Winter Digging at Mt. Apatite
by Patrick Bigos on Feb.20, 2010, under General
Rare Wintertime rock collecting treat! It was almost 50 degrees today in Maine. A nice day to do a little mineral prospecting over at Mt. Apatite in Auburn, ME. Patrick and one of our latest members, Chad got some good practice perforating the frost about a foot down on the dump piles.
ICE
H20 – Usually seasonal – virtually no Maine town without it; Greenwood – ice caves; Kennebec River – Gardiner; Penobscot River; Monhegan – Ice Pond; Riley – Mahoosuc Notch ice caves
Ice crystals are usually dendritic and a series of drawings will serve to show the variety of habits, though it has been rumored that some identical snowflakes have been found in Maine. (Note: Water is not a mineral as it is a liquid and would be better thought of as molten ice.) One of the earliest reports of Maine ice (variety snow) was Levett (1628): “Another evil or inconvenience I see there [Maine], the snow in winter did lie very long upon the ground.”
Reference: Mineralogy of Maine – Volume 1: Descriptive Mineralogy, Vandall T. King and Eugene E. Foord (Maine Geological Survey, Department of Conservation, 1994)
