Category: outreach

Shortly after 8 p.m. on the evening of Jan. 16, 2018, a meteor fireball was witnessed from lower Michigan to as far away as eastern Wisconsin. You can view a news video of the fireball on YouTube.

Within two days of the fall, meteorite hunters found fragments on frozen lakes around Hamburg, Michigan, a small town Northwest of Detroit. One of the fragments that was found on Strawberry Lake has been donated to the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum by the Michigan Mineralogical Society.

The Hamburg meteorite has been classified as an ordinary chondrite by the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History. Ordinary chrondrites are the most “primitive” type of meteorites and were formed about 4.5 billion years ago from dust and small grains in the early solar system. It is generally agreed that the Earth and other rocky planets formed from the same material as chondrites.

The Hamburg meteorite is only the 11th identified meteorite to fall in Michigan and is now on public display in the Introduction gallery at the Museum as a result of the generosity of the Michigan Mineralogical Society, southeast Michigan’s premier mineralogical club.

The society hosts the Greater Detroit Gem and Mineral show held annually in October at which the museum is a regular exhibitor.

By A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum.

The A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum recently exhibited at the 64th Annual Tucson Gem and Mineral Show held Feb. 8-11, 2018. The Tucson show is the largest and most prestigious mineral show in the world with an international audience. The exhibit theme for this year’s show was “Crystals and Crystal Forms.” The museum’s exhibit, titled “Classic Keweenaw Copper and Calcite Crystals,” paired outstanding specimens from both Michigan Tech and the Michigan Minerals Alliance with antique wooden models of ideal crystal forms. Among the multiple museum exhibits from around the world, the Mineral Museum’s exhibit was awarded the Betty & Clayton Memorial Trophy for the best museum exhibit.

The museum’s award winning Keweenaw exhibit was collaboratively designed by Chris Stefano, associate curator, John Jaszczak (Physics), adjunct curator, and Ted Bornhorst, museum executive director. Jaszczak and Bornhorst installed the exhibit.

The museum had a second exhibit at the show titled “Merelaniite: 2016 Mineral of the Year.” Jaszczak, who designed and installed the exhibit, was a principal author in the naming of merelaniite in 2016, which subsequently was selected as Mineral of the Year by the International Mineralogical Association.

In addition to participating at the show, Jaszczak gave two presentations at the Mineralogical Symposium on Crystals and Crystal Forms sponsored by Friends of Mineralogy, Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, and the Mineralogical Society of America. His presentations were titled “Sphalerite and Wurtzite Polytypism and Morphology” and “Breaking the Law: Exceptions to the Classical Laws of Crystallography.”

By A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum.

Chemistry Rocks!, a day of fun and learning, takes place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday (Nov. 11, 2017) in the Forestry Building atrium. Participants can:

• Make Mineral Snowflakes
• Grow Mineral Crystals
• Explore “Copper and More”
• See Local Rocks and Minerals
• “Why do gemstones have different colors”
• Other Fun Geochemistry Activities

There will be a volcano contest, so bring and erupt your volcano and compete against other schools for prizes.

Chemistry Rocks! is sponsored by the Michigan Tech Student Affiliate Chapter of the American Chemical Society, Portage Lake District Library, Quincy Mine Hoist Association, Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative and the Geology Club at Michigan Tech.

By the American Chemical Society Upper Peninsula Local Section.

The A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum announces the recent generous donation of a mineral collection by Kate Sullivan of Ann Arbor. Sullivan’s late husband, Don (DJ) Sullivan, assembled the collection of about 500 specimens over several decades.

The collection consists mostly of minerals, but also a few fossils including a fossil dinosaur egg from China. There are a variety of mineral specimens such as polished spheres and freeforms, amethyst geode slices and an outstanding polished agate slice.

Among the more notable specimens are emerald in matrix from China, tourmaline in quartz from Pariaba, Brazil, chalcopyrite on calcite from Romania, a beautiful pink gemstone variety of spodumene, kunzite from Afghanistan and multiple specimens of boulder opal from Australia. There will be multiple specimens from this collection that will be accessioned into Michigan Tech’s permanent mineral collection after evaluation is completed.

DJ Sullivan attended Michigan Tech in the late 1950s. He earned a MS in Industrial Engineering at Wayne State University followed by a career in healthcare management. His company, DJ Sullivan & Associates, focused on surgical suite design and management throughout the US and Canada.

By Ted Bornhorst, A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum

The A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum participated in the 73rd Annual Greater Detroit Gem, Mineral, & Fossil show held at Macomb Community College in Warren from Oct. 13 to 15, 2017. The show was sponsored by the Michigan Mineralogical Society.

Ted Bornhorst, executive director of the museum, installed two exhibits that were prepared by Chris Stefano, associate curator. One of these exhibits was titled “Supergene Oxidation: Making Colorful Minerals out of Dark Minerals” and fit with the show’s theme, “The Dark Side of Gems & Minerals.” The second exhibit was titled “Clay Canyon, Utah Variscite Nodules from the George B. Robbe Collection.” Robbe was a 1913 alum of Michigan Tech and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University in 1961. His mineral collection was donated to the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum in 1967. His personally-collected variscite suite is among the finest from this notable locality.

On Sunday Oct.15, the museum held a silent auction in collaboration with the Michigan Mineralogical Society and Bornhorst gave an invited lecture titled “Cubic Pyrite Crystals from Navajún, Spain.”

Find your own treasures at the Tulip City Gem and Mineral Club’s annual rock, mineral and jewelry show. At the show, visitors will have the opportunity to crack their own geode to find crystals. This is in keeping with this year’s theme “Geodes — Hidden Treasure.”

The A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum at Michigan Technological University in Houghton is loaning its display, “How Geodes Are Made.” It will include 10 museum-quality geodes from Mexico, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky and Argentina.

Read more at the Holland Sentinel, by Lori Timmer.

Paul and Janet Clifford continue the donation of their mineral collection to the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum.

They recently donated 201 specimens, the second installment of the approximately 4000 specimens they pledged in 2003. They have now donated about half of their collection to the museum.

Paul is the former curator of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s gem and mineral collection and was assisted by Janet. An endowment has been created by the Clifford’s with the proceeds to be used to purchase specimens for the museum’s collection.

The quality, depth, and breadth of Michigan Tech’s mineral collection continues to improve through the generosity of donors such as Paul and Janet Clifford. The museum looks forward to the next installment of their minerals.

By A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum.

Lake Superior Magazine published a feature about minerals of the Keweenaw, referencing the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum at Michigan Tech as an outstanding public minerals display.

Minerals of the Lake Superior Region

The region is world famous for vast deposits of iron ore and native copper. During the last 150 years, the rocks have yielded immense tonnages from those deposits and attracted early settlers to the iron and copper mines. Our regional ores were critical in helping the Allies win World Wars I and II. But iron and copper are far from the only commercial minerals around this vast lake. Gold, platinum, silver, nickel, and gemstones such as amethyst, agates and even diamonds have been found here.

The region holds fame in another geologic camp. Collectors seek many Lake Superior minerals for their beauty, aesthetic qualities or rareness. Outstanding regional minerals form private and public collections worldwide and close to home at the A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum at Michigan Technological University in Houghton.

Read more at Lake Superior Magazine, by Gene L. LaBerge, George W. Robinson.

Dr. LaBerge is the author of Geology of the Lake Superior Region and is professor emeritus of geology at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Dr. Robinson is the former curator of the A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum and professor of mineralogy at Michigan Technological University, Houghton.