CompuServe Messages

Doug, I was delighted to hear of your ferrierite adventures for several reasons. First, and most important, your report was direct evidence that Rod is well and out in the field, collecting. Second, I was interested to hear about additional ferrierite localities in the area. I have at least one good micromounted ferrierite specimen from the area; its fluorescence is remarkable. Mine came from the field of boulders that you missed on account of darkness. The boulders are of the same andesite breccia. BTW, andesite is an extrusive igneous rock, like basalt; unlike basalt, the anorthite content of andesite is <50%. The rock is brecciated and the cracks are cemented with all that wonderful stuff you discussed–calcite, calcedony, opal, quartz, zeolites,etc. Some of the calcite I found had small doubly terminated quartz crystals perched on the edge of the rhombs. Other quartz crystals were water clear, but all twisted. I haven't studied the Kanan Rd stuff for a while, but you have rekindled my interest in that locality. Rod was responsible for first piquing that interest with his note in the UV Waves. I have been out of touch for a while. My mother recently died after a long illness, and I have been scrambling to put things in order. I owe everyone here V2.0 of the collecting release. I also would like to write up a locality report for Lanny on the fluorescent chabazite locality I collected in the Bancroft area last year. Nathan