CATEGORIES

Prehistoric Birds Take Flight and Pique Public Interest
Rock&Gem Magazine

Prehistoric Birds Take Flight and Pique Public Interest

Birds have really taken flight these past two decades—ancient birds, that is! A flurry of new research has led to a flurry of books with titles like Dinosaurs of the Air, The Mistaken Extinction: Dinosaur Evolution and the Origin of Birds, Mesozoic Birds: Above the Heads of Dinosaurs, and The Rise of Birds, among others.

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4 mins  |
December 2020
Uncommon Dinosaurs
Rock&Gem Magazine

Uncommon Dinosaurs

Southern Continents Reveal Uncommon Giants

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10+ mins  |
December 2020
ZOISITE
Rock&Gem Magazine

ZOISITE

A Massive Mineral Marked by Christmas- Like Color and Appeal

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7 mins  |
December 2020
Odie House
Rock&Gem Magazine

Odie House

A good friend, and wonderful artisan both lapidary and silversmith h, Odie is always fun to chat with. There is always something beautiful to see when Odie is in the “house.”

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3 mins  |
December 2020
PLEASING PYROPE
Rock&Gem Magazine

PLEASING PYROPE

Italy’s Uniquely Valuable Variety of Garne

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6 mins  |
December 2020
Joplin
Rock&Gem Magazine

Joplin

Field Trip Findings: Gaining More Than Mineral Specimens

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7 mins  |
December 2020
GEOLOGY 101 Columnar Basalt
Rock&Gem Magazine

GEOLOGY 101 Columnar Basalt

A distinctive volcanic structure found throughout the world has been given fanciful names: “Organ Pipes” in Namibia and Victoria, Australia; “Kilt Rock” and “Samson’s Ribs” in Scotland; “Giant’s Causeway” in Northern Ireland; “Thunderstruck Rocks” in Romania; “Devils Tower” in Wyoming and “Paul Bunyan’s Woodpile” in Utah, USA; the “Baigong Pipes” in China; and the “Cliff of Stone Plates” in Vietnam. High-resolution satellite images have even shown similar as-yet-unnamed structures on Mars.

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1 min  |
December 2020
Rock&Gem Magazine

“Finger Printing” Turquoise

Answering the Question of Provenance

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10+ mins  |
November 2020
10 Fascinating Facts About Opal
Rock&Gem Magazine

10 Fascinating Facts About Opal

The name “opal” is the subject of long-standing debate. Some accounts cite the origin of the name to be the Latin word opalus, while other reports state it hails from the Greek word opallios.

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2 mins  |
October 2020
Sanding and Polishing Thundereggs
Rock&Gem Magazine

Sanding and Polishing Thundereggs

Two basic lapidary machines can be used to sand and polish thunderegg halves quickly. Both involve sanding the pieces dry.

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2 mins  |
November 2020
Studying Nature's Impact on Ancient Civilization and Tuning In Online to Make Sense of Meteorites
Rock&Gem Magazine

Studying Nature's Impact on Ancient Civilization and Tuning In Online to Make Sense of Meteorites

Okmok. In remote Alaska. A strange name and a strange place for what some scientists and historians now say caused the downfall of the Roman Republic and the Egyptian Ptolemaic Kingdom shortly after the demise of Julius Caesar.

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3 mins  |
November 2020
Rock&Gem Magazine

San Diego Mineral & Gem Society & Museum

CELEBRATING, SHOWCASING, AND PRESERVING NATURAL AND COMMUNITY HISTORY

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10+ mins  |
November 2020
THE SAN DIEGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM  Hot Pink Tourmalines, Kunzites & Fossils
Rock&Gem Magazine

THE SAN DIEGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM Hot Pink Tourmalines, Kunzites & Fossils

At the famous Balboa Park in San Diego, just south of the San Diego Mineral and Gem Society & Museum, is the San Diego Natural History Museum (SDNHM) — or the Nat as the locals call it. SNDNHM is one of the most significant natural history museums in the country.

