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By Pauline Masson –
Rock collectors from across the generations turned out for an interactive study session on the world of collecting rocks, fossils and minerals held at the Scenic Regional Library last Saturday.
Jo Schaper, local geologist and science writer; Alfred (Fred) Schovanez, president of the State Paleontology Association; and Asa Asa, social media science guru led the three-hour session.
It was not “everything you would ever need to know about rocks and fossils,” but it was enough to get you started.
Narrating a Power Point presentation on the giant screen of the Library education room, Schovanez introduced scores of colorful – and often extinct – birds, sea creatures and mammals whose bodies had not returned to the proverbial dust, but had calcified into stone – surreally shaped rocks, pebbles and boulders that remain on the earth’s surface in the ares where they lived for collectors to find.
“To be a successful rock hunter you need to know only two things,” Fred said. Where different fossils are likely to be located – the area where they roamed or grew in their lifetime – and the number of seasoned hunters who are eager to help.
“There is so much out there,” he said. “With a little preparation you’ll be able to find things.”
Alex Betz, eleven and his brother Kydan six didn’t have to go very far to find rocks that captured the imagination. Blasting at a construction site near their home threw up chunks of stone into their yard. The blast broke open the exotic rocks, about the size of a loaf of hard bread, exposing honeycombed cups, containing tiny fossilized creatures whipped icing style peaks.
Fred identified the rocks as St. Louis limestone coral formations and Asa provided the the scientific name ACROCYATHUS PROLIFERUM.
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Thinking he might have a geode, Bob Masson showed up with a smooth round hard stone that he had had for years and wasn’t sure where he got it. The heavy ball tuned out to be pure granite milled to a perfect globe.
“It could be part of what they used to use as ship’s ballast. A load of them would be carried in the ship’s hold keep the hull deep in the water on the empty trip home,” Jo Schaper said. “But it’s definitely is not a geode, not a natural formation. It’s been formed by grinding.”
Schaper, who has written several books on rocks and fossils, demonstrated tools a serious rock hunter would need and the books, including her personal three-book library.
The only books you’ll need to help you find and identify fossils and rocks,” She said. “Are Field Guide to Rocks and Minerals, Common Fossils of Missouri and Common Rocks of Missouri.”
Among the handouts, free for the taking, were colored generalized geology maps of Missouri showing the age of deposits by county, mineral resources in Missouri, and a how-to pamphlet to help collectors identify minerals, rocks and fossils.
Also available for enthusiasts was an illustrated guide book to minerals, igneous rocks, volcanic rocks, sedimentary, chemical and metamorphic rocks, put together with extracts from the Geoscience Laboratory. The booklet was written by Tom Freeman,University of Missouri-Columbia that was proofread by Jo Schaper when she was a graduate student there.
After the formal presentations, rockhounds lined up at the table to let the scientists handle their stones. No-one was in a hurry to leave.
So cool