The leaves were changing (and even falling), but that did not deter a group of WCGMC folks from making a fourth trip to St. Lawrence County in late September. This time we were joined by 16 undergraduate geology majors from SUNY-Plattsburgh and their professor Dr. Mary Roden-Tice. It was truly wonderful to see so many young and eager folks enjoying geology and a day of collecting. The brilliant sun and the absence of mosquitoes did not hurt either.
Half of the SUNY-Plattsburg students have gathered near the top of the original Rose Road skarn site. Sky blue apatite has been spotted.
Article I wrote as “Site of the Month” in WCGMC News, Oct., 2014
Fine Minerals or Minerals in Fine, NY?
This will be a short report on a small occurrence. And, perhaps this will be even longer than it truly deserves. But we cannot expect gem tourmaline, perfect fluorites, or complete trilobites at all our favorite haunts.
Nestled in a depression just off the intersection of Rte. 3 and Rte 58 in Fine, NY is an interesting occurrence of very coarse grained pyroxene (presumably diposide, but possibly augite) and potassium feldspar. There is associated calcite suggesting that the mineralization may have a skarn origin, but the outcrop exposures don’t appear to permit an unequivocal geologic explanation for the very coarse grained open space filling mineralization.
Who knows the most significant event of 1982? Could it be:
The Epcot Center opens in Orlando, Florida
Britian overcomes Argentina in the Falklands.
Chariots of Fire wins Oscar for Best Picture.
MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imagery) makes its medical debut.
Wrong, wrong, wrong and wrong. The most significant event in 1982 was when the International Commission on Mineral and Mineral Names (CNMMN) adopted the name titanite and discredited the mineral name sphene. Unlike those other events, the impact was immediate and worldwide. OK, maybe a few of you missed the event, but now you know.
WCGMC flirted with titanite collecting all summer. Perhaps not as infamous as the cry “It must be an amphibole”, but “ooh, it’s another titanite” was commonly heard in the field this summer.
An article I wrote for the WCGMC News in December, 2013
One of the more popular mineral locations for upstate New York rockhounds this year was Rose Road off Route 3 in Pitcairn, a daily fee site owned by Mr. Richard LaPlatney who lives at the property. Although the silicate skarn mineralization flanking the Grenville age white marble hill has been visited by mineral collectors dating back to 1880’s the location seems to have been rejuvenated after Walter highlighted the mineralogy and collecting history in his 2007 book “Field Collecting Minerals in the Empire State”.
The major “digging” there this year was focused on the first site encountered after passing LaPlatney’s home just off of Rose Road. At first glance the exposed rock seems to be dominated by lavender diopside, calcite, albite and red brown phlogopite.. A Scanning Electron Microscopy/Energy Dispersive Analysis (SEM/EDA) of the lavender diopside indicated elevated Ti, likely substituting into the Mg spot in the lattice to generate the lavender color (S. Chamberlain, pers. comm.). There is also less Fe in the purple diopside than in the green version found just a few hundred feet farther up the road.
Just off Rte. 3 near Pitcairn, NY, the Rose Road Hill site is a skarn location with multiple collecting sites and a very diverse set of minerals. Rose Road site in Pitcairn, NY
