Recap of 5oth Golden Anniversary Micromineralogists of the National Capital Area
44th Annual Micromounters' Conference: March 31 - April 1, 2017
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2017 speaker:
Dr. Michael A. Wise, Smithsonian Geologist Programs
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Dr. Michael Wise is a geologist in the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.
He has been studying pegmatites all over the world for the past 30 years. His research focuses on the chemistry of rare minerals to understand how pegmatites form and evolve. These same rare minerals can also be used to help locate potential new deposits of economic significance. Mike’s research has included studies of pegmatites in the New England states, California, Colorado, Nevada, North Carolina, and Virginia. He also visited sites with pegmatites in Brazil, Canada, the Czech Republic, Italy, Madagascar, and Namibia. Mike is heavily involved in managing the Smithsonian’s Gem and Mineral Collections. He is also very active in the museum’s education and outreach. Dr. Wise graduated from University of Virginia in 1979. He became employed by the Virginia division of Mineral Resources (VDMR) as a geologist, and published his first paper on blue quartz in Virginia. He received his Ph.D. at the University of Manitoba in 1987, and was hired by the Smithsonian in 1988. His specialty is the mineralogy, petrology, and chemistry of pegmatites. |
Scott Duresky presented “Newly-Identified Members of the Microlite Group from the Rutherford Mine Pegmatite at Amelia Courthouse, Virginia”
Scott is a self-taught mineralogist who first started collecting on the dumps of the Rutherford Mine pegmatite in the late 1960's. Early on, he received extensive lessons in the field from the late Frank Crayton, a research chemist with Philip Morris in Richmond. Over the years, Scott collected in the pegmatite over 100 times, amassing a large and representative collection of the pegmatite's rare species and rare-earth minerals. He began the laborious process of meticulously examining every piece of the material he had acquired, using both an illuminated lens and a stereo microscope, aided by a wide variety of research materials that was available to him.
In 2014, Scott began working with Michael Pabst of the MNCA on the project of taking numerous photomicrographs of representative species, as well as putting together this accompanying Power Point presentation. In 2016, Scott received the generous donation of a lifetime's worth of small Rutherford Mine specimens from Pete McCrery, a long-time member of the Richmond Gem and Mineral Society and a personal friend. Afterwards, Scott began working with Tony Nikischer of Excalibur Minerals for the purpose in identifying the individual species in the recently-organized Microlite Group of the Pyrochlore Supergroup that occurred at the Rutherford Mine. While the research for this project is ongoing, and the tentative species identifications awaits further confirmation with Raman Spectroscopy and/or X-Ray Diffraction, this presentation accurately reflects the information gathered so far.
Scott is a self-taught mineralogist who first started collecting on the dumps of the Rutherford Mine pegmatite in the late 1960's. Early on, he received extensive lessons in the field from the late Frank Crayton, a research chemist with Philip Morris in Richmond. Over the years, Scott collected in the pegmatite over 100 times, amassing a large and representative collection of the pegmatite's rare species and rare-earth minerals. He began the laborious process of meticulously examining every piece of the material he had acquired, using both an illuminated lens and a stereo microscope, aided by a wide variety of research materials that was available to him.
In 2014, Scott began working with Michael Pabst of the MNCA on the project of taking numerous photomicrographs of representative species, as well as putting together this accompanying Power Point presentation. In 2016, Scott received the generous donation of a lifetime's worth of small Rutherford Mine specimens from Pete McCrery, a long-time member of the Richmond Gem and Mineral Society and a personal friend. Afterwards, Scott began working with Tony Nikischer of Excalibur Minerals for the purpose in identifying the individual species in the recently-organized Microlite Group of the Pyrochlore Supergroup that occurred at the Rutherford Mine. While the research for this project is ongoing, and the tentative species identifications awaits further confirmation with Raman Spectroscopy and/or X-Ray Diffraction, this presentation accurately reflects the information gathered so far.
