Spring - Department of Mineral Sciences

Newsletter of the Department of Mineral Sciences
Volume 3, Number 4
In this Issue
 EarthCube Workshop
 New Exhibit: Cindy
Chao’s Royal Butterfly
Brooch
 New Acquisitions from
the Tucson Gem &
Mineral Show
| Rocks ∙ Meteorites ∙ Gems ∙ Volcanoes ∙ Minerals |
Spring 2013
From the Chair
As I write this, it’s my third anniversary of
becoming Department Chair. My window
overlooking the Mall reminds me of the relentless march of tourists coming to the Museum. Most of them come for the same reasons our staff came here in the first place - the
opportunity to see amazing objects whose
stories are revealed by the best and brightest
staff at any Museum. As Spring comes to
Washington, DC, budget uncertainty hangs
over all of us. Yet, I’m constantly amazed by
the level of dedication of our staff. A great
example was the recent hosting of an NSF
EarthCube workshop designed to understand
what the petrology-geochemistry-volcanology
community desired for next-generation Earth
Science infomatics. Despite occurring during
Snowquester (Noquester?), staff from the
Dept. of Mineral Sciences not only hosted the
workshop during the day, but many of our
staff made the extra effort to come in after
hours to open the collections to our distinguished visitors. These kind of efforts reinforce the central role that our Museum plays
in the broader scientific community and the
enthusiasm we have for sharing our stories. I
hope we can continue to recognize that, despite the bumps in the road, this is an amazing
place to work. If you doubt that, watch the
relentless march of visitors some day.
-Tim McCoy
Mineral Sciences acquires rare Jeremejevite
Every February at the Tucson Gem & Mineral
Show there are several undisputed, truly worldclass mineral specimens or gemstones available
for sale. One of this year’s highlights was a jeremejevite crystal, a very rare mineral that is typically found in granitic pegmatites. Jeremejevite,
with the chemical composition Al6(BO3)5(F,OH)3,
was originally described from the Nerschinsk area
of Russia in 1883. The usual size of jeremejevite
crystals ranges from micro-crystals, such as those
found in the Eifel district of Germany, to 6 cm in
length (like those known from the Erongo Mountains of Namibia). Crystals larger than 6 cm are
extremely rare. The new specimen recently acquired at this year’s Tucson Show is from the
Erongo pegmatite field and is an unbelievable
16.5 cm long, the largest known to date. With this
specimen we have both a superior upgrade and
addition to our substantial Namibia holdings. We
hope to someday display the crystal with our
11.30 carats gemstone (also from the Erongo
Mountains and one of the largest known faceted
blue jeremejevites). Photos: Mineral specimen—
Michael Wise; Gemstone—Ken Larsen.
Page 2
Volume 3, Number 4
Spring 2013
DMS hosts EarthCube Workshop
EarthCube aims to
transform the
conduct of
research through
the development
of communityguided cyberinfrastructure to
integrate
information and
data across the
geosciences.
EarthCube is a
collaboration between the U.S.
National Science
Foundation and
Earth, atmosphere,
ocean, computer,
information, and
social scientists,
educators, data
managers, and
more.
Chair of Mineral Sciences
Tim McCoy
Newsletter Editor
Michael Wise
Dept. of Mineral Sciences
MRC 119
wisem@si.edu
Earthcube End-User Domain Workshop:
Community-based Cyberinfrastructure for
Petrology, Geochemistry, and Volcanology
More than 75 scientists, data managers, sample curators,
and cyberinfrastructure specialists from around the nation
convened March 6-7th at the National Museum of Natural
History to evaluate the status of cyberinfrastructure (CI)
‘readiness’ of petrology, geochemistry, and volcanology and
to articulate CI needs and requirements for these domains to
contribute to the overall EarthCube architectural design phase.
The workshop, one of dozens taking place this year across
NSF’s geoscience programs, was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation to
Kerstin Lehnert (Columbia University), Elizabeth Cottrell (NMNH), and Rajdeep Dasgupta,
(Rice University) with additional support from the Global Volcanism Program. Twelve members of the Department of Mineral Sciences, including five postdoctoral fellows and two graduate
students, participated in the workshop. Curator Liz Cottrell chaired the proceedings and curator
Tim McCoy gave one of the keynote talks on Thursday, highlighting both DAWN mission science and the infrastructure at NMNH that forms the backbone of our collections management.
