The Cochise County Rock
Monthly Newsletter of the Sunsites Gem & Mineral Club
www.cochisecountyrock.org
“Finding and Grinding Rocks in Cochise County, Arizona since 1962”
November 2008
This issue edited by Paul McKnight
November Meeting Monday, November 10, 7 p.m.
Bring a rock for Show and Tell. The speaker for this meeting will be the members. Be prepared to tell the rest of us the 4 W’s about your rock:
What is it?
Why do you like it?
When did you get it?
Where did you get it?
(We will also hold elections for the 2009 Board of Directors.)
November Field Trip
Saturday, November 15, 2008. Meet at the Wilcox Safeway at 8:30 am. We are going to a mine in Big Joe Canyon near the New Mexico border for copper-related mineral and honeycomb Calcite.
October Field Trip Report by Don Hammer
On Sunday October 19, 2008 16 members assembled in the Willcox Safeway parking lot and left promptly at 8:45 eastbound on I-10 to the first Safford exit and turned onto the Monk-Layton ranch road. A couple of miles in we parked alongside the road in a scenic canyon and Don showed examples of the types of rocks in the area, cautioned the group to stay below the wash on the road and below the fence across the wash. He indicated that the hillside and the wash probably had similar rocks and suggested just looking for spots with lots of rocks and then searching those rocks. Since the collecting area is wide spread, he asked the group to use the buddy system and not to wander off alone.
On a bright sunny, windless day, everyone scattered out across the hillsides and down through the wash. We found jasper in 4-5 shades of red ranging from bright red to almost maroon and also gray, blue, black and purple jasper, an obsidian conglomerate, chalcedony, chalcedony with dark brown limonite in a nice pattern, chalcedony with bright red banding like an agate and crystal-filled geodes. Hanni Sigel found a very nice fire agate. Don picked up a thin piece of chalcedony with dark brown limonite because the limonite had a nice pattern but on closer examination and a little grinding to remove some of the chalcedony layer on one side revealed some nice fire. The piece is about ½” X 4” X 6” and didn’t appear to be fire agate at all in the field so the lesson is if it looks interesting, grab it.
Shortly after noon everyone had specimens of most types of rocks from the area and we broke for lunch after which we headed home to find some shade. Don left some jewelry he made from the ranch jasper for the managers and Joan made a thank you card from the club.
The Monk Ranch By Joan Hammer
The Monk (Munk) Brothers, Joseph, Edward and William, were born and raised in Stark County, Ohio. Edward R. Monk, a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, practiced law in Iowa and Missouri before moving to Arizona for his health. In 1882 Edward and William established a ranch east of Willcox in Railroad Pass. They located the headquarters in a scenic canyon where water was readily available and controlled 49 sections of rangeland between the Pinaleno Mountains on the north and the Dos Cabezas on the south. Two years later their brother Dr. Joseph Munk, a practicing physician in Topeka, Kansas, became a partner. Joseph never lived in Arizona, only visited, because he did not want to subject his frail wife to the dangers of Apache raids. However, he collected nearly 20,000 books on southwestern history and authored the book Arizona Sketches which gives detailed descriptions of ranch life in Southeastern Arizona.
The Monk Brothers Cattle Company became a large cattle producer in the Sulphur Springs Valley. They started out with longhorns purchased from John Slaughter and later improved the herd until it was exclusively Herefords. The range was used for breeding; cows and heifers were kept on the range and steers were shipped to other states to be fattened for market. In 1939, the Cook Cattle Company purchased the Monk Ranch and when that partnership dissolved the ranch was divided between Mark and Tay Cook with Tay owning the original headquarters area. In 1963 Phelps Dodge bought the ranch and traded it for the Dixie Canyon Ranch near Bisbee owned by Darrell Cluff. In 1974 Cluff sold the portion of the ranch surrounding the headquarters to Dennis Layton and it is now known as the Monk Layton Ranch.
Sunsites Gem and Mineral Club General Meeting Minutes October 13, 2008
President, Don Hammer, called the meeting to order at 7 p.m.
Prospective members, Sam and Diana Getty, were welcomed, along with new members Orville and Ardelle Churchill.
Don asked for a motion to approve the minutes, as published, of the September meeting. It was so moved, seconded, and approved.
Treasurer, Walter Sigel, gave his report stating that the current balance in the checking account stands at $1,886.99 while the Certificate of Deposit remains at $3,112.71.
Don reported that the Board determined to maintain Club dues at $10 per individual and $20 per family membership this coming year. He noted, that the Club’s liquid assets are gradually diminishing, and that if this trend continues, the dues for membership may have to be increased in 2010.
