, and how these concepts pertain to these sevenelements. As a matter of interest, five of the elements areradioactive, and several were discovered by women.

The first chapter covers the development of the periodictable and a discussion of priorities. As with discovery of theelements themselves, the scientist given credit for the discoveryis not necessarily the first, but the one who made the best use ofthe discovery. In this case, Mendeleev and his predictions winout and a box score of his predictions (the “eka” elements) isgiven. Throughout the book, the personalities of the scientistsand detailed accounts of their work are presented.

Chapter 2 is titled “Invasion of the Periodic Table byPhysics”. Concepts and scientists are described, including theelectron, X-rays, isotopes, electronic structure, ErnestRutherford, and Henry Moseley. Of course, Moseley’s discoveryof Z, the atomic number, finally codified further progress anddescription of the periodic table.

Chapters 3-9 are devoted to detailed descriptions of thediscovery of the elements filling the seven “holes” in Moseley’stable, in order of their discovery. The often-torturous path ofdiscovery is recounted, including the scientists involved, theirpersonal histories, and the disputes, some of which were quiterancorous and even nationalistic. Also described are theirpredictability by Mendeleev, their chemistry, and selectapplications. The elements are protactinium (Z = 91), hafnium(Z = 72), rhenium (Z = 75), technetium (Z = 43), francium (Z =87), astatine (Z = 85), and promethium (Z = 61). The last chaptercovers the transuranium elements, Z = 93 and up, including theirsyntheses, disputes, and chemistry.

The book has extensive notes, a bibliography, author indexand index. A Tale of Seven Elements is an excellent narrative andthe value of narratives in science and science education isstressed. I highly recommend this book to students and theirteachers, scientists, and the interested public.

References(1) Scerri, E. The Periodic Table, Its Story and Its Significance;

Oxford University Press: New York, 2007. Reviewed in J.Chem. Educ. 2007, 84 (4), 598.

(2) Emsley, J. The Elements, 3rd ed.; Clarendon Press: Oxford,U.K., 1998.

(3) Emsley, J. The A–Z of the Elements; Oxford UniversityPress: New York, 2001.

(4) Stwertka, A. Guide to the Elements; Oxford UniversityPress: New York, 1997. Reviewed in J. Chem. Educ. 1997,74 (6), 627.

(5) Gray, T. The Elements: A Visual Exploration of EveryKnown Atom in the Universe; Workman Publishing Co.:New York, 2009. Reviewed in J. Chem. Educ. 2009, 86(12), 1374.

(6) Kean, S. The Disappearing Spoon; Little, Brown, & Co.:New York, 2012. Reviewed in J. Chem. Educ. 2011, 88 (2),145.145.

(7) Aldersey-Williams, H. Periodic Tales; Penguin Viking:London, 2011. Reviewed in J. Chem. Educ.. 2011, 88 (12),1605.1606.

Source: Journal of Chemical Education

Preface to A Tale of Seven ElementsBy Oliver Sacks

The first thing to be said about A Tale of Seven Elements isthat it is wonderfully rich and full, imparting a huge range ofknowledge not only on the properties of each of these elementsbut on the nature of science, the meaning of discovery, and howthese are deeply entwined in their social and political context.

In his earlier book, The Periodic Table, Eric Scerriconcentrated on the history and philosophy of periodic systemsand the many forms these have taken since Mendeleev’s originaltable. It was evident to Mendeleev that there were gaps or holesin the Periodic Table, and he boldly predicted the discovery ofseveral as-yet-undiscovered elements to fill these gaps. But itwas only in 1913, with Moseley’s demonstration that theelements had integral atomic numbers that one could confidentlysay that, of the 92 elements up to uranium, just seven weremissing: those with the atomic numbers of 43, 61, 72, 75, 85, 87,and 91.