Petrologists, geochemists, and volcanologists -- the
“end-users” of the
EarthCube environment -- share a
scientific interest in
the chemical and
physical state of the
Earth, Moon and
other terrestrial
planets. They seek
to understand
physical and
chemical differentiation, the evolution of planetary
interiors and environments through
time, and the relationship between geologic processes and societal issues such as natural hazards
and resource use. These end-users generate data in the field by collecting samples or monitoring
volcanic activities, in laboratories by performing chemical analyses or physical experiments, and
by using these data to create and/or compute models. The workshop identified important scientific drivers for advancing cyberinfrastructure, impediments to addressing scientific challenges,
and a list of recommendations for next steps to realize the cyberinfrastructure vision for this
community. With 28 user-generated science scenarios submitted in advance of the workshop and
the highest EarthCube Stakeholder Survey participation of any end-user workshop, this community demonstrated a high level of engagement that continued throughout the discussions in plenary and breakout sessions. More documentation and an executive summary of the meeting can
be found at http://earthcube.ning.com/.
Several workshop outcomes are relevant to the Museum and Department including community
support for sample curation/access and databases like that of the Global Volcanism Program.
Page 3
Volume 3, Number 4
Spring 2013
DMS hosts EarthCube Workshop (cont.)
A late winter storm in the DC area obstructed travel and caused the Federal Government to
DMS EarthCube
Participants
close; however, this didn’t prevent NMNH Director Kirk Johnson from being the first to welcome guests to the museum, nor members of the Mineral Sciences Department from coming in
after hours to open collections and the Geology, Gems and Minerals Hall for a rollicking reception Wednesday evening. The reception was certainly one of the highlights of the workshop for
many participants.
Ben Andrews
Maryjo Brounce
Liz Cottrell
Rob Dennen
Brent Grocholski
Stephanie Grocke
Julie Herrick
Marion Le Voyer
Brendan McCormick
Tim McCoy
Christoph Popp
Ed Venzke
DMS Reception
Assistance
Emma Bullock
Yulia Goreva
Leslie Hale
Tim McCoy
Participants of the EarthCube Workshop visit the Meteorite Collection (left) and TOF-SIM
laboratory (right) during a DMS Open House reception. Photos by Liz Cottrell.
Awards & Grants
Awarded to Cara Santelli and Henry Teng (GW
professor and DMS associate) $43,700 grant from
the GW-SI Opportunity Research Fund for “Studies
of fungus-mediated dissolution of serpentine group
minerals – effects of mineral crystal structure, microbial metabolites, and biomechanical forces”.
Awarded to Cara Santelli and Dominique
Chaput. $54,000 grant from the Competitive
Grants Program for Science to study “Relating microbial community activity to ecosystem functioning in bioremediation systems, a metatranscriptomic
approach”.
Maryjo Brounce won two awards at AGU's 2012
Joint Fall Meeting. The first is the Outstanding Student Paper Award in Tectonophysics and the second
is the GeoPRISMS Student Talk Prize.
**Collections Update**
ALL of the department’s catalog ledgers
have been scanned/digitized in the past
two months, by Julie Hoskin, one of the
Collection Program Technicians. In the
future we hope to attach the image of
each page to all the relevant catalog records in EMu, so that the original source
material can be viewed without further
handling of the old ledgers.
Mineralogy Division
Petrology Division
Meteorites Division
Department wide
33
3
4
6
Total Ledgers Scanned 46 volumes
7837 Images Captured
Page 4
Volume 3, Number 4
Spring 2013
Collections
Keeping an eye open for amber and plant exudates
- Contributed by Drs. Jorge Santiago-Blay (Department of Paleobiology, NMNH) and Joseph B.
Lambert (Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas)
 Amber, or fossilized plant resin, has long been a subject for scientific analysis. A few years
ago, I (J.S-B) climbed two flights of stairs and visited the Department of Mineral Sciences
(DMS) at the NMNH. Voilà, there was amber in the Mineralogy Collection. Although not
strictly fitting the definition of a mineral, samples of this material were available for carbon-13
(13C) and proton (1H) nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) analyses. As a window
to the past through their biological inclusions as well as its chemistry, several collaborators, including Dr. Joseph B. Lambert, and I have been steadily pursuing the study of ambers and plant
exudates (e.g. resins, gums, kinos, and a few others) worldwide for two decades.
