The first time I saw Lake Superior, I had no words. I couldn’t describe the majesty of this tremendous body of fresh water.
Growing up on the East Coast of Canada, I didn’t think much could rival the mighty Atlantic Ocean. I discovered how wrong I was when I moved to Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula seven years ago to study geoscience education at Michigan Technological University in Houghton. Since then, my love for the Lake and my curiosity about the region have grown.
The Daily Mail (London) published an article about the eruption of a large Russian volcano. The article quoted Tech volcano expert Simon Carn (GMES).
Nasa scientists warned that the volcano may have spewed out large amounts of sulphur dioxide (SO2), which is harmful to human lungs.
The higher SO2 amounts downwind could be due to multiple factors, including variable emissions at the volcano (such as an initial burst), increasing altitude of the plume downwind or decreasing ash content downwind,
Simon Carn, an atmospheric scientist at Michigan Technological University, told the Earth Observatory.
Read more at the Daily Mail, by Will Stewart.
The A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum announces that one of its specimens is featured on the poster commemorating the 2017 Tucson Gem and Mineral Show (TGMS).
The specimen is a 13 cm copper crystal group from the Phoenix Mine in Keweenaw County. The specimen is among the finest copper specimens in the museum’s holdings. It was donated to Michigan Tech by Lucius L. Hubbard circa 1917.
Read more at Tech Today, by the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum.
Erika Vye, a recent PhD graduate in geology and one of the leaders of Geotours, a geoheritage project, published an article in the February-March 2017 issue of Lake Superior Magazine, called “Land, Water and History.”
The article examines the geological history of Lake Superior and the lands that surround it in the U.S. and Canada.
Michigan Tech alumnus Jeff Nuttall (’68) and his wife Louise have donated an outstanding copper crystal to the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum.
The crystal of copper, from the Quincy Mine in Hancock, has near-perfect form. The museum has the finest cumulative collection in the world of crystallized copper specimens. The Nuttalls’ donation is more than twice the size of the next-best crystal of the same form in the museum’s collection. Among the thousands of copper crystals from the Copper Country in other museum and private collections, very few show such perfect form.
Associate Curator Chris Stefano notes that “Despite its small size, this specimen is among the finest copper crystals in the museum’s extensive holdings.”
Nuttall is a semi-retired geologist running Vicksburg Petroleum out of Houston, Texas and has an extensive collection of minerals from the local region. He has a great love for the Copper Country and has collected minerals since his time at Michigan Tech.
By A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum.
The A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum exhibited at the 72nd annual Greater Detroit Gem, Mineral and Fossil Show held Oct. 14-16 at the Expo Center of Macomb Community College hosted by the Michigan Mineralogical Society. The show consisted of 56 exhibits, 40 mineral dealers selling to the attending public and presentations.
Ted Bornhorst, executive director of the museum, presented “Nature’s Mineral Masterpieces from the Keweenaw Peninsula” on Sunday afternoon to an audience of about 50 people. The museum held a silent auction as a featured Sunday event.
The museum maintains satellite exhibits at several locations around the state. The satellite exhibit in the St. Ignace Welcome Center was updated by Bornhorst en route to the mineral show. In addition, the museum’s satellite exhibit at Michigan Tech Research Institute in Ann Arbor was exchanged for a display of Variscite Nodules from Clay Canyon, Utah. The nodules were donated by George B. Robbe (1884-1963), a Michigan Tech alumnus from 1913 who pioneered in chemical extraction techniques for copper ore beneficiation while he was working for the Utah Copper Company at Bingham Canyon in the 1920s.
‘San Andreas isn’t my FAULT’
The Michigan Tech Geology Club is designed to allow students to discover the properties of minerals and geological environments through mineral collection excursions, mine tours, and geologically related field trips.
To order your long sleeve OR short sleeve GeoClub tee today, email Andrew at agdubay@mtu.edu.
For more information on the GeoClub visit: https://https://www.involvement.mtu.edu/organization/geology-club
A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum welcomes students, faculty and staff to visit and see why the museum is the No. one local destination on TripAdvisor. Admission is waived so you can visit on your lunch hour or any convenient time. Professional visitors accompanied by faculty or staff are also welcome.
The museum showcases the beauty and splendor of nature’s masterpieces, minerals. The museum exhibits the best mineral collection from the Great Lakes region as well as minerals from around the world. Enjoy fluorescent minerals in one of the best exhibits in the U.S. Visit the 17-ton native copper slab housed in the copper pavilion that holds the Guinness world record. Come visit before the pavillion closes in November for the winter.
The museum welcomes students and employees to visit the “gem” of Michigan Tech. Fall hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
A State of Michigan Historical Marker honoring Douglass Houghton was dedicated Saturday, Sept. 10, 2016, in a morning ceremony led by the Keweenaw County Historical Society in Eagle River. Among the approximately 70 attendees were several descendants of Douglass Houghton. The marker was proposed by the Michigan Basin Geological Society centered in Lansing. Ted Bornhorst, executive director of the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum, and Larry Molloy, president of the Keweenaw County Historical Society, led a geological and historical field trip for the Michigan Basin Geological Society all day Friday and Saturday afternoon to the Keweenaw Peninsula for a group of 30 geologists and guests. As part the guided field trip, the group visited the museum on Friday evening where a life sized oil painting of Douglass Houghton is on exhibit. The painting was done in the 1870’s by Bradish and a duplicate was purchased by the Michigan House of Representatives in 1879. Mineral specimens collected by Douglass Houghton are on exhibit at the museum. These specimens are part of the University of Michigan mineral collection co-owned by the museum under the Michigan Mineral Alliance.
Read more at Tech Today, by the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum.
Ted Bornhorst, executive director and professor, A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum, attended and gave an invited presentation at the 6th annual Dallas mineral collecting symposium held Aug. 20, 2016. Bornhorst’s presentation was titled “Michigan’s Copper Country and the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum.”
The full day symposium included a presentation by the Curator of the U. S. National Gem and Mineral Collection at the Smithsonian. One of the world’s foremost mineral dealers in fine mineral specimens, The Arkenstone, is the principal sponsor of the symposium. Robert Lavinsky, founder and owner of The Arkenstone, has donated several mineral specimens to the museum and played a role in another prominent donation.