Don also noted that he had filed, with the IRS, the nonprofit form, 990N, thus securing that status for the Club.
Larry Strout announced that there would be a sign-up sheet for Lapidary classes at the November meeting.
Don announced that Silver Smithing would begin in November with three hour sessions every other week. At the November meeting, a sign-up sheet for silver smithing will also be available.
Don informed the members present that the October field trip is to be on Sunday, the 19th, at the historic Monk Ranch where we will be looking for:
agate, jasper, fire agate, chrysocola, obsidian, and other rocks. Samples of the rocks were displayed on the pool table. Also, Don’s belt buckle and Joan’s jasper pendant and earrings were noted as samples of the rocks to be found at the Monk Ranch. We will meet at 8:30 a.m. in the Willcox Safeway parking lot, leaving for our destination at 8:45 a.m.
Don noted that the monthly hospitality needs till the end of the year have been met and thanked Jeannine Paterson, Barb Fenner, and Debi Briese for supplying the evening’s fall refreshments.
Announcements were made:
> The Club is in need of a Newsletter Editor and a Hospitality Coordinator. Many thanks to Hanni Sigel who has served the membership as Hospitality Coordinator for the last two years, and to Debi Briese in her role as Newsletter Editor. Don encouraged new members to give thought to getting involved in the Club’s leadership positions and responsibilities.
> The November meeting will be a Rock Show and Tell. This should be educational as well as fun. We’ll have the opportunity to get to know one another better as we share our “pet rocks” with the group. Don encouraged us all to bring any rock from anywhere and tell why it has meaning or value or significance for you.
> The Annual Christmas Party will be held on December 8. Our thanks to Barbara Fenner who has volunteered to handle the decorating again this year. There was discussion on the method of gift exchange. It was generally agreed upon that we use a new method this year.
> The 7th Annual Silent Auction of the Old Pueblo Lapidary Club will be held Saturday, November 1st.
> RMFMS show will be held Tulsa, November 7-9.
Don thanked everyone for coming and adjourned the meeting at 7:15 p.m. Intermission, refreshments, and the rock raffle followed.
Our program featured Janie Swartz who spoke to us on petroglyphs and pictographs, a number of which can be found in SE Arizona.
Respectfully submitted,
Diane Brower
Secretary
Treasurers-Report Q-3
The Electric Universe Theory and Geology
(Your Editor does not necessarily endorse the theory of the Electric Universe, but brings you these two articles to provide a glimpse of an alternative view of Earth’s geology. As our resident Geologist and at-large Board member exclaimed after previewing this newsletter, “Paul you’ve got some pretty wild geology in there!” Don’t take it too seriously. Don’t have a heart attack. It’s just a theory.)
From http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2008/arch08/080929grandcanyon.htm
The Grand Canyon is approximately 400 kilometers long, 28 kilometers wide, and almost two kilometers deep. Could erosion by the Colorado River be the only factor in its formation? Contributed by Michael Armstrong
The face of the earth presents many problems for geologists, not the least of which is that the Grand Canyon is supposed to have been formed by the Colorado River. As recently as six years ago geologists were working with four different and mutually exclusive models of the canyon's creation. At a special meeting they managed to winnow the four theories down to two—neither one of them satisfactory—with more than one reason to refute them both. One geologist noted that the only way the Colorado River could have carved the canyon is if it came out of the sky.
A few basic facts are necessary to gain a perspective. The Grand Canyon is surrounded by an elevated landscape with the canyon running through it from east to west. The underlying rock strata in the region rises and falls over an area known as the Kaibab Upwarp, while the river descends through an elevation differential of 2100 meters. Water does not flow up over a mountain range nor does it run sideways along sloping terrain, so all theoretical models that insist on water erosion propose that the entire area was slowly uplifted at the same rate as the river eroded the canyon. This process is said to have taken place in a time span of between four million and 400 million years.
The geological models also incorporate natural dams across the river channel that caused reversals in the river flow and were then subsequently breached, allowing the river to resume its previous course. However, a pertinent objection to that theory is that there is no evidence water flowed back into the ends of the giant side channels that join the chasm with the river. Perhaps the most significant challenge to the prevailing theories is the disappearance of almost 1300 cubic kilometers of material that is supposed to have been washed downstream—there is no large delta at the mouth of the Colorado River containing the debris.
Satellite images, as well as pictures taken by astronauts in orbit, seem to indicate that the Grand Canyon is an enormous Lichtenberg figure, in other words, a gigantic lightning scar. As the Electric Universe hypothesis suggests, electric discharge machining (EDM) might account for the Canyon's appearance: steep walls, thousands of layers, brachiated side canyons at practically every scale, and periodic, hemispherical "nips" cut into each rim.