Amber specimens from the Mineralogy Collection. Photo by Michael Wise.
In a recent publication (Lambert et al. 2012), we demonstrated the success of 1H NMR spectroscopy in a study of 120 worldwide samples, 37 of which were obtained from DMS. Some key
discoveries resulting from those efforts have included the establishment of an NMR typology of
ambers of the world as well as a classification of modern plant exudates of the world . We demonstrated that ambers from all over the world may be classified into five groups based on their
1H NMR spectra. Samples from the DMS Mineralogy Collection contributed to four of these
five groups, so that they formed the heart of our study set. These five groups are identical to
those already established by mass spectrometry and carbon-13 magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
Interestingly, if the exudate happens to be a resin, the NMR profile can help us determine the
botanical provenance, such as the plant family and sometimes the genus. The much wider availability of 1H NMR spectrometers and the ease of analysis of their spectra, however, means that
amber now can be classified rapidly and inexpensively.
Often, amber appears in nature as small incrustations in other materials. If any reader sees
materials that look like amber, Dr. Santiago-Blay would appreciate a sample (100 mg or the approximate volume of a new eraser on a pencil) or knowing about who to contact to collect such
materials.
Lambert, J.B., Tsai, C.Y.-H., Shah, M.C., Hurtley, A.E. & Santiago-Blay, J.A. (2012) Distinguishing amber and copal classes by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Archaeometry,
54, 332-348.
Page 5
Volume 3, Number 4
Spring 2013
Royal Butterfly Brooch – A New Addition to the Gem Collection
On March 5, 2013,
the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History celebrated
the official unveiling of
the Cindy Chao Black
Label Masterpiece
Royal Butterfly Brooch
in a ceremony held in
the NMNH Butterfly
Pavilion. The Royal
Butterfly Brooch was
generously gifted to the
National Gem Collection by Cindy Chao in
Jewelry artisan Cindy Chao (center) proudly displays the Royal But2010. It is the first Tai- terfly Brooch at its unveiling held in the NMNH Butterfly Pavilion.
wanese-designed piece Photo by Michael Wise.
in the collection and
was created in 2009 by Chao to symbolize her metamorphosis from a jewelry designer to a
jewelry artist.
Front view (left) and back view (right) of the Cindy Chao Royal Butterfly Brooch. Photos by
Ken Larsen.
The Royal Butterfly is complexly layered and set with nearly 77 carats of gemstones. Among
the 2,318 gems are four large rough diamond slices stacked atop a pave layer of faceted diamonds, forming the centerpieces of the wings. These rough diamonds have a faceted top and
flat bottom, and before faceting, they had a natural pattern that appeared similar to the microstructure and scale on a butterfly’s wings. The Brooch
is also set with sapphires, fancy-colored sapphires, color-change sapphires, rubies, diamonds,
fancy-colored diamonds, and tsavorite garnets.
Many of the gem stones fluoresce under ultraviolet light - in other words, while some gems may
appear colorless in daylight, under ultraviolet
light they turn a bright blue, green, orange or red.
Back of the Royal Butterfly Brooch
viewed under ultraviolet light. Photo by
Ken Larsen.
The Butterfly Brooch is currently on public display in the Gem Gallery of the Janet Annenberg
Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals.
Page 6
Volume 3, Number 4
Spring 2013
New faces in DMS
The Department of
Mineral Sciences is
pleased to
welcome
Joseph Mack
to the Smithsonian Institution. Joe
joined SI on February 11, 2013 and will serve
as Mineral Sciences’ new funds manager.
Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Joe brings
with him 21 years of military service in the
U.S. Army before retiring in 2004. Prior to
joining DMS, Joe was stationed in Naples, Italy
where he worked with the Department of the
Navy for nearly a decade as the N1 Total Force
and Human Resource Office Regional Business
Manager. His areas of expertise, among others,
include federal travel and procurement.
Tian Peng, a
new intern in the
Department of
Mineral Sciences, is currently a graduate
student studying
Environmental
Resource Policy
at the George
Washington University. She previously graduated with an undergraduate degree in Environmental Biology from the University of Toronto . Tian
will be collaborating with Dr. Cara Santelli
(DMS) and Dr. Henry Teng (professor at
GW and associate in DMS) on studies of
fungus-mediated dissolution of serpentine
group minerals for the next year.
