Winter 2014 Volume 5, Number 3

Newsletter of the Department of Mineral Sciences

| Rocks ∙ Meteorites ∙ Gems ∙ Volcanoes ∙ Minerals |

In this Issue

Focus on Research:

Imaging and analysis

of artifacts

Geologist visits area

schools

New Acquisitions: - Tucson Gem &

Mineral Show

Imaging and Analysis of Artifacts

Working in the analytical laboratories in the Department of Mineral Sciences provides plenty

of challenging problems just involving geologic materials. Requests from other departments

within the museum and elsewhere are growing as the understanding spreads to other disciplines

of how our tools can be applied to an even wider variety of materials. Tim Rose has been ac-

tively involved in collaborative studies with Jane Walsh (Anthropology) of cultural artifacts

from ancient Mesoamerica. These studies used Mineral Sciences’ variable pressure field emis-

sion FEI NovaNanoSEM 600 to obtain images and non-destructive qualitative chemical anal-

yses on uncoated whole specimens or fragments and tiny samples removed from the surface or

from deep recesses of objects. A recent collection of spectacular artifacts, which included

carved stone figurines and masks and ceramic pieces with various surface coatings, was deliv-

ered to the museum with a request to provide information as to their authenticity. The objects

were photographed, measured and placed into groups based on their apparent cultural affinity.

Initial observations were made using optical microscopy with particular attention paid to tool

marks. Very few objects showed evidence of modern tools at either the optical or SEM scale.

Chemical compositions of minerals in, and surface coatings on, stone artifacts were determined

in order to characterize the rock type and other materials. Rock types included jadeitite, serpen-

tinite and syenite.

A carved stone figurine (17 cm long) in the Department of Mineral Sciences’ nanoscale scan-

ning electron microscope chamber awaits imaging and analysis. Photo by Tim Rose.

Page 2 Volume 5, Number 3 Winter 2014

Chair of Mineral Sciences

Jeffrey Post

Newsletter Editor

Michael Wise

Dept. of Mineral Sciences

MRC 119

wisem@si.edu

One group of several syenite masks were partially coated with a probable modern tan gypsum

plaster. Several ceramic artifacts of unique design have complex surface decorations. A small

cross-sectional multicolored fragment of the coating on one object was studied in detail revealing

five chemically distinct layers. Tim & Jane interpret this as original Olmec fresco paint. The re-

sults of the ongoing research indicate that the large majority of the artifacts are authentic pre-

Columbian objects belonging to the Olmec, Maya, Teotihuacan and Mezcala civilizations which

date from 1500BC to 600AD. In the first comprehensive study of the iconic stone “masks” from

Teotihuacan (100 BC to 600AD), we examined nearly 200 masks. Sampling of the artifacts was

prohibited, however silicone molds taken austensibly to study tool marks and carving methods

also removed tiny grains from deep in drill holes. Study of these grains reveal that some are very

likely residue from the original carving and polishing of the stone.

Imaging and Analysis of Artifacts (cont.)

Education & Outreach

Geologist Michael Wise makes

classroom visits

During the last few months of fall

and winter, DMS geologist, Michael

Wise was extremely busy making

classroom visits to elementary

schools in the metro Washington

D.C. region. Within the Fairfax

County Public School System, Mike

visited 5th grade classes at Glen For-

est, Oak Hill, Herndon, Newington

Forest, Laurel Ridge, and Halley Ele-

mentary Schools. Mike also ad-

dressed a group of 3rd and 6th grade

classes at Westbriar Elementary’s

Career Dream Day. In the District of

Columbia, Mike visited and spoke to

an enthusiastic group of second-

graders at Bridges Public Charter

School. For good measures, Mike managed to squeeze in a visit to a second-grade class at Lisa

J. Mails Elementary (Murrieta, California) while he was on vacation in southern California. All

totaled Mike spoke to 36 classes—that equates to nearly 900 students!

During the classroom visits, Mike talked about

the NMNH, the Mineral & Gem Collections

and what’s it like to work at The Smithsonian.

Mike also gave presentations to all the classes

about minerals, rocks and gemstones. He in-

troduced the students to some basic concepts

like the difference between a rock and a min-

eral, how minerals get their color and the im-

portance of minerals in everyday life. Mike

brought with him a few rock and mineral spec-

imens that the students were allowed to touch

and examine closely.

