Mississippi Gem and Mineral Society
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The Rocky Echoes is our award-winning club bulletin. The Rocky Echoes is published, from January to May; the editor gets a hiatus during the months of June, July, and December. The Rocky Echoes carries news about the Society, Field Trips, and Classes, articles about the Speaker of the month at the Club Meetings of the Society and articles from the Society’s membership.

 

You must be a member of the Society to receive a copy of the Rocky Echoes.

Excerpt from the November issue of Rocky Echoes

 

October 24th Field Trip to Hammett Gravel

 

Hammett Gravel pit has become a field trip that I look forward to every year. If you don’t find something nice to keep then you aren’t looking hard enough. This pit is featured in David Dockery’s Mississippi gravel books. If you have the books then they will give you a good idea of the size of this area and what you might find.

 

The morning started out with a meeting at the local Texaco. Everyone standing around talking about past week’s events and adventures; and it was a little nippy so a few elected to sit in their cars. The crowd was pretty good but not as large as I would have expected, being the last field trip of the year, but that’s ok.

 

The adventure began with the normal caravan from the meeting point to our destination. The weather was cloudy and windy at times. Every time the sun would peek out I would stop and enjoy the warm rays. Considering the amount of rain that we have had over the last several weeks the pit wasn’t so nasty. At the end of the day we all came out with several good finds such as coral, agates, petrified wood and jasper. Chris hauled in the most beautiful piece of jasper. I think that pretty much made his day and made everyone else envious of his find. My daughter Shelby had a good time following him around earlier that morning because he always has good luck finding petrified wood. She didn’t find the wood but found several agates. My other daughter Chelsea was at home recovering from foot surgery, so I loaded up a couple of buckets for her to search through at home. She was a little upset missing the trip, so I brought the trip to her. I hope that throughout this year I could lend a little insight into the field trips by writing these articles. I’m not a writer as most of you should know by now, but I have enjoyed sharing my thoughts with you almost every month. I can’t wait to see what next year will hold.

 

Keith P.

 

The following excerpt is a monthly feature of the Rocky Echoes

 

Library News

By

Janie H.

 

. . . . . I am still reading on the books that Dr. Charles W. so graciously donated to the library. The book I want to tell you about this month is Microfossils, by Howard A. Armstrong and Martin D Brasier, Microfossils are something we do not often think of, but they are there and play an important role. I remember reading a story about how a bomb making plant was located in Japan during World War II due to microfossils found in debris of a bombing site. Therefore the US was able to destroy the plant.

 

This books talks about the emergence of life on earth. It discusses different theories of the origin of life, and leaves you to draw you own conclusions, it then describes the different microfossils, their properties and the time periods in which they are found.

 

While reading this book, I found the following answers to questions below:

 

  • What are organelles?
  • What is seasonal sympatric?
  • What are the most successful organisms on the Earth?

 

 

And now the answers to the questions posed in the Library News.

 

  • Small bodies concerned with vital functions within the cell.
  • Change in timing of reproduction
  • Bacteria