Sandra Siljeström completed her PhD in
Geochemistry at Stockholm University in
spring 2011. During her PhD she developed a
method for analyzing organic biomarkers in
single oil-bearing fluid inclusions using ToFSIMS. After finishing her PhD, she joined SP
Technical Research Institute of Sweden as a
Research Scientist. Taking a year off from her
current position, she is now a post-doctoral
fellow at the Geophysical Laboratory at Carnegie Institution working with Andrew Steele
examining organics in Martian meteorites. At
the Department of Mineral Sciences she is
collaborating primarily with Yulia Goreva on a variety of ToF-SIMS-related projects including
analyzing organics in different geological samples such as fossils, fungi and meteorites.
Post-doctoral fellow, Brendan McCormick completed his
PhD degree in volcanology from the University of Cambridge,
United Kingdom, working on satellite remote sensing of volcanic
sulfur dioxide emissions. Brendan’s research at the Smithsonian
focuses on the creation of a new relational database linking existing and future gas emission data to records of volcanic activity
compiled by the Global Volcanism Program. This work, jointly
funded by GVP and the Deep Carbon Observatory, will provide
the basis for studies of the links between gas emission and volcanic activity across wide spatial and temporal scales and the
creation of improved regional and global gas emissions budgets.
Brendan is particularly interested in the integration of and complementarity between remote sensing and direct measurements of
volcanic gases. In this two year interdisciplinary project, Brendan
works with Liz Cottrell and Ben Andrews (both DMS), as well
as collaborators elsewhere in the US, and in Italy, France and the UK.
Page 7
Volume 3, Number 4
Spring 2013
In The Media
February 15th , 2013 was a
busy day for the meteorite folks
in the Department of Mineral
Sciences. Two major yet unconnected events occurred; one had
been expected for some time,
while the other came completely out of the blue. First,
asteroid 2012 DA14 performed
a flyby of the Earth, passing
around 17,000 miles above the
surface. The asteroid had been
tracked for some time, and flew
past the earth without causing
any trouble. On the same day,
however, a meteorite streaked
Tom Costello (NBC Nightly News) interviews Linda Welzenover Russia before exploding
bach (Mineral Sciences).
between 8 and 10 miles above
the surface, sending out a shockwave that shattered windows and terrified locals, finally landing
a few miles from the city of Chelyabinsk. This event was heavily reported in the media, and several members of the department participated in both television and newspaper interviews to share
their knowledge. In print, Tim McCoy
provided quotes for the Washington
Post, while Cari Corrigan was interviewed for a piece in the Smithsonian
magazine. For the broadcast news media,
Linda Welzenbach was interviewed for
NBC Nightly News, while Emma Bullock appeared on Fox5 News, BBC
news, ABC7 News and WUSA9. Links
to some of these media appearances are
given below.
Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/as-asteroid-whizzesby-surprise-meteor-makes-an-impact-over-russia/2013/02/15/b3a417d0-77a5-11e2-aa12e6cf1d31106b_story.html
Smithsonian Magazine: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/aroundthemall/2013/02/a-smithsonianexpert-breaks-down-the-science-of-meteors/
NBC Nightly News: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/50827929#50827929
ABC7: http://www.wjla.com/articles/2013/02/asteroid-buzzes-misses-earth---unlike-meteor85289.html
FOX5: http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/21204548/hundreds-injured-when-meteorite-falls-inrussian-urals#axzz2L23xqLZ3
WUSA9: http://mms.tveyes.com/PlaybackPortal.aspx?SavedEditID=aeec96e7-5d73-40f6-b07ce54862ebde05
Page 8
Volume 3, Number 4
Spring 2013
In The Media (cont.)
Opportunity favors the prepared mind, and being in the right room when the opportunity
arrives helps a lot. Michael Velbel, a Smithsonian Senior Fellow in the Department of Mineral Sciences, was quoted in a Washington Post article describing research on an ancient impact structure in Iowa. The research, presented at a well-attended seminar in the Department
of Paleobiology, NMNH, by Bevan French (Adjunct Scientist in Paleobiology), describes a
small (diameter 6 km) buried meteorite impact structure of mid-Ordovician age in Iowa and
investigates the crater’s connections to a major breakup in the asteroid belt at 467 Ma and to
possible widespread paleontological phenomena far beyond the structure itself. Velbel, studying meteorites during his sabbatical leave from Michigan State University, attended Dr.