12 Bulletin of the New York Mineralogical Club, Inc. September 2016

Scerri expands here on the stories of these elements, whichwere painstakingly isolated between the First and Second WorldWars. These seven elements—technetium, promethium,hafnium, rhenium, astatine, francium and protactinium—arenearly all tantalizingly elusive and difficult to isolate. Four ofthem are intensely radioactive and exist in only trace amounts,if at all, in the Earth’s crust. Their discoveries involved intricatestories of epic labors, inspired detective work, scientificpassions, collaborations, competitions, and hopes repeatedlyraised and dashed.

Scerri is particularly interested in the bitter and protracteddisputes over priority that often arose with these seven elusiveelements, and how partisanship and national pride, intensified bythe demands of war, inflamed these disputes. What constitutes“discovery”? How do we define “priority”? With so manyresearchers looking for the same few elements, much is left tochance, to the lucky hunch, to national rivalries, to personalambition.

Scerri’s vivid storytelling, and the letters and journals hequotes, allow us to see chemistry, and science generally, as anessentially historical enterprise—a human adventure that showsthe best, and sometimes the worst, of human nature. As a boy Iread Mary Elvira Weeks’ classic Discovery of the Elements withgreat delight. Now, seventy years later, I get the same sort ofdelight from A Tale of Seven Elements, and I think that it, too,will become a classic.

[Dr. Eric Scerri was, of course, the honored speaker at thespecial summer meeting of the NYMC in July 2016 – Editor]

Enigmatic “Blip” At Large Hadron Collider MayBe A Mysterious New ParticleBy Robin Andrews

Since the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) began smashingions together again at record energies in December of last year,more than 300 papers have been released by researchers workingon the enormous collaborative endeavor. Four of them have beenaccepted by Physical Review Letters, which, when read together,seem to hint at a tantalizing possibility: Another new subatomicparticle has been detected.

Although most famous for detecting the Higgs boson, theparticle responsible for bestowing mass upon others andvalidating the Standard Model of Physics, it’s highly likely thereare other subatomic particles out there waiting to be discovered

by the device. Rumors have been around for several months nowthat another discovery is on the horizon, and these new studiesgive credence to the idea.

However, any new theoretical physics revelations are stillmany, many particle collisions away from being confirmed. Themysterious data “blip” generating all this excitement is not yetstatistically significant, and it may be that researchers don’t yethave the scientific understanding to comprehend it.

“Though the results are extremely intriguing, more data arerequired to establish if the excess is real, or a statisticalfluctuation,” wrote Robert Garisto, the editor of Physical ReviewLetters, in an accompanying editorial. “We think that this set [ofstudies] gives readers a sense of the kind of new physics thatwould be required to explain the data, if confirmed.”Just as a new phase of particle collisions began at the end of2015, two of the experiments at the LHC – ATLAS and CMS –reported that several collisions produced more photons thanexpected. These flashes of light could just have been noise in thedata, accidentally generating information that isn’t representativeof anything new.

On the other hand, this data blip could be somethingincredible: As one of the studies posits, it could be a heavierrelative of the Higgs boson; on the other hand, it could berevealing that the Higgs itself, or another mysterious massiveparticle, is made of smaller subatomic building blocks.

These new papers also flirt with some more controversialideas. One of the studies theorizes it could be a particle thatweakly interacts with others, and exists within thesupersymmetry theory. This theory, which suggests that allparticles are paired with a “superpartner” particle of higher mass,has been looking somewhat shaky as of late, however.

Another of the papers suggests that the new particle couldbe made of two exotic quarks that defy the current StandardModel, held together by a perhaps novel force similar to thestrong nuclear force.

Previously, some physicists have even wondered if the datablip might be a graviton, a particle that “carries” gravitationalforce; this particle, if discovered, may be able to finally solveone of the greatest conundrums in physics – combining a theoryof gravity with the other three fundamental forces of theuniverse.

If the data turns out to be just noise, then it would be ashame, but at least the enigma would have been solved. If any ofthese new ideas are proven correct, however, we could see arevolution in theoretical physics by the end of the summer.Source: IFLScience.com April 21, 2016

Interesting Version of the Periodic Table

September 2016 Bulletin of the New York Mineralogical Club, Inc. 13

Say Hello to Your Four Newly Named Elementsof the Periodic TableBy Jonathan O’Callaghan

Looks like it’s nearly time to update that old periodic tableposter on your wall. Because names have been proposed for fournew elements announced in January and, provided there are noobjections, the names could be ratified in five months by theInternational Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).

