El Paso Mineral and Gem Society

The El Paso Mineral and Gem Society had a fund-raising auction last night.

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From my collection I donated a nice amethyst geode, the petrified wood that I recently found near my house, and a piece of chalk with fluorescent calcite from the formation bordering the English channel. Like at Dover, but on the French side.

I bought some nice things in the auction - and CHEAP too!

I got one half of a geode recently found near Deming, New Mexico USA. Look closely at this under shortwave ultraviolet light and you will see in the top right hand corner a small bit of calcite that fluoresces red.

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NOTE: Click on the pictures and they will enlarge

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The green fluorescence is trace amounts of uranium in the silicon dioxide. You can see the bands (sort of like tree rings) where it was deposited in layers.

I also got a couple of pieces of fossilized plants out of England, and a cut slab of ancient “little critters.” Also a couple of cut slabs of fossilized palm tree wood from East Texas, and some dog tooth calcltie which barely fluoresces at all.

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And a friend gave me a nice big piece of mahogany obsidian.

These rocks plus several more which I gave away cost me a total of $10-. What a deal.

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