French's presentation and commented in response to questions from the Washington Post
writer reporting on the seminar. A link to the Washington Post article is given below.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/crater-found-in-iowa-points-toasteroid-break-up-470-million-years-ago/2013/02/18/545131f8-76d5-11e2-aa12e6cf1d31106b_story.html?tid=pm_national_pop
The University of Rhode Island recently issued a press release which highlights the research
and American Geophysical Union student awards of Maryjo Brounce. You can read about it
at http://www.gso.uri.edu/sea-and-around-world/agu-awards-gso-grad-student.
Selected Publications
Deng, L., Seagle, C., Fei, Y. & Shahar, A.
(2013) High pressure and temperature electrical resistivity of iron and implications for
planetary cores. Geophysical Research Letters, 40, 33-37
Singerling, S.A., Modi, A.L., McFerrin, B.,
Worsham, E.A., McSween, H. Y., Rumble,
D., Tanaka, R. & Taylor, L.A. (2013) Two
new eucrite breccias from Northwest Africa.
Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 48, E1–E9.
Gaillou, E., Post, J.E., Rose, T.R. & Butler,
J.E. (2013) Cathodoluminescence of natural,
plastically deformed pink diamonds. Microscopy and Microanalysis, 18, 1292-1302.
Toner, B.M., Lesniewski, R.A., Marlow, J.J.,
Briscoe, L.J., Santelli, C.M., Bach, W., Orcutt, B.N. & Edwards, K.J. (2013) Mineralogy drives bacterial biogeography of hydrothermally inactive seafloor sulfide deposits.
Geomicrobiology Journal, 30, 313-326.
McSween, H., Ammannito, E., Reddy, V.,
Prettyman, T., Beck, A.W., DeSanctis, M.,
Nathues, A., Le Corre, L., O’Brien, D., Yamashita, N., McCoy, T., Mittlefehldt, D.,
Toplis, M., Schenk, P., Palomba, E., Turrini,
D., Tosi, F., Zambon, F., Longobardo, A.,
Capaccioni, F., Raymond, C., & Russell, C.
(2013) Composition of Rheasilvia basin, a
window into Vesta’s interior. JGR Planets.
DOI: 10.1002/jgre.20057
Pohwat, P.W. (2013) Connoisseur's Choice:
Fluorite Elmwood Mine, Carthage, Smith
County, Tennessee. Rocks and Minerals, 88,
72-86.
Walter, M.J. & Cottrell, E. (2013) Assessing
uncertainty in geochemical models for core
formation in Earth. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 365, 165-176.
Wise, M.A., Francis, C.A. & Černý, P.
(2012) Compositional and structural variations in columbite-group minerals from granitic pegmatites of the Brunswick and Oxford
fields, Maine: differential trends in F-poor
and F-rich environments. Canadian Mineralogist 50, 1515-1530.
Page 9
Volume 3, Number 4
Spring 2013
Meetings & Abstracts
Abreu, N.M., Eckert, J.O. & Bullock, E.S.
(2013) Mineralogical and Chemical Relationships Among Anomalous CV and CR Chondrites MET 01017, RBT 04133, and MIL
07513.
Archer, G.J., Walker, R.J. & Bullock, E.S.
(2013) Highly Siderophile Element Abundances and Rhenium-Osmium Isotope Systematics of Chondritic Components.
Beck, A.W., Viviano, C., & McCoy, T.
(2013) Limitation of sample size in meteorite
thin section and spectroscopic studies: Implications for the HEDs and Vesta.
Bullock, E.S., Lunning, N.G. & McCoy, T.J.
(2013) Allende 10 B 41: Megachondrule, or
Impact Melt Clast?
Corrigan,C.M. & Lunning, N.G. (2013)
Petrogenesis of Microporphyritic Impact Melt
Clasts in Ordinary Chondrites.
Frigeri, A., Ammannito, E., De Sanctis, M.C.,
Capaccioni, F., Tosi, F., Zambon, F.,
Palomba, E., Longobardo, A., Capria, M.T.,
McCoy, T.J., Raymond, C.A. & Russell, C.T.
(2013)Vesta Fs and Wo Maps Derived by
VIR on Dawn.