Michael Wise shows off a large sheet of muscovite

(mica) to one of the Glen Forest Elementary School 5th

grade class. Photo courtesy of Angela Ulsh.

Students from Glen Forest Elementary School

get to examine volcanic rocks up close. Photo

courtesy of Angela Ulsh.

Page 3 Volume 5, Number 3 Winter 2014

New Acquisitions

Tucson Gem & Mineral Show

New gem and mineral specimens recently acquired during the Tucson Gem & Mineral

Show. The top photograph is a suite of tourmalines from Mozambique. The suite consists of

six stones ranging in weight from 21.90 (peach-colored) to 45.33 (lavender-colored) carats.

These magnificent gems were a gift from David Yurman Company. Bottom left photograph is

an exquisite example of the cobalt-bearing mineral erythrite from Morocco (Specimen is 4.8

cm high). Bottom right photograph is a new occurrence of fluorapophyllite on heulandite.

(Specimen is 8.2 cm high). Both minerals are colored deep green by inclusions of the mineral

celadonite. Photos by Michael Wise.

Page 4 Volume 5, Number 3 Winter 2014

New Acquisitions (cont.)

Tucson Gem & Mineral Show

The Smithsonian recently acquired during the 2015 Tucson Gem & Mineral Show, a new

piece for the National Gem Collection. Award winning gem carver Sherris Cottier Shank do-

nated her sculpture, "Southwest Sunset" to the Smithsonian at the American Gem & Trade

Association Show (AGTA). The sculpture consists of a 443 ct Ametrine (purple and yellowish

quartz from Bolivia) Sun sinking into 1407.77 cts of rose (pink) quartz (from Madagascar)

clouds. Ms. Shank has won 8 Cutting Edge awards and this sculpture was recently displayed

at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. Photo courtesy of Sherris Shank.

In case you haven’t seen them

yet, a few “new” specimens have

been placed on display in the Janet

Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology,

Gems and Minerals. In our Recent

Acquisition case (located next to the

Pegmatite Section of the gallery) we

have added a very nice gold speci-

men from the Mockingbird mine,

California (#1); a corundum crystal

(variety ruby) from the Muzzafar

mine, Pakistan (#2); and a fabulous

matrix specimen of emerald in bio-

tite schist from the Kagem mine,

Zambia (#3).

1 2

3

Page 5 Volume 5, Number 3 Winter 2014

Kudos

At the 2014 NMNH Peer Recognition Awards Ceremony, several Mineral Sciences staff

members were recognized. Career Service awards went to Glenn MacPherson (30 years), Jef-

frey Post (30 years), and Linda Welzenbach (20 years). Liz Cottrell won the Multiplicity

Award for her exemplary work as Director of the Global Volcanism Program. Liz also garnered

a Science Achievement Award for her 2013 publication entitled “Redox Heterogeneity in Mid-

Ocean Ridge Basalts as a Function of Mantle Sources”. The paper was co-authored by Katherine

Kelley (University of Rhode Island) and published in Science magazine.

Brendan McCormick has won the Geological Society of Washington's Bradley Prize for Best

Paper in 2014. Brendan’s presentation “ Ten Years of Satellite Observations Reveal Highly Vari-

able Degassing at Anatahan Volcano, Marianas Islands” was the best talk out of about 60 this

year.

Liz Cottrell’s presentation “The Ontakesan Eruption” won the Geological Society of Wash-

ington's Great Dane Award for Best Informal Communication.

Mineral Sciences NHRE intern Kellie Wall won best student paper at the American Geophys-

ical Union Fall meeting. She was one of 9 student winners in the Volcanology, Geochemistry

and Petrology Section – out of hundreds of participants.

At the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show held on February

12-15, 2015 (Tucson, AZ), the Smithsonian display

“Minerals from Western Europe: Highlights from the Na-

tional Gem & Mineral Collections” was awarded the Betty

& Clayton Gibson Memorial Trophy for Best Museum Ex-

hibit. Following the show theme “Minerals of Western

Europe”, the display featured one mineral from 28 different

European countries. Three gem pieces, a sphalerite from

Spain, smithsonite from Greece, and garnet from the Czech

Republic rounded out the award-winning display. The case

design, graphics and specimen selection was done largely

by Michael Wise and Paul Pohwat.