The names correspond to the newly discovered elements thatoccupy positions 113, 115, 117, and 118 in the table, completingits seventh row. In order they are Nihonium (Nh), Moscovium(Mc), Tennessine (Ts), and Oganesson (Og). Sadly, there’s noElement McElementface.

As is tradition with new elements, the discoverers get topick the name. Nihonium, discovered at the RIKEN NishinaCenter for Accelerator Science, refers to the Japanese name forJapan, Nihon. Moscovium refers to Moscow, where it was foundat the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna.

Tennessine refers to the US State of Tennessee, the locationof the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Vanderbilt Universitywhere it was found. Last but not least is Oganesson, which refersto nuclear physicist Yuri Oganessian, who led the research forthis element and others.

“It is a pleasure to see that specific places and names relatedto the new elements is recognized in these four names,” said JanReedijk, president of IUPAC’s inorganic-chemistry division, ina statement. “I see it as thrilling to recognize that internationalcollaborations were at the core of these discoveries and thatthese new names also make the discoveries somewhat tangible.”

The elements, which do not occur naturally and can only beproduced in the laboratory, were discovered by smashingtogether light nuclei and tracking the decay of the resultingsuperheavy elements. They exist only for a fraction of a second,which has made their discovery difficult. Element 113, forexample, was found by hitting a thin layer of bismuth with zincions traveling at a tenth the speed of light, temporarily producingan atom of the element.

While the table is now effectively complete, researchers arebeginning to look for elements beyond the 7th row, hypothetical“islands of stability” where heavier elements exist.

For now, dust off those chemistry textbooks and welcomethe new kids on the block, the first since 2011. If there is nosignificant public outcry, the names should be ratified inNovember.Source: iflscience.com June 11, 2016

Incredible New Project Converts CarbonDioxide into StoneBy Stephen Luntz

Like a modern-day version of Medusa, an Icelandic projectturns enemies to stone. The modern enemy is carbon dioxide,and success relies on the basaltic rocks on which the island sits.

Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) has been promotedas fossil fuels' savior in a warming world. The idea is to collectcarbon dioxide from coal- and gas-fired power stations andpump it into the Earth rather than into the atmosphere.

Special circumstances aside, however, CCS has been anexpensive failure. Among the many reasons is the fear thecarbon dioxide won't stay down. Any large-scale release wouldbe catastrophic for local populations. Even a slower leakage atrates of more than 0.1 percent per year would destroy the valueof the operation.

In 2012, the Hellisheidi power plant in Hengill, southwestIceland, pumped 230 tonnes (254 tons) of carbon dioxide –mixed with water and 18 tonnes (20 tons) of hydrogen sulphide– into wells drilled 150 to 3,000 meters (500 to 10,000 feet)through basaltic lavas. The carbon dioxide was spiked with extracarbon-14 so that it could be distinguished from naturallyoccurring gas. Injection has now since increased to 4,500 tonnes(5,000 tons) a year.

A study published in Science found that more than 95percent of the original trial's carbon was converted to rockycarbonate within two years. This astonishingly rapidtransformation, the paper notes, “contrasts with the commonview that the immobilization of CO2 as carbonate mineralswithin geologic reservoirs takes several hundreds to thousandsof years.”

The elements (highlighted in yellow) complete the 7th row of the PeriodicTable. Julie Deshaies/Shutterstock/IFLScience

14 Bulletin of the New York Mineralogical Club, Inc. September 2016

The process was found to work even when the carbondioxide was mixed with a high concentration of hydrogensulphide, which was thought might interfere with thecarbonization process.

The authors attribute the rapid mineralization to calcium,iron, and magnesium ions released by the basalt and the alkalinewaters into which the carbon dioxide was injected.