Gardner-Vandy, K.G., McCoy, T.J., Corrigan, C.M., Lauretta, D.S. & Benedix, G.K.
(2013) Implications of R Chondrite Melting
Experiments on the Formation of GRA
06128/9.
Goreva, Y.S. & Burnett, D.S. (2013) TOFSIMS Ion Imaging for Evaluation of Effectiveness of Genesis Sample Cleaning
Greenwood, R.C., Barrat, J.A., Scott, E.R.D.,
Franchi, I.A., Yamaguchi, A., Gibson, J.M.,
Haack, H., Lorenz, C.A., Ivanova, M.A. &
Bevan, A. (2013) Large-Scale Melting and
Impact Mixing on Early-Formed Asteroids:
Evidence from High-Precision Oxygen Isotope Studies.
Grocholski, B. & Cottrell, E. (2013) Water
Storage Capacity of Dense, Lower Mantle
Minerals.
Ivanova, M.A., Krot, A.N., Kononkova,
N.N. & MacPherson, G.J. (2013) Heterogeneity in Bulk Compositions of Compound CAIs
from NWA 3118 and Efremovka CV3 Chondrites.
Klima, R.L., Izenberg, N.R., Murchie, S.,
Meyer, H.M., Stockstill-Cahill, K.R., Blewett, D.T., D'Amore, M., Denevi, B.W.,
Ernst, C.M., Helbert, J., McCoy, T.J., Sprague, A.L., Vilas, F. & Weider, S.Z. (2013)
Constraining the Ferrous Iron Content of Silicate Minerals. in Mercury's Crust.
Korochantsev, A.V., Lorenz, C.A., Ivanova,
M.A., Teplyakova, S.N., Kononkova, N.N.,
Roshchina, I.A., Borisovsky, S.Ye.,
Bychkova, Ya.V., Franchi, I.A. & Greenwood, R.C. (2013) Karavannoe: A New
Member of the Eagle Station Pallasite Grouplet.
Lunning, N.G., McSween, H.Y. & Corrigan,
C.M. (2013) Vesicular Impact-Melt Clasts in
Carbonaceous Chondrites: Evidence from the
CV3 Meteorite LAR 06317 and Relevance to
Surface Processes on the Asteroid 4 Vesta.
MacPherson, G.J., Ushikubo, T., Kita, N.T.,
Ivanova, M.A., Bullock, E.S. & Davis, A.M.
(2013) Petrologic and 26Al/27Al Isotopic Studies of Type A CAIs and Documentation of
the Fluffy Type A – Compact Type A – Type
B CAI Evolutionary Transition.
McAdam, M.M., Sunshine, J.M., Howard,
K.T., Kelly, M.S. & McCoy, T.J. (2013) Fe
and Mg Compositional Variations of CM/CI
Meteorites and Dark Asteroids.
Page 10
Volume 3, Number 4
Spring 2013
Meetings & Abstracts (cont.)
McCoy, T.J. & Gardner-Vandy, K.G.
(2013) Asteroid Partial Melting at the Solar
System's Snow Line.
Prettyman, T.H., Mittlefehldt, D.W.,
Feldman, W.C., Hendricks, J.S., Lawrence,
D.J., Peplowski, P.N., Toplis, M.J., Yamashita, N., Beck, A., Le Corre, L., McCoy,
T.J., McSween, H.Y., Reedy, R.C.,Titus,
T.N., Mizzon, H., Reddy, V., Joy, S.P., Polanskey, C.A., Rayman, M.D., Raymond, C.A. &
Russell, C.T. (2013) Neutron Absorption
Measurements Constrain Eucrite-Diogenite
Mixing in Vesta's Regolith.
Singerling, S.A., McCoy, T.J., & Gardner
-Vandy, K.G. (2013) Possible Evidence for
Sulfidization Reactions in the Miller Range
Brachinites(?).
Steele, A., McCubbin, F.M., Benning, L.,
Siljestrom, S.S., Cody, G.D., Goreva, Y.,
Hauri, E.H., Wang, J., Kilcoyne, A.L.D.,
Grady, M.M., Smith, C., Freissinet, C.,
Glavin, D.P., Burton, A.S., Fries, M.D.F.,
Blanco, J.D.R., Glamoclija, M., Rogers, K.L.,
Mikhail, S. & Dworkin, J.S. (2013) Organic
Carbon Inventory of the Tissint Meteorite.
