May 2016
01: Education Outreach: Patrick Henry Middle School (see article)
02: General Meeting: 7:30 pm in our regular meeting room
03: Education Outreach: Vintage Magnet School NASA Night (see article)
16: Board Meeting: 7:30 pm at The Dearborn’s home.
19: Father’s Day: Make it a special day for a special Dad!
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General Meeting: Thursday June 02, 2016
The meeting begins at 7:30 pm
in our regular meeting room at:
Northridge
United Methodist Church - 9650 Reseda Blvd, Northridge, CA 91324
Guests Are Always Welcome
At Our Meetings & Events.
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June
2016 Program: LEARN SOMETNING
NEW!
TONIGHT
OUR MEMBERS AND GUESTS WILL PARTICIPATE IN HANDS ON MICRO FOSSIL COLLECTING
Presented by: The Board
Tonight we are going to Lusk WY, on the east side of the state. Lusk is a small town, with 1 bank, 2 gas
stations and 1 laundry. If you went east for about 25-30 miles you would be in
Mt. Rushmore, SD. We will go north of Lusk for about 15 miles and then west
into the prairie. This is all private, BLM or National Grassland, but we are
going to be looking for fossils on private land, with permission, so it is OK
to collect. Actually we will be on a Buffalo Ranch. The only place you might
see some trees or water is around a ranch house or in some of the deep gullies.
Everywhere else it is rolling country with sage and many kinds of bushes and
grasses. But this is where we find the dinosaur specimens. Many of the famous
dino finds have been found within a 75 mile radius of where we will be looking.
The T Rex “Sue” was found near here. We will be searching for fossils of the
dinosaur era in an area called a “Lag”. This is a place where an ancient river
flowed and went through a slow moving pool or pond. As animals and vegetation
floated down the river they sank into a slow moving pool or pond where dirt and
mud covered them through the millennia turning some of them into fossils. Now
this pool has eroded up to the surface and it is an area which is quite different
than the land surrounding it. Our lag is about 100 feet in diameter; it is
sandy & has course pebbles. Plants don’t seem to grow in this area as much
as on the surrounding land. The lag is not necessarily a depressed or low area
& can be on top of a hill or on the side of a bank. It all depends on how the land has eroded due
to wind & flash floods. The lag area contains a lot of fossil stuff such as
plant parts, fish parts and animal parts There will not be any whole fossils,
because they get broken coming down the river, but there is a lot of fossil
pieces. For tonight, we have brought lag material that has not been looked at before
and it has many fossil pieces in it. In the field we would all lie down on our
stomachs and gaze along the surface to see fossil items. Tonight, everyone will
work at the table where their chair is and we will all have to share the
screens, colanders, lights and magnifying glasses. You should be able to
identify fossils without the magnifying glass, but they can help. You will get
a sample of the lag material. Then screen the fine dirt out, PLEASE KEEP IT ON
THE TABLES. Then dump this material on to a white plate and spread out with
your fingers. Now, look for the fossils. There will be a sample illustration of
the most common type of fossils found on each table. As you find the fossils,
put them in the plastic bag so you don’t lose them. There are a lot of types of
fossils in this material so look at it all. You could find a piece of fossil
Dino Egg, small animal bones, fish scales, insects and more.
What
to bring to the meeting: If
you have a small desk lamp, and a pair of tweezers, this will help you see the
fossils better and be able to pick them up easier. HAVE FUN!
Bob Dearborn, Secretary
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Saturday - May 21st - A Big Day for the Del Air
Rockhounds
Paramount Ranch Booth: Chris
Ward, Bob Knox, Marilyn Murata, Julie Marin, her granddaughters Mina Swintek,
Zoe Swintek and their mother whose name I forget but is Julie Marin’s daughter,
future members Chris & Levere whose last name I don’t know, Joel Rousch
& Linda Barroza and a special guest appearance by new member Pat Tuttle.
Today our club had 2
booths going at 2 different locations and if you were there helping out you
know it was a big day for our club. We were cutting geodes, spinning the wheel,
talking about our club and rocks, selling grab bags, necklaces and doing our
free educational games. We talked to 100’s of people today and gave out
information about our club to many. It was a good day for our club and we
really appreciate our members and guests who participated in running these
booths. It was a true joy to see so many members, friends and new members show
up to help out at our Paramount Ranch Booth. We all had a blast and it was a
great day spent promoting our wonderful hobby! Remember these booths can only
work if our members come out to help. This means all our members when they can.
We still have a few booth functions coming up in the next couple months and we
can use your help. Please sign up when the time comes.