Storing the carbon as a solid, rather than a gas, removes thedanger associated with conventional reservoirs such asearthquakes, removal of the holding rock or gas leakage throughsmall pores.

Hellisheidi is a surprising place for such a trial. It isgeothermal, running on the heat generated by the volcanicconditions. The carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide arevolcanic gasses released with the steam that drives the station'sturbines. The 36,000 tonnes (40,000 tons) of CO2 releasedannually are 5 percent of what an equivalently-sized coal-firedpower plant would emit, but Iceland is aiming for completecarbon neutrality.

“In the future, we could think of using this for power plantsin places where there's a lot of basalt – and there are many suchplaces,” said Professor Martin Stute of Columbia University ina statement. Indeed, one-tenth of continental rock is. Virtuallythe entirety of the ocean floor is also basalt, although pumpingcarbon dioxide far out to sea is expensive.

Where basalt and ample water are conveniently available tothe point of capture, the authors calculate that a fully developedversion of the system might produce a price for CCS that may beas low as $30 per ton, compared to $130 for scaled-up versionsof other methods. Yet even this may struggle to compete withrenewables in producing cheap, pollution-free electricity.Source: iflscience.com June 11, 2016

From Mine to Store:Naomi Sarna’s Queen of the Sea BroochWhen Naomi Sarna saw the concave natural pearl that anchorsthe design of this otherworldly brooch, she knew immediately

what she wanted to do with it.“I said, ‘That’s the queen ofthe sea and she needs acrown,’?” recalls Sarna, who’sknown for creating profoundlyfluid shapes in her work. “Ibuy my pearls almostexclusively from James Peachfrom the United States PearlCompany—he really has aneye for unusual pieces. Heshowed me this pearl, and itreally was my inspiration.”The brooch “went through anumber of iterations,” says theNew Yo rk C i ty–baseddesigner. “I was considering aj e l l y f i s h q u e e n … b u teventually landed on TheQueen of the Sea. Think of

pictures of Queen Elizabeth with the big ruffle around her neck.There’s a certain of-course-I’m-the-queen look about her. WhenI look at this piece, I see that same kind of regality.”

Under the SeaAccounting for the brooch’s many materials got “very messy,”says Sarna, as she redid the piece several times. Apart from theGIA-certified natural pearl (roughly 38 mm long), her bestguesses for the remaining materials: 3 cts. t.w. moonstones, 4cts. t.w. Ethiopian opals, 6.3 cts. t.w. sapphires, 1.82 cts. t.w.white diamonds, and 0.66 ct. t.w. black diamonds—set insterling silver, 18k white gold, 18k yellow gold, and platinum.“At one point I dismantled a lot of the piece, and built it upagain,” Sarna says. “That’s when it becomes excruciating tokeep track of it all.”A Two-Year-Long VoyageThe brooch took around two years to create, for various reasons:Platinum wire was embedded into gold around the diamonds “tomake the white diamonds very white,” explains Sarna. Themoonstones were set, then removed and recut “so the eye of thestones would be looking at you and not cockeyed all over theplace.” Ruffles, horns, and “tails” were added. “I wantedeverything to have a very watery look,” says Sarna. “And thattook time.”Laser FocusEverything was laser-welded together—out of necessity, Sarnasays. “You can’t heat a natural pearl, and you can’t heat opals ormoonstones. Laser welding has a little heat, but not likesoldering.” She and her team created tiny pins on the backs ofevery element, which they then lasered to the brooch’s otherpieces. “This piece could not have been made before laserwelding existed.”Source: JCKonline.com May 6, 2016

Rampello Mineral Collecting Lecture(Continued from page 1)

It all really came to a head at the age of 18 when he walkedinto a very popular gem store in Manhattan. He was instantlyhooked! It amazed him to see the variety of natural treasures thatthe earth could produce.

He currently finds his collection growing in differentdirections all the time. As for mineral size, he prefers thumbnailsand miniatures. Regarding species, he likes “traditional” quartz,tourmaline, beryl, fluorite, garnet, calcite and topaz, to name afew. He tries to attain pieces that are truly aesthetic to the eye.He also tries to keep his collection unique by way of one-of-a-kind, or hard to attain pieces.

