Tag: Rock & Gem Kids
Make Your Own Jurassic Forest
Love the Jurassic Park movies? Create your own Jurassic forest! In the first Jurassic Park, an ailing triceratops ate poisonous berries from a plant...
Getting to Know Spinel
Spinel (magnesium aluminum oxide) forms beautiful crystals that are sometimes confused for the brilliant-red gem variety of corundum known as ruby. Unlike rubies, which...
Examining Fossil Sand Dollars
Fossil sand dollars are a fabulous find for beachcombers and fossil hunters alike! They belong to the phylum Echinodermata, which includes marine animals like...
Examining Slumps
By Jim Brace-Thompson
A slump is in the category of what geologists call a “mass wasting event.” A block of semi-consolidated sediment or rock slides...
Spotlight on Juniors: Lucia Hetrick Helps Grow a Club
By Jim Brace-Thompson
When Raul Barraza ramped up efforts to rebuild the Ventura Gem & Mineral Society (VGMS) kids program in California several years ago,...
Rock & Gem Kids: Manganoan Calcite
By Jim Brace-Thompson
Calcite comes in a remarkable variety of shapes and colors. One beautiful variety that is highly sought by collectors is manganoan calcite....
Rock & Gem Kids: Earthquake Faults
By Jim Brace-Thompson
Portions of our continents are stable, and the earth seldom moves under our feet. But in places like my home state of...
Rock & Gem Kids: Examining Ozokerite
By Jim Brace-Thompson
“What is this stuff?” I asked myself as I picked up a lightweight chunk from a silent auction table at a gem...
