GMS Junior Field Trip November 2023

GMS Junior Field Trip
Quartz Crystals
in Georgia
Saturday, November 18, 2023

A trip like this has many moving parts. Getting permission from the property owner to collect there on a particular date? Charles – check. Clearing away a couple of feet of overburden to get to the crystals? Jason – check. Quick lesson to teach juniors about quartz? Jessica – check. Hotdogs, buns, water, juice boxes, marshmallows, other snacks? Jessica – check. Charcoal and all the other stuff necessary to start a fire pit BBQ? Jason – check. BBQ tools, plates, cups, utensils for the BBQ? Diana – check. Large containers, water, toothbrushes, etc. for cleaning crystals in the field? Diana – check. Wire-wrapping supplies, tools, and talent? Diana – check. Someone to make sure all of the puzzle pieces of the trip were accounted for? Charles – check. Someone to notify everyone when too much rain meant delaying the trip one week? Me – check. Getting everyone safely to the site? Charles – check. Juniors (and adults!) eager to learn, dig, and play? Check, check, and check.

It was such a gorgeous day! It was cool, but not cold; warm, but not hot; and sunny skies teased out that tell-tale glint of a crystal in the dirt. Jason arrived early to start moving dirt as Nedra and Madison supervised. Aaron, Nathan, and Charles got tables and chairs ready for lunch. At the meeting site, Jessica gave everyone an excellent lesson about quartz. We learned that the formula for quartz is SiO2; why and how amethyst is purple; that a crystal point is called a termination; why milky quartz is milky (tiny bubbles), and more. Then, Charles led the group to the collecting site. Jason went over all of the safety rules, then we were off and digging! Thanks to Jason’s expert dirt moving, juniors began finding quartz crystals everywhere. It wasn’t long before some clusters came out too. Juniors washed their favorite crystals and Diana wire-wrapped pendants for them on the spot. I barely had time to take a picture of one crystal when I was being called to take another. Aaron was busy too, helping juniors find crystals and answering all of their geology questions, including one that had the rest of us puzzling a bit until he arrived to save the day.

After the excitement of finding beautiful crystals, we stopped long enough to enjoy some hotdogs freash off the grill thanks to Nedra and Nathan. We popped a few marshmallows onto the end of long wooden sticks and stood around the pit soaking up the last bit of heat from the coals until our marshmallows were just the right toasty color. Everyone helped tidy up after lunch, and then they were back to digging. Jason jumped onto his tractor to move another area of dirt for us, and even after the tractor bucket dropped its teeth like grandma at Thanksgiving, he continued uncovering some nice pockets of crystals. The afternoon was filled with more crystals, more clusters, more pendants, and more happy juniors.

As the day drew to a close, we discussed the location itself. We once thought that we were digging in a small pegmatite. But based on what we have been seeing, and having learned some pertinent information about the history of the location, Aaron and Jason determined that rather than a small pegmatite, we are working with material that was moved from elsewhere on the property. This explains a lot about what we have observed over the last few trips there, and it helps with future digs as well.

Many thanks to all of the people who made this trip a success, the property owners most of all. They welcomed us to their place, gave us all the time and space we needed to dig for crystals, and let us use their tables, chairs, and fire pit for a wonderful grilled lunch. They even introduced a few of us to a special little mini horse named Andy, whose shaggy winter coat and big personality stole all of our hearts. Their dogs and cats were happy to play with us too, including an orange kitty we found making biscuits on a cushion in Diana’s truck, and a lucky dog that ended up with some hotdogs that hit the ground. Juniors had fun and the adults did too, especially Harry, who is almost 100, and his wife Pat, who were digging right next to the juniors. Everyone left with magnificently dirty clothes, sparkling quartz crystals, and tales of a memorable day!

Lori Carter
On behalf of Charles Carter, Field Trip Chair
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