Williams, C.D., Ushikubo, T., MacPherson,
G.J., Bullock, E.S., Kita, N.T. & Wadhwa,
M. (2013) Oxygen Isotope Systematics of
Allende FUN CAI CMS-1.
Yamashita, N., Prettyman, T.H., Reedy, R.C.,
Feldman, W.C., Lawrence, D.J., Peplowski,
P.N., Mittlefehldt, D.W., McSween, H.Y.,
McCoy, T.J., Toplis, M.J., Forni, O., Mizzon, H. & Russell, C.T.(2013) Preliminary
Iron Distribution on Vesta.
Zaytsev, M.A., Gerasimov, M.V., Safonova,
E.N., Ivanova, M.A., Lorenz, C.A., Dikov,
Yu.P. & Korochantsev, A.V. (2013) Comparative Investigation of Organic Components in the Murchison (CM2) and Kainsaz
(CO3) Carbonaceous Chondrites.
DMS Curator Glenn
MacPherson attended a special
symposium on Cosmochemical
Perspectives On The Early Evolution Of The Solar System, held
in Sapporo Japan February 2022, 2013. The meeting highlighted the latest perspectives on
how our solar system formed
during the birth of the Sun, and
also on recent technological advances in the field of isotope
geochemistry that have enabled
the latest discoveries. The meeting included seven international
Participants of the Cosmochemical Perspectives On The
invitees as well as faculty and
Early Evolution Of The Solar System Symposium standing
students from Hokkaido Univerat a Visitor’s Center high above the city of Sapporo, seen in
sity, the hosting institution.
the background (Glenn MacPherson is third from right).
MacPherson gave the leadoff
invited talk (High Precision Micro-Chronology of Ca-Al-Rich Inclusions in the Earliest Solar
System). Despite three feet of standing snow during the entire meeting, the meeting was a
great success and the hospitality superb.
Page 11
Volume 3, Number 4
Spring 2013
Another Successful Tucson Show!
Another big year at the AGTA GemFair and the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show. The National
Museum of Natural History and the Department of Mineral Sciences was represented by Jeffrey
Post, Russell Feather, Paul Pohwat, Michael Wise, Loretta Cooper, and Christine Webb. Several gem and mineral specimens from the National Gem & Mineral Collection were exhibited at
both shows. The Maharaja of Indore Emerald Necklace was on display for the AGTA GemFair
Lisa Elser presents donation of a Nigerian tourmaline to Jeffrey Post. Photo © AGTA.
Photo courtesy Kelly George.; 14.24 carat tourmaline (Nigeria)-Gift of Lisa Elser; Oregon
sunstone (67.50 carats). Photo: Ken Larsen.; Suite of Vietnamese spinels. Photo: Michael
Wise.
along with the Petersen Tanzanite Brooch and George Zircon Pendant. Many wonderful new acquisitions were also featured in the exhibit, including an extensive display of Oregon sunstones
and a beautiful pearl necklace. Of course the highlight of the new donations was the 401.52ct amethyst acquired with funds from the
Smithsonian Gemstone Collectors
group. The Tucson Gem & Mineral
show also exhibited the Maharaja
of Indore Emerald Necklace as well
as a display that included a case of
minerals and gems representing the
show’s theme of fluorite. Both temporary exhibits were well received
and appreciated by all who attended. Many rare, unusual, and
amazing gems and minerals were
seen at both shows, including an
incredible 14ct+ Paraiba tourmaline, a 25.86ct pink topaz from
Russia, cat’s eye emeralds from
Colombia, spinels from Viet Nam,
and of course, Ethiopian opals.
Page 12
Volume 3, Number 4
Spring 2013
New Acquisitions
New Acquisitions from the 2013 Tucson Gem & Mineral Show
Photos clockwise from top left: Mike and Paul discuss the pros and cons of acquiring the
“giant” Namibian jeremejevite crystal; Unusual specimen of amethystine quartz geode from
Brazil; Unusually large and rare rhodizite crystal from Madagascar; Hemimorphite cabochon (78.70 carats) from Mexico. Gift of Bill Larson.; Pink calcite with quartz from Inner
Mongolia (China) .
Photo credits: Upper left and right-Jeffrey Post; Middle left and right-Michael Wise; Lower
left-Ken Larsen.