By Dr. Henry Barwood

Winter Gathering of Micromounters Advent Christian Village, Dowling Park, Florida Friday and Saturday February 25, 26 2005

The Winter Gathering did not officially begin until Saturday morning, February 26, 2005; however, on Friday evening there were already 15 microscopes set up and the early arrivals conducted a brisk session with lots of exchanges of minerals and ideas.
The meeting is hosted by Ed and Martha Cunningham at Advent Christian Village which has a marvelous facility complete with meeting hall, lodge and restaurant.

The meeting officially began on Saturday after an early breakfast.
There were 16 microscopes and 20 attendees. Talks began at 8:30 with Bill Lechner giving a report on the Aris Quarry in Namibia and examples of various minerals from Mt. St.Hilaire.

Julian Gray followed with report on the history of micromounting.

After a short break, Joe Horton discussed photomicrographic techniques and methods of manipulating the image(s) for maximum depth-of-field.

Jim Daly demonstrated how to make air tight containers for sensitive micromounts and generated quite a few comments on the technique.

A modest fee was collected and an excellent lunch was provided with sandwich materials, salad, drinks and desserts.

After lunch Jason Smith presented a tour of worldwide localities through excellent photomicrographs of 80 different mineral species.

Henry Barwood concluded the talks with a report on recent analyses of specimens collected on the Fall FM field trip to the Arkansas syenites.

Dave Babulski was to present a talk on his open frame gimbal mechanism microscope stage and paintings of micromounts, but he and his wife came down with the flu and were unable to attend.
Dave sent along a print out of his presentation and called to see if anyone had any questions for him.

After the formal talks, Don Reems brought out his collection of Graves Mountain rutiles for everyone to see. While they were not exactly micromounts, they are exceptional rutile specimens. The meeting did not break up until around 11:00 PM.

There was an overwhelming abundance of give-away material available and discussions and specimen exchanges proceeded throughout the day.
Many ideas for lighting methods and photomicrography, especially digital imaging, were discussed by the participants.

The group decided to have the theme of a comparison between Mt. St. Hilaire and the Arkansas syenite minerals for the meeting in 2006. Henry Barwood will remain as program chair, and Bill Lechner and Julian Gray will assist him with the program.

This was another very successful and enjoyable micromount meeting and we hope it will continue to grow in the future. Henry Barwood Associate Professor of Science, Earth Science Department of Math and Physics MSCX 312G Troy University Troy, Alabama 36082 hbarwood@troy.edu
Henry L. Barwood
Click on Mr. Barwood's name for more information about him.

Check back in a few days to see if there are any photos of the 4th Gathering available.