El Oro Way School Festival Booth:
Jim & Shellie VanWinkle, Michael Tschacher & Bob &
Maxine Dearborn
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Support our Hobby.......Attend a Local Show
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June 3 - 5:
LA HABRA, CA
North
Orange County Gem & Mineral Society
La
Habra Community Center
101
W. La Habra Blvd.
Hours:
Fri 5 - 8; Sat 10 - 6; Sun 10 - 5
Contact:
Don Warthen, 626-330-8974
Email:
odwarthen@verizon.net
Website:
www.nocgms.com
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June 4 - 5: GLENDORA, CA
Glendora
Gems & Mineral Society
Goddard
Middle School
859
E. Sierra Madre Avenue
Hours:
Sat. 10 - 5; Sun 10 - 4
Contact:
Bonnie Bidwell, (626) 963-4638
Email:
Ybidwell2@aol.com
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June 25 - 26: CULVER
CITY, CA
Culver
City Rock & Mineral Club
Veterans
Memorial Auditorium
4117
Overland Blvd (@Culver Blvd, Near the 405 & 10 Freeways)
Hours:
Sat 10 - 6; Sun 10 - 5
Contact:
Janice Metz, (310) 850-4398
Email:
janicemtz@yahoo.com
Website:
www.culvercityrocks.org
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August 13 - 14: SAN
FRANCISCO, CA
San
Francisco Gem & Mineral Society
San
Francisco County Fair Building
9th
Avenue & Lincoln Way
Hours:
Sat. 10 - 6; Sun. 10 - 5
Contact:
Ellen Nott, (415) 564-4230
Email:
ellen_nott@yahoo.com
Website:
www.sfgemshow.org
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September 16 - 18: PLACERVILLE, CA
77th Annual
CFMS Show & Convention
Hosted
by El Dorado County Mineral & Gem Society
El
Dorado County Fairgrounds
100
Placerville Drive
Hours:
Fri - Sun 10 - 5 daily
Contact:
Barbara Terrill, 530 676-2375
Website:
www.cfms2016show.com
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September 17 - 18:
CHICO, CA
Feather
River Lapidary & Mineral Society, Oroville
Silver
Dollar Fairgrounds
2357
Fair Street
Hours:
Sat 9:30 - 5; Sun 9:30 - 4
John
Scott, (530) 321-6331
Email:
jweazel@sbcglobal.net
Website:
www.featherriverrocks.org
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September 24 - 25: LODI,
CA
Stockton
Lapidary & Mineral Club
Lodi
Grape & Harvest Festival Grounds
413
East Lockford Street
Hours:
10 - 5 daily
Contact:
Jerold Kyle, (209) 368-9411
Email:
jeroldkyle@yahoo.com
Website:
www.stocktonlapidary.com
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September 24 - 25:
MONTEREY, CA
Carmel
Valley Gem & Mineral Society
Monterey
Fairgrounds
2004
Fairgrounds Road
Hours:
Sat 10 - 6; Sun 10 - 5
Contact:
Janis Rovetti, (831) 372-1311
Email:
janis12@sbcglobal.net
Website:
www.cvgms.org
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June 2016 Something of the Month: Lagerstatten
Lagerstätten, meaning “fossil
deposit places” in German or “Lag” for short, are geological fossil deposits
that are rich with varied, well-preserved fossils, representing a wide variety
of life from a particular era. These spectacular fossil deposits represent an
amazing "snapshot" in time. Actually, two
types of Lagerstätte are distinguished:
Konzentrat-Lagerstätten (translates to concentration
Lagerstätten) These fossil sites provide a concentration of fossils accumulated
over a period of time that represent a community of organisms within an
ecosystem. Bone beds fall into this category.
Konservat-Lagerstätten (translates to conservation
Lagerstätten) These fossil sites exhibit exceptional preservation of fossilized
organisms or ichnofossils. The extraordinary preservation is most often
attributable to rapid burial in an oxygen devoid environment lacking sediment.
These sites are the most important to science, especially in the study of
evolution, and are the ones most sought by fossil collectors.
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Welcome to our New Members
A very special welcome goes out to Coriolis who is our first Pebble Pup
in more than a decade and has already been enrolled in the official AFMS Future
Rockhounds of America Badge Program. At our June meeting, Cori will be earning
his first badge for Fossil Hunting by participating in our Micro Fossil
collecting program.
The Del Air Rockhounds Club
is extremely pleased to welcome four new members to our organization.
Pat Tuttle – Voted in unanimously at our April meeting.
The Koch Family – Dad Steven, Mom Lourdes & Son Coriolis (Cori)
Voted
in unanimously at our May meeting.
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