TVGMS spends a day with Earth science students

Provided.

From left to right: Ron Myrick, Becca Buchanan, Jim Tobin, and Cristy Libatique.

On Nov. 4, the Tehachapi Valley Gem and Mineral Society went to Tehachapi High School to give presentations to the Earth Science classes, which are taught by Ms. Becca Buchanan. The presentation was headed by Robert Papac, vice president of the Gem and Mineral Society, along with Ron Myrick, club president, and club members Mike Coghlan and Jim Tobin.

Ms. Buchanan specifically asked the club to share general information on gems and minerals, what the Gem and Mineral Society does, which gems and minerals are found in our area, and related careers students can explore.

The Tehachapi Valley Gem and Mineral Society was founded in 1986. Its main goals are to educate people in the areas of Earth science and to train individuals in the various lapidary arts.

The club provided 160 copies of a gem and mineral booklet to Ms Buchanan's classes, which should be beneficial for the students who have an upcoming project.

Mr. Papac spoke about lapidary work. Lapidary work is the art of cutting, and polishing rocks and minerals. Due to the various mineral compositions and varying degrees of hardness, sometimes this gets to be quite a challenge. Some minerals/material readily takes a polish and some just don't. This is based on both the hardness of the material and the actual mineral composition. .

He asked the class, "Why would anyone want to cut/polish rock?" The most common answers were for decoration or jewelry, which are accurate.

The art of polishing a rock is usually quite similar to sanding a piece of wood. If you want it to be smooth and shiny, you start with a low grit number and use it as an abrasive to start smoothing the piece. Slowly, you keep using a finer and finer grit number, until you achieve the desired result.

With wood, oftentimes it is about a 600-1,000 grit level. With lapidary work, often times, it is a lot higher. Mr. Papac explained that he has diamond impregnated sanding belts which are listed from approximately 300,000- 400,000 grit. Then, depending on the material, often times a specific type of polishing compound is often utilized to finish the polishing process.

Mr. Papac also spoke about the gems and minerals found in our area:

• In the Tehachapi area, there have been reports of garnets found in the area of Alpine Forrest.

• Take Curry Street south to Highline Road, then south to the Old Antelope Canyon Ranch, where there is an old quarry, which has a lot of marble calcite.

• In the Willow Springs area, near Rosamond, there is an area called Gem Hill which has jasper and petrified wood.

• The Mojave area has agate, jasper, and petrified wood deposits.

• The area around the Tehachapi Cement plant at Monolith has moss and plume agate deposits, especially in an area known as Horse Canyon.

• Towards Lake Isabella, in the Erskin Creek area, garnets have been found. There are also known deposits of rose quartz, epidote, smoky quartz, agates.

• In the Boron area, various borax material, including ulexite, which is often referred to as T.V. Rock. This is because, when cut a certain way, if you place it over either a picture or something with writing on it, whatever it is placed on will appear at the top of the piece. This is the material that inspired the development of fiber optics programs.

The Tehachapi Valley Gem and Mineral Society has given, and will try to continue to give out, scholarship awards to the graduating senior class of Tehachapi High School. Last year, three $500 awards were given out. In 2025, they expect to give out the same amount. It is the club's hope that at least one of these awards will be given to a graduate who is planning on attending a vocational trade.

According to Mr. Papac, the spectrum for job opportunities is huge and he mentioned a few. Geology; government jobs relating to the Department of the Interior; teaching at levels from grade school through college and post collegiate studies; careers relating to the production of gas; and cement factories. They just go on and on. In the field of buying and selling rocks, minerals and fossils, there is a tremendous amount of money that can be made, depending on how hard you work. Fossils such as Sue and Stan, which are famous T-rex fossils, can be sold for quite a large sum. Others careers include jewelry making, working with precious and semi precious stones, and various metals.

Mr. Papac introduced Jim Tobin, who lives in the Tehachapi area, and is internationally known for his knowledge of meteorites. He is one of the co-founders of the Meteorite Exchange, Inc., which was founded in approximately 1996.

Mr. Tobin gave an informative talk on meteorites. He is also the author of the book, "Meteorites – How to Recognize Visitors From Space." In the last 30 years, he has cut and prepped thousands of meteorites.

Mr. Tobin discussed some of the different types of meteorites, such as lunar, ones from Mars, as well as the three types: stone, stoney iron and iron.

Of particular note is the stoney iron which has two sub groups: pallasites (often with olivine crystals, which have been removed, faceted, and put into jewelry), and mesosiderites, which are silicate minerals.

All of the classes, seemed to enjoy the presentations.

Mr. Papac brought some geodes, with polished faces, some pieces of polished free forms consisting of poly chrome jasper from Madagascar, tiger eye from Africa, and a complete set of faceted birthstones. He answered numerous questions about the materials.

Mr. Tobin, brought a number of meteorites in display cases, and showed and discussed the various types with the students.

During the fourth (out of five) presentations, the class was joined by the THS Principal Ms. Cristy Libatique. With the principal present, Ms. Buchanan was presented with a number of sets of small mounted specimens with introductory study guides to be utilized in her class.

The Tehachapi Valley Gem and Mineral Society has been doing school presentations for decades throughout Central and Southern California. If any schools would like to have them come and schedule a presentation, at no charge to the school, please contact Robert L. Papac at [email protected] for more information.