Page 6 Volume 5, Number 3 Winter 2014

Andrews, B.J. (2014) Structure of dilute py-

roclastic density currents during transport,

buoyancy reversal and liftoff.

Birner, S., Warren, J.M., Cottrell, E. & Da-

vis, F.A. (2014) Untangling the history of

oceanic peridotites using spinel oxybarome-

try.

Brounce, M.N., Cottrell, E., & Kelley, K.A.

(2014) The redox budget of the Mariana sub-

duction system.

Cardellini, C., Frigeri, A., Lehnert, K.A.,

Ash, J., McCormick, B., Chiodini, G., Fisch-

er, T.P. & Cottrell, E. (2014) DECADE

Web Portal: integrating MaGa, EarthChem

and GVP will further our knowledge on earth

degassing.

Carey, R., Allen, S., McPhie, J., Fiske, R.S.,

& Tani, K. (2014) Submarine silicic explo-

sive eruptions: what can submarine pyroclasts

tell us?

Cottrell, E., & Kelley, K.A.(2014) Redox

heterogeneity of the mantle inferred from

hotspots.

Davis, F.A. & Cottrell, E. (2014) Oxygen

fugacity profile of the oceanic upper mantle

and the depth of redox melting beneath ridges

(Invited).

Fauria, K., Andrews, B.J. & Manga, M.

(2014) Lab experiments probe interactions

between dilute pyroclastic density currents

and 3D barriers.

Fischer, T.P., Lehnert, K.A., Chiodini, G.,

McCormick, B., Cardellini, C., Clor, L.E. &

Cottrell, E. (2014) Towards making data

bases practical for use in the field (Invited).

Gentes, Z., Kelley, K.A., Cottrell, E. & Ar-

culus, R.J. (2014) Near-primary oxidized

basalts from the submarine Vanuatu arc.

Grocke, S.B., de Silva, S.L., Wallace, P.J.,

Kent, A.J.R., Hervig, R.L., Andrews, B.J. &

Cottrell, E. (2014) Storage conditions of

large silicic magmatic systems: gauging melt

evolution from melt inclusions hosted in dif-

ferent phenocryst phases.

Jay, J., Andrews, B.J., Pritchard, M.E.,

Cooper, J., Henderson, S.T., Delgado, F.,

Biggs, J. & Ebmeier, S.K. (2014) Preparing

for routine satellite global volcano defor-

mation observations: the Volcano Defor-

mation database task force.

Johnson, J.B., Lyons, J.J, Andrews, B.J.,

Lees, J.M. & Phillips, B.R. (2014) Explosive

dome eruptions modulated by periodic gas-

driven inflation.

Kelley, K.A., Cottrell, E., Brounce, M.N. &

Gentes, Z. (2014) Roles of magmatic oxygen

fugacity and water content in generating sig-

natures of continental crust in the Alaska-

Aleutian arc.

Le Voyer, M., Kelley, K.A., Cottrell, E., &

Hauri, E.H. (2014) Undegassed carbon con-

tent from a highly depleted segment of the

Mid-Atlantic Ridge (1-5°S): evidence from

melt inclusions (Invited).

McNutt, S.R., Venzke, E.& Williams, E.R.

(2014) Volcanic lightning: update on new

global observations and constraints on source

mechanisms.

Swanson, D.A. & Fiske, R.S. (2014) Kīlau-

ea's Upper East Rift Zone: A rift zone in

name only.

Wall, K. Davis, F.A. & Cottrell, E. (2014)

oxygen fugacity recorded by xenoliths from

Pacific oceanic islands.

Meetings & Abstracts

Page 7 Volume 5, Number 3

Brounce, M.N., Kelley, K.A. & Cottrell, E.

(2014) Variations in Fe3+/ΣFe of Mariana arc

basalts and mantle wedge ƒO2. Journal of Pe-

trology, 55, 2513-2536.