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4 mins  |
November 2020
Rock&Gem Magazine

PATRIOTIC PRIDE

Exploring Jerry Muchna’s Salute to America in Faceted Quartz

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7 mins  |
November 2020
Marvelous Micromounts
Rock&Gem Magazine

Marvelous Micromounts

TURNING TO “MICROS” FOR A UNIQUE EXPLORATION AND APPRECIATION OF ABUNDANT MINERALS IN FRANKLIN, NEW JERSEY

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7 mins  |
November 2020
JOHN SINKANKAS
Rock&Gem Magazine

JOHN SINKANKAS

Award-Winning Mineralogist, Gemologist, Mentor, and Military Veteran

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8 mins  |
November 2020
Rock&Gem Magazine

Diane's Oval

One of the many benefits of being a lapidary artist is the opportunity to spend time doing something you love to create one-of-a-kind art and jewelry to sell to someone who finds it enchanting or to give as a gift to someone special. It’s a win-win, whatever the reason or result.

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3 mins  |
November 2020
Rock&Gem Magazine

Bluebird Chrysocolla

Bluebird Chrysocolla comes from an old copper mine in Gila County, Arizona.

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2 mins  |
November 2020
Palatki Red Cliffs Ancient Painters' Palette
Rock&Gem Magazine

Palatki Red Cliffs Ancient Painters' Palette

In the shadow of the famous red cliffs of Sedona, the ancient ruins of Palatki remain silent for nearly 700 years. The Palatki Red Cliffs is a designated World Heritage archaeological site that contains cliff dwellings, pictographs, and petroglyphs created by the Sinagua people of the Ancestral Puebloans.

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5 mins  |
October 2020
Turning to the “Other” Tourmaline Crystals
Rock&Gem Magazine

Turning to the “Other” Tourmaline Crystals

COMPLEX, PLENTIFUL, AND AFFORDABLE

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7 mins  |
October 2020
What New Things Are You Learning?
Rock&Gem Magazine

What New Things Are You Learning?

For many within the rockhounding community, the answer to our headline could be a combination of several technological applications. During a conversation with a reader recently, the kind gentleman from Tennessee shared with me details about his experience setting up a virtual meeting for his mineral club, and how at the young age of 74, he was selected to “figure it out,” because he was a former teacher. As he said to me, “Teaching is one thing. Technology is something altogether different.”

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3 mins  |
October 2020
Something New at Biggs Junction
Rock&Gem Magazine

Something New at Biggs Junction

EXPLORING A NEW DEPOSIT DISCOVERY IN NORTH CENTRAL OREGON

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7 mins  |
October 2020
Mexican Purple Passion Agate
Rock&Gem Magazine

Mexican Purple Passion Agate

Mexico has long been a source of brilliant colored banded and lace agates, but, for the last couple of years, one agate, in particular, has generated a lot of attention: Purple Passion!

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3 mins  |
October 2020
NEVADA'S CARLIN TREND
Rock&Gem Magazine

NEVADA'S CARLIN TREND

AMERICA’S GREATEST GOLD-MINING DISTRICT

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10 mins  |
October 2020
Claim to Copper Fame
Rock&Gem Magazine

Claim to Copper Fame

BUTTE, MONTANA’S COLORFUL HISTORY OF BECOMING “THE RICHEST HILL ON EARTH”

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7 mins  |
October 2020
CASTANEA CORALS
Rock&Gem Magazine

CASTANEA CORALS

Finding Fossils from a Silurian Coral Reef

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9 mins  |
October 2020
CAPTIVATING FIND AT THE CARVER AGATE FIELD
Rock&Gem Magazine

CAPTIVATING FIND AT THE CARVER AGATE FIELD

GEOLOGICAL MYSTERY DRAWS INTEREST

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9 mins  |
October 2020
Pennsylvania's Pequea Silver Mines
Rock&Gem Magazine

Pennsylvania's Pequea Silver Mines

Lancaster County’s Hub of Geological History and Modern Recreation

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10+ mins  |
September 2020
Removing a Bezel Set Stone
Rock&Gem Magazine

Removing a Bezel Set Stone

On numerous forums, I frequently see questions about how to remove a stone from a bezel setting.

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2 mins  |
September 2020
Staying Connected and Inspired
Rock&Gem Magazine

Staying Connected and Inspired

In its July-August newsletter, Flatirons Facets, the Flatirons Mineral Club of Boulder County, Colorado, shared examples of how their club members are staying connected and enjoying their shared rockhounding and lapidary interests in today’s socially distant world.

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2 mins  |
September 2020