Eric has given us several extremely well-received, if short,presentations in the past. Come hear his first full-length feature!

Quad-Colored, "Emerald-Cut", Elbaite Tourmaline

September 2016 Bulletin of the New York Mineralogical Club, Inc. 15

Jerrine Warner Anthony, 92, died peacefully on May 28,2016 in Valhalla, NY. She was born in Schoharie, NY in 1924, andraised in NY and VT. Jerrie developed an interest in fossils andminerals early on; her grandfather was a farmer in an area rich inNative American artifacts, arrowheads and fossils and he amassedquite a collection. This got Jerrie started on a life-long passion ofscratching the earth for interesting things . . .

Jerrie graduated from Ellis Hospital School of Nursing in1945. In 1948 she married Paul Anthony and moved to WhitePlains in 1955. She was active for many years with theWestchester Mineral and Gem Society, serving as president forseveral terms and later was elected the first woman president of theNew York Mineralogical Club (1977-1978). As her collectiongrew Jerrie often made presentations and displays for localschools, libraries, and clubs. Her knowledge extended beyondgeology and into the history and cultures connected to her variouscollections of ancient artifacts, beads from all over the world,fossils and many types of minerals.

Jerrie made many friends through mineral collecting andtraveled from Africa to Asia and all over N. America. She wasprivileged to meet Mary Leakey at Olduvai Gorge. One of herfavorite places was the Rocky Mountains near Boulder, CO. Whileworking as a camp nurse in Gold Hill she befriended a crusty oldminer who got her interested in gold mining. Carl Walterseventually willed her his BLM mining claim on the White Ravenmine which she kept active for quite a few years.

She loved telling people she had a gold mine (albeit not a veryproductive one!).She looked forward to the Tucson show everyyear along with many other regional gatherings and countless fieldtrips. She was never without her pick and canvas bucket and oftenreturned home with a very overweight suitcase.

Jerrie worked at Burke Rehabilitation Hospital as an RN untilher retirement in 1994 and continued to pursue her mineralogicalinterests. In 2002 she moved to a senior residence, WestchesterMeadows in Valhalla, NY along with the collections, manyreference books, and her precious cats.

Jerrie is survived by sons Mark (Lifen) of Honolulu, HI andJustin (Jennifer) of Missoula, MT, and daughter Andrea (Jan) ofSomers, NY, three granddaughters, one sister and many nieces andnephews. There will be a memorial service in late July inMiddleburgh, NY.

The family is comforted by the donation of many of Jerrie’sbooks, Colorado mineral collection, micromounts and thumbnailsto the Club, with the knowledge that they will be used, read,appreciated or sold for the benefit of the club. Andrea Anthony

Enormous Helium Discovery Could End ShortageThe volcanoes of the Tanzanian Rift Valley conceal a huge

deposit of helium, enough to delay by many years the date whenhumanity has to confront a shortage of the precious gas. The newswill be a relief to scientists who rely on helium’s cooling powersand doctors dependent on the same properties to make MRImachines operate.

Helium is the second most common element in the universe.However, it is so light and nonreactive, we have long lost to spaceall the helium that formed with Earth. We can use it to makeballoons or funny voices because new supplies are formed byradioactive decay deep underground and trapped in caverns ofrock.

However, we are using helium far faster than it is beingcreated, leading to fears that supplies will soon run out. Liquidhelium is almost irreplaceable as a cooling mechanism for medicaland scientific equipment, capable of reaching temperatures farbelow those that can be achieved with current practicalalternatives.

The British Medical Association, among others, have calledfor restrictions on frivolous uses. If we were pricing the resourceproperly, some argue, the cost of a child’s balloon would be $100.

Unless we can scoop helium from the atmosphere of Jupiter,whose enormous gravity keeps its helium from escaping, we musteventually face a reckoning. Nevertheless, that danger is nowfurther off than some have feared, with the announcement at theGoldschmidt Conference in Japan of a major deposit of heliumbeneath Tanzania.