Bryson, K.L., Salama, F., Elsaesser, A.,

Peeters, Z., Ricco, A.J., Foing, B.H. &

Goreva, Y. (2014) First results of the OR-

GANIC experiment on EXPOSE-R on the

ISS. International Journal of Astrobiology,

14, 55–66.

Chaput, D.L., Hansel, C.M., Burgos, W.D.

& Santelli, C.M. (2015) Profiling microbial

communities in manganese remediation sys-

tems treating coal mine drainage. Applied and

Environmental Microbiology, doi:10.1128/

AEM.03643-14

Cutler, N.A., Chaput, D.L., Oliver, A.E. &

Viles, H.A. (2014) The spatial organisation

and microbial community structure of an epi-

lithic biofilm. FEMS Microbiology Ecology,

doi:10.1093/femsec/fiu027

Dalou, C., Koga, K.T., Le Voyer, M. &

Shimizu, N. (2014) Contrasting partition

behavior of F and Cl during hydrous mantle

melting: implications for Cl/F signature in arc

magmas. Progress in Earth and Planetary

Science, 1(1) doi:10.1186/s40645-014-0026-1

Greenwalt, D., Rose, T., Siljestrom, S.,

Goreva, Y., Constenius, K. & Wingerath, J.

(2015) Taphonomic studies of the fossil in-

sects of the Middle Eocene Kishenehn For-

mation. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica,

doi:10.4202/app.00071.2014

Harrison, S., Jaszczak, J.A., Keim, M., Rum-

sey, M. & Wise, M.A. (2014) Spectacular

sulfides from the Merelani tanzanite deposit,

Manyara Region, Tanzania. Mineralogical

Record, 45, 553-570.

McAdam, M.M., Sunshine, J.M., Howard,

K.T. & McCoy, T.M. (2015) Aqueous alter-

ation on asteroids: linking the Mineralogy and

Spectroscopy of CM and CI Chondrites. Ica-

rus, 245, 320-332.

Schaepman, M.E., Jehle, M., Hueni, A.,

D'Odorico, P., Damm, A., Weyermann, J.,

Schneider, F.D., Laurent, V., Popp, C.,

Seidel, F.C., Lenhard, K., Gege, P., Küchler,

C., Brazile, J., Kohler, P., De Vos, L.,

Meuleman, K., Meynart, R., Schläpfer, D.,

Kneubühler, M. & Itten, K.I. (2015) Ad-

vanced radiometry measurements and Earth

science applications with the Airborne Prism

Experiment (APEX). Remote Sensing of Envi-

ronment, 158, 207-219.

Schrader, D.L., Connolly, H.C., Lauretta,

D.S., Zega, T.J., Davidson, J. & Domanik,

K.J. (2014) The formation and alteration of

the Renazzo-like carbonaceous chondrites III:

Toward understanding the genesis of ferro-

magnesian chondrules. Meteoritics & Plane-

tary Science, 50, 15-50.

Shaheen, R., Niles, P.B., Chong, K., Corri-

gan, C.M. & Thiemens, M.H. (2014) Car-

bonate formation events in ALH 84001 trace

the evolution of the Martian atmosphere. Pro-

ceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

of the United States of America, 112, 336-

341.

Winter 2014

Selected Publications

Tim Rose was invited to give a talk in the Conservation Studies of Heritage Materials at the

61st International Symposium and Exhibition of the American Vacuum Society (AVS) on No-

vember 13, 2014 in Baltimore, Maryland. The title of the talk, coauthored with Jane Walsh

was “Faces from the past: Microbeam imaging and analysis of artifacts from ancient Mesoam-

erica. In the talk, Tim presented imaging and analytical results from a large suite of artifacts

confiscated by Homeland Security personnel and also from stone “masks” from Teotihuacan,

Mexico. The AVS put out a press briefing about the talk which attracted the attention of a

number of media outlets including Scientific American More Science News. You can see their

coverage at: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/electron-beam-points-to-origins-of-

teotihuacan-stone-faces/).

Meetings & Abstracts (cont.)

Page 8 Volume 5, Number 3 Winter 2014

Education & Outreach (cont.)

Lunchtime Q & A with Newington Forest Elementary

School students. Photo courtesy of Cheryl Nelson.