Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Prospecting


Selenite
Originally uploaded by Theorris

My grandfather was a prospector in Southern Utah and consequently was a rock hound. He had thousands of specimens which he would enter into mineral and rock shows.

Here is one of his specimens, a piece of selenite (a gypsum). It was not the easiest thing to photograph, as I wanted its translucence and ability to spread light to be shown. Selenite is the same chemical composition as alabaster, in case you wanted to know. Selenite is just the clear, well clearer, version of it.

You can see some of my grandfather's rock collection and his entire arrowhead collection at Southern Utah University.

3 comments:

  1. Love being reminded of your deep and various Utah roots. Very cool. Regarding Cloverfield--I have not seen it, so was glad to hear a response to it. Maybe I'll find a time to sneak in a viewing, as I am fairly certain that this will not be the historian's cup of tea.

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  2. My roots are indeed deep. All 19th century. Not a one from anywhere else but good old Utah. Before that it gets a bit wide-ranging.

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  3. Oh and Cloverfield is not for the weak of stomach. It became quite the intense visual experience, as I noted. Ignore the story. Look at what they are doing with the visual.

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