Professor Chris Ballentine of Oxford University said in astatement: “By combining our understanding of heliumgeochemistry with seismic images of gas trapping structures,independent experts have calculated a probable resource of 54Billion Cubic Feet (BCf) in just one part of the rift valley. This isaround the size of 600,000 Olympic sized swimming pools withhelium gas. That’s nearly seven times the total amount of heliumconsumed globally every year and enough to fill over 1.2 millionmedical MRI scanners when converted to liquid helium.”

Seven years of current consumption provides some relief forthose predicting we could run out in less than three decades.Nevertheless, with consumption rising, the problem remains.

However, Helium One, the company that discovered thedeposit, think even better news is around the corner. PhD studentDiveena Danabalan of Durham University said: “We were able toshow that volcanoes in the rift play an important role in theformation of viable helium reserves. Volcanic activity likelyprovides the heat necessary to release the helium accumulated inancient crustal rocks, but the location needs to be just right. If thegas traps are located too close to a given volcano, they run the riskof helium being heavily diluted by volcanic gases such as carbondioxide.”

Perhaps we don’t need to put those party balloons aside justyet. Still, please, for the love of turtles, don’t release them out ofdoors. Source: iflscience.com June 28, 2016

16 Bulletin of the New York Mineralogical Club, Inc. September 2016

NASA Rover Findings Point to a MoreEarth-like Martian Past

Chemicals found in Martian rocks by NASA’s CuriosityMars rover suggest the Red Planet once had more oxygen in itsatmosphere than it does now.

Researchers found high levels of manganese oxides by usinga laser-firing instrument on the rover. This hint of more oxygenin Mars’ early atmosphere adds to other Curiosity findings –such as evidence about ancient lakes – revealing how Earth-likeour neighboring planet once was.

This research also adds important context to other cluesabout atmospheric oxygen in Mars’ past. The manganese oxideswere found in mineral veins within a geological setting theCuriosity mission has placed in a timeline of ancientenvironmental conditions. From that context, the higher oxygenlevel can be linked to a time when groundwater was present inthe rover’s Gale Crater study area.

“The only ways on Earth that we know how to make thesemanganese materials involve atmospheric oxygen or microbes,”said Nina Lanza, a planetary scientist at Los Alamos NationalLaboratory in New Mexico. “Now we’re seeing manganeseoxides on Mars, and we’re wondering how the heck these couldhave formed?”

Microbes seem far-fetched at this point, but the otheralternative – that the Martian atmosphere contained more oxygenin the past than it does now – seems possible, Lanza said. “Thesehigh manganese materials can’t form without lots of liquid waterand strongly oxidizing conditions. Here on Earth, we had lots ofwater but no widespread deposits of manganese oxides untilafter the oxygen levels in our atmosphere rose.”

Lanza is the lead author of a new report about the Martianmanganese oxides in the American Geophysical Union’s

Geophysical Research Letters. She uses Curiosity’s Chemistryand Camera (ChemCam) instrument, which fires laser pulsesfrom atop the rover’s mast and observes the spectrum ofresulting flashes of plasma to assess targets’ chemical makeup.

In Earth’s geological record, the appearance of highconcentrations of manganese oxide minerals is an importantmarker of a major shift in our atmosphere’s composition, fromrelatively low oxygen abundances to the oxygen-rich atmospherewe see today. The presence of the same types of materials onMars suggests that oxygen levels rose there, too, beforedeclining to their present values. If that’s the case, how was thatoxygen-rich environment formed?

“One potential way that oxygen could have gotten into theMartian atmosphere is from the breakdown of water when Marswas losing its magnetic field,” said Lanza. “It’s thought that atthis time in Mars’ history, water was much more abundant.” Yetwithout a protective magnetic field to shield the surface, ionizingradiation started splitting water molecules into hydrogen andoxygen. Because of Mars’ relatively low gravity, the planetwasn’t able to hold onto the very light hydrogen atoms, but theheavier oxygen atoms remained behind. Much of this oxygenwent into rocks, leading to the rusty red dust that covers thesurface today. While Mars’ famous red iron oxides require onlya mildly oxidizing environment to form, manganese oxidesrequire a strongly oxidizing environment, more so thanpreviously known for Mars.