Geologists possess few tools that can help them understand planetary scars caused by EDM because there are no courses in electricity needed to obtain a degree. But electrical engineers and plasma physicists are taught that charged objects immersed in electric fields develop protective sheaths known as Langmuir sheaths, named after plasma pioneer Irving Langmuir. The sheaths isolate the charged objects (or plasma clouds) from one another in envelopes made up of double layers. If the charged objects are planets, then they are normally surrounded by tear-drop-shaped, double layer plasmaspheres.
It is known from laboratory experiments that if two charge sheaths touch one another there is an exchange of electrical potential until they reach equilibrium. If the current flow is large enough, there will be a visible arc and a flash, otherwise known as a lightning bolt. The planetary scarring hypothesis interprets the laboratory experiments using a scaled-up approach. If the smaller charge sheaths interact in a certain way, then the larger planetary plasmaspheres will act in similar fashion, releasing gigantic lightning bolts.
Discharges of such magnitude are capable of stripping rock and gas from a planet with far greater energy than the comparatively puny force of gravity. Since the rim edges of the Grand Canyon are sharp and do not show much erosion, then an argument could be made for a recent formation. It is therefore possible that the Grand Canyon, as well as the entire Southwestern region was recently etched with EDM forces on a colossal scale in an encounter with another planetary body. The surface biota, soil and rock, and most of the water was obliterated.
A Birkeland current in contact with the Earth might act like a rotating augur, drilling deeply into the bedrock, removing the material, and accelerating it up and away from the point of contact. The effect might be thought of as an electric vacuum, charging the debris in an expanding electric field and then blasting it upward through the power of like-charge repulsion. EDM effects in machine shops strip uniform layers from the substrate while leaving essentially a vertical wall and a flat, new surface. In an interplanetary EDM, the rotating current would tend to lift up sections of strata that would leave a terraced effect and layered appearance, much like what is seen in the Grand Canyon.
From http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2008/arch08/081001canyon2.htm
Simple observation of the Grand Canyon's geological formations calls the water erosion hypothesis into question. Contributed by Michael Armstrong
A few variables in an electric discharge can produce a wide variety of shapes and patterns. (See http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2005/arch05/050407richat.htm ) The polarity makes a difference, so cathode discharges create different patterns than those from an anode.
When we speak of charged planets imbedded in the sun's plasmasphere, they may be positively charged or negatively charged—the important factor is whether they touch one another. When the teardrop shaped double layers, or Langmuir sheaths, surrounding planets come close enough a discharge connection is made. The nature and strength of an interplanetary discharge might depend on a number of factors: charge accumulation, potential, conductivity of the surface strata, and current flow.
If electric current discharges stick to a surface they tend to rotate around a point and leave a circular crater with a raised center area. If the discharge is narrow and intense like a lightning bolt, it will leave a deep, sharp cut in the substrate and the material will be accelerated away from the point of contact.
Where the electric arc contacts and runs along or under the surface, Birkeland currents might create a rille, or canyon-shaped excavation. Often, this type of discharge forms a series of overlapping craters, imparting a sculpted effect to the canyon wall with periodic notches in the rim. Finally, the discharge energy dissipates and forms a kind of "wash" that is generally lower in elevation than the initial touchdown point.
In any heavy discharge the surrounding terrain swells and becomes uplifted. In that case, the result is a "blister" or raised area called a fulgamite. The size and shape of the fulgamite depends on the underlying material properties as mentioned above.
The Grand Canyon's tributaries are generally short with little evidence of the necessary water flowing into the ends from the high desert floor. The jagged tributaries are deeply cut and are characterized by nearly vertical walls. They join the main canyon at right angles, a distinctive sign of electric discharge phenomena.
Another unusual aspect to the Grand Canyon is the "islands" that rise up from broad bases to the rim level. They are delicate in comparison to the size of the canyon. They are close to the canyon walls and demonstrate parallel stratigraphy. How the water flow remained diverted around these islands, or how erosion over millions of years could have created them without undercutting and subsequent collapse is difficult to explain.
In conclusion, the lack of eroded debris cannot be passed over lightly. Not only is a vast amount of material from the Grand Canyon missing, but a much greater amount of material is missing from the same general area. Zion, Bryce Canyon, Monument Valley, Canyonlands, and the Colorado Plateau have been extensively eroded. Rock and soil has been removed to a depth of more than a kilometer.
The top strata of the Grand Canyon makes up the bottom strata of Zion, and the top of Zion continues to the bottom of Bryce Canyon. The region of missing material is known as the Great Denudation. Together with the Grand Canyon the volume of missing debris amounts to tens of thousands of cubic kilometers. How can this be?