March 2022 Program Information
March 2022 Program
Our program was presented by our president, Mike Pabst. He provided a PowerPoint about the new JMU mineral museum.JMU is now the "go to" university for geology and minerals in the state. The museum is open to the public on Tuesdays and Thursdays 11 to 3. Groups may make arrangements to visit on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The link is https://www.jmu.edu/mineralmuseum/index.shtml
Please check this site before you go - it explains parking procedures and information about closings, etc. The site gives the history of the museum and some photos of some of the minerals. (Mike would be glad to host a few of you at a time if you want to visit on Tue/Thur. Please contact him at michaeljpapst@yahoo.com)
-Mike took all the photos he showed us. He explained that it takes a lot of patience, and a lot of shots to get that perfect one!
He used his iPhone for some, and a camera for others. In order to get a great representation, many things must be taken into account - lighting, background, glare of the glass, reflections in the glass, objects in the background, and the angle of view. Also, nothing compares to the real object in terms of color clarity - what looks green in the specimen may appear blue on the camera screen or yellow on the presenter. Designing slides with a pleasing font, background and descriptors are a lot of work as well.
Mike, we give you kudos for the great efforts you used to make the presentation very educational and enjoyable!
- The minerals encompass many countries - Russia, China, Brazil, Namibia, and India to name a few. The US is represented by CA, CO, & UT with many others. There are a plethora of specimens from VA.
Mike said the JMU museum rivals many he has visited in Europe and other locations in the US. A few pieces are worth at least $1 million!! Dr. Lance Kearns and his wife, Dr. Cindy Kearns have spent thousands of hours arranging the displays, and have actually purchased 3 pieces from our annual mineral shows that are displayed in the museum.
-Many minerals are from the collection of Peter L. Via who donated to JMU over $18 million worth of minerals from his estate when he passed away. A 3 minute video of this collection can be seen on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHGG6DkQhRc. Other collections include samples from the now closed Rutherford mine in VA and a fluorescent collection.
-Some highlighted pieces were several rhodochrosites from the Alma mine in CO, a morganite (pink beryl named for JP Morgan), a unique garnet tree with separate cubic crystals from Austria, a cluster of rare rose quartz crystals, gold filigree, unusual calcite crystals and many others.
-"Seeing is believing" Photos do not capture the pristine elements of the minerals on display at the museum. If you get a chance, please try to visit and become amazed at the unique qualities of these pieces. You'll be glad you did!
Dioptase
Jade
Smoky Quartz
Python Jasper