[Rockhounds] Wow! Willemite in a Septarian nodule

[pmodreski at aol.com]

This is amusing.

In fact, I have seen this same paragraph, or most of it, repeated on some printed labels that we, at the USGS in Denver, had received along with a pile of leftover "heel" pieces of sawn septarians that had once been donated to us by a rock shop, for giveaways to teachers.  I had not noticed the reference to "willemite" in it, though; perhaps our version did not include that.

What both versions do say, though, are these lines,


"The name Septarian is derived from the Latin name, Septem, meaning seven. This relates to the fact that the mud balls cracked with 7 points in every direction, thereby creating the beautiful design."


When I had first read that, my reaction had been, "I don't think so."  I just double checked this in an online dictionary (dictionary.com); it says, as I have always understood, that "septarian" is derived from the Latin word "septum", NOT "septem"; meaning an enclosure or partion; the term is used in biology:





a dividing wall, membrane, or the like, in a plant or animal structure; dissepiment. 





[Origin: 1710–20; < L séptum, var. of saeptum enclosure

Another P.S. (to what you may read in that paragraph from the ebay ad about the septarians), it says that the mineral layers in the septarians include both calcite and aragonite.  To my knowledge this is not correct; there are layers of calcite of different colors (brown and yellow), but I have tested both by X-ray diffraction, and they are all calcite, just different generations of mineral growth colored differently by impurities.

Just all demonstrating again that you can't believe a lot of what you see, or read, that is for sale on ebay!

Pete Modreski












-----Original Message-----
From: Gary Brown <gbrown at catspaw-minerals.com>
To: 'Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors' <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
Sent: Mon, 19 May 2008 4:04 pm
Subject: [Rockhounds] Wow! Willemite in a Septarian nodule



I never knew you could find willemite is a septarian nodule!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250249255643
Gary
ttp://www.catspaw-minerals.com
ome of the MasMils/PLUS Mine Location Disk 
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