Lanza added, “It’s hard to confirm whether this scenario forMartian atmospheric oxygen actually occurred. But it’simportant to note that this idea represents a departure in ourunderstanding for how planetary atmospheres might becomeoxygenated.” Abundant atmospheric oxygen has been treated asa so-called biosignature, or a sign of extant life, but this processdoes not require life.

Curiosity has been investigating sites in Gale Crater since2012. The high-manganese materials it found are inmineral-filled cracks in sandstones in the “Kimberley” region ofthe crater. But that’s not the only place on Mars where highmanganese abundances have been found. NASA’s Opportunityrover, exploring Mars since 2004, also recently discovered highmanganese deposits thousands of miles from Curiosity. Thissupports the idea that the conditions needed to form thesematerials were present well beyond Gale Crater.

Los Alamos National Laboratory leads the U.S. and Frenchteam that jointly developed and operates ChemCam. NASA’s JetPropulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena,California, built the rover and manages the Curiosity mission forNASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington.Source: jpl.nasa.gov June 28, 2016

This scene shows NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at a location called “Windjana,” wherethe rover found rocks containing manganese-oxide minerals, which require abundantwater and strongly oxidizing conditions to form.

September 2016 Bulletin of the New York Mineralogical Club, Inc. 17

2016-17 Club Calendar

Date Event Location Remarks & Information

September 14 Meeting at 6:30 Holiday Inn Midtown ManhattanSpecial Lecture: Eric Rampello (1st Timer!) –“Tips in Building a Mineral Collection”

October 19 Annual Banquet Holiday Inn Midtown ManhattanTheme: Opal; Lecture; Silent Auction;Awards; Opal Game; Gifts & Surprises!

November 16 Meeting at 6:30 Holiday Inn Midtown ManhattanSpecial Lecture: Anne Pizzorusso – “ParadiseBejeweled: Gems of Dante’s Divine Comedy”

December 14 Meeting at 6:30 Holiday Inn Midtown ManhattanSpecial Lecture: Howard Heitner –“Pseudo-What?!”

January 11, 2017 Meeting at 6:30 Holiday Inn Midtown ManhattanSpecial Lecture: Mitchell Portnoy – “Minerals& Gems in Popular Culture”; Chinese Auction

February 8 Meeting at 6:30 Holiday Inn Midtown Manhattan Annual Members’ Show & Tell

March 8 Meeting at 6:30 Holiday Inn Midtown ManhattanSpecial Lecture: Alfredo Petrov –“Iris Quartz”

April 19 Meeting at 6:30 Holiday Inn Midtown ManhattanSpecial Lecture: Charles Snider (1st Timer!)–“The American Geode Story”

May 10 Meeting at 6:30 Holiday Inn Midtown Manhattan Special Lecture: TBD

June 14 Annual Benefit Auction Holiday Inn Midtown Manhattan Details to follow; Online catalog available!

2016 -17 Show or Event Calendar

Date Event Location Remarks & Information

September 17-1847th Annual Gem & MineralShow & Sale

Gold’s Gym, Titusville Road,Poughkeepsie, NY

Sponsored by the Mid-Hudson Valley Gem &Mineral Society; Theme: Agates and Jaspers

September 24-25Franklin & Sterling Hill Gem and Mineral Show

Franklin Elementary School,50 Washington Ave, Franklin NJ

Franklin Mineral Museum sponsors as theironly large fund-raising event

October 21-23 EFMLS Convention/Show Rochester, New York Article Contest Results; Details to Follow

November 12-13Fall New York City Gem,Mineral & Fossil Show

Grand Ballroom, Holiday InnMidtown, New York City

20+ diverse dealers; lectures; wholesalesection (with credentials); NYMC Booth

February 2017 Tucson Mineral Shows Tucson, Arizona Multi-week event, scores of locations

June 2017 AFMS Convention/Show Ventura, California Article Contest Results; Details to Follow

October 2017 EFMLS Convention/Show Bristol, Connecticut Article Contest Results; Details to Follow

Mineral Clubs & Other InstitutionsIf you would like your mineral show included here, please let us know at least 2-3 months in advance!

