The Mineralogical Society of Southern California

Program Notes: Friday, April 12, 2024 at 7:30, join us for “The White Rock Quarry, Clay Center, Ottawa County, Ohio”  Presented by  Christopher Stefano.

This talk will discuss the geology, history and fine mineral specimens of one of Ohio’s oldest and most famous localities. Known for its “root beer” brown fluorite, as well as fine sphalerite and celestine specimens, Clay Center has been producing specimens since the Victorian era. The talk summarizes the article by Chris Stefano and Jamison Brizendine published in the Mineralogical Record in 2020.

Dr. Chris Stefano has had a lifelong passion for geosciences. He completed his bachelor’s degree in geology at Kent State University in 2004 and was then admitted to the Ph.D. program at the University of Michigan where he studied the role of water in basaltic eruptions in the Yellowstone Hotspot in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Wyoming. By the time he graduated in 2010, Chris had amassed a large mineral collection and was an active mineral dealer. He was hired in 2011 to carry out an inventory and assessment of the University of Michigan’s mineral collection, including a discussion of the history of the collection, which was published in Rocks and Minerals magazine in 2013. Chris became the Associate Curator of Michigan Tech’s A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum later in 2013. During that time, he completed several publications on various topics in specimen mineralogy and petrology, as well as oversaw several large acquisitions to the collections; including the Michigan Mineral Alliance, under which the University of Michigan collection has been added to the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum’s holdings. In 2019, he joined the staff of The Mineralogical Record as an editor and has published many articles dealing with the American Midwest and other topics. Many more are on the way. His interests are very broad, spanning geochemistry, petrology, mineralogy and the history of science. He is particularly interested in the minerals of the American Midwest and Arkansas’ Magnet Cove district, and has significant field experience in these areas.  Chris’s other hobbies include cooking and board games.

SPECIAL ZOOM MEETING NOTICE

MSSC members will be automatically on the invite list each month.

Non Members, you must request to attend the MSSC zoom meeting every month.  Email our Programs chair, Rudy Lopez at programs@mineralsocal.org  no later than the Thursday before the scheduled meeting   Please include “ZOOM Meeting” in the subject line of your response. We will send you the meeting link.

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