Also, for more extensive national and regional show information check online:AFMS Website: http://www.amfed.org and/or the EFMLS Website: http://www.amfed.org/efmls

George F. KunzFounder

The New York Mineralogical Club, Inc.Founded in 1886 for the purpose of increasing interest in the science of mineralogy through

the collecting, describing and displaying of minerals and associated gemstones.

Website: www.newyorkmineralogicalclub.orgP.O. Box 77, Planetarium Station, New York City, New York, 10024-0077

2016 Executive CommitteePresident Mitchell Portnoy 46 W. 83rd Street #2E, NYC, NY, 10024-5203 email: mitchpnyc@aol.com. . . . . . . . . . . . (212) 580-1343

Vice President Anna Schumate 27 E. 13th Street, Apt. 5F, NYC, NY, 10003 email: annaschumate@mindspring.com . . (646) 737-3776

Secretary Vivien Gornitz 101 W. 81st Street #621, NYC, NY, 10024 email: vgornitz@gmail.com . . . . . . . . . . . (212) 874-0525

Treasurer Diane Beckman 265 Cabrini Blvd. #2B, NYC, NY, 10040 email: djbeckman@aol.com . . . . . . . . . . . (212) 927-3355

Editor & Archivist Mitchell Portnoy 46 W. 83rd Street #2E, NYC, NY, 10024-5203 email: mitchpnyc@aol.com. . . . . . . . . . . . (212) 580-1343

Membership Mark Kucera 25 Cricklewood Road S., Yonkers, NY, 10704 email: mark_j_kucera@yahoo.com. . . . . . (914) 423-8360

Webmaster Joseph Krabak (Intentionally left blank) email: joe@americangeode.com

Director Alla Priceman 84 Lookout Circle, Larchmont, NY, 10538 email: priceman.a@gmail.com . . . . . . . . . (914) 834-6792

Director Richard Rossi 6732 Ridge Boulevard, Brooklyn, NY, 11220 email: rossirocks92@aol.com . . . . . . . . . . (718) 745-1876

Director Sam Waldman 2801 Emmons Ave, #1B, Brooklyn, NY, 11235 email: samgemw@optonline.net . . . . . . . . (718) 332-0764

Dues: $25 Individual, $35 Family per calendar year. Meetings: 2nd Wednesday of every month (except July and August) at the Holiday Inn Midtown Manhattan, 57th Streetbetween Ninth and Tenth Avenues, New York City, New York. Meetings will generally be held in one of the conference rooms on the Mezzanine Level. The doors openat 5:30 P.M. and the meeting starts at 6:45 P.M. (Please watch for any announced time / date changes.) This bulletin is published monthly by the New York MineralogicalClub, Inc. The submission deadline for each month’s bulletin is the 20th of the preceding month. You may reprint articles or quote from this bulletin for non-profit usageonly provided credit is given to the New York Mineralogical Club and permission is obtained from the author and/or Editor. The Editor and the New York MineralogicalClub are not responsible for the accuracy or authenticity of information or information in articles accepted for publication, nor are the expressed opinions necessarily thoseof the officers of the New York Mineralogical Club, Inc.

Next Meeting: Wednesday Evening, September 14, 2016 from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm

Mezzanine, Holiday Inn Midtown Manhattan (57th St. & Tenth Avenue), New York CitySpecial Lecture: Eric Rampello – “Tips in Building a Mineral Collection”

New York Mineralogical Club, Inc.Mitchell Portnoy, Bulletin EditorP.O. Box 77, Planetarium StationNew York City, New York 10024-0077

FIRST CLASS