Last updated 28Apr2013 at 6:35 a.m. PDT
As a property owner in California, and as a geologist, I'm annoyed about the recent BS (
SB 624) the state legislature is up to in trying to delete serpentine as the state rock. First of all, as many have pointed out, serpentine is not a rock, it's a mineral group: the
Serpentine Group, AKA the Kaolinite-Serpentine Group according to
mindat.org (shall we outlaw clay, also?). It is serpentinite (sometimes called serpentine or serpentine rock) that is a rock, the state rock of California – see
Serpentine and Serpentinite from the USGS
Cascades Volcano Observatory.
Serpentinite, the rock, is commonly formed of
antigorite,
lizardite, and
chrysotile – all of which are Serpentine Group minerals – and other non-serpentine-group minerals such as talc, chlorite, magnetite, magnesite, brucite, chromite, sometimes relict olivine or pyroxene, and sometimes quartz and calcite (usually as later veins). Other mineral associations (
for example at New Idria) include montmorillonite, coalingite, hydromagnesite, nepouite, pecoraite, and trace amounts of tremolite. Besides being host to a unique flora that can survive the plant-harsh conditions of high Mg, Fe, Co, Cr, and Ni (along with relatively
low amounts of plant nutrients like calcium and potassium), serpentinite bodies in California have been host to most of the state's mineral deposits of chromite, magnesite, and cinnabar, and possibly some of the state's nickel occurrences. Other trace element associations can include minor copper and platinum. Chromium is of the non-hexavalent type (
USGS Open-file Report 95-831,
Chapter 5).
Asbestos is not a single mineral, and in fact isn't the name of any defined mineral at all. Asbestiform is a particular mineralogical habit that some minerals take: long fibers often in veins or masses. Asbestiform and fibrous, as crystal forms, are similar, with asbestiform being a more extreme version of fibrous. More minerals have a fibrous habit (for example,
siderite,
malachite,
gypsum,
celestite,
chalcedony) than have an asbestiform habit.
The word "asbestos" comes from the Latin and Greek
asbestos,
meaning "unquenchable" or "inextinguishable" – also see more about the etymology of asbestos at the
Online Etymology Dictionary, at
Asbestos: Changing the Name of a Quebec Town, and at
Merriam-Webster Online. According to my mineralogy book – the Manual of Mineralogy (after James D. Dana), 21st Edition by Cornelis Klein and Cornelius S. Hurlbut, Jr., 1993 – asbestos minerals in natural form have a length to width ratio greater than 100:1. Also, the book defines the term "asbestiform" as referring to "minerals that are mined for asbestos and possess fibrousity typical of asbestos—that is with small fiber thickness, flexibility, and separability." Not just any old mineral can be called asbestos or be described as asbestiform.
This is what the
EPA has to say about asbestos:
Asbestos is the name given to a number of naturally occurring fibrous minerals with high tensile strength, the ability to be woven, and resistance to heat and most chemicals. Because of these properties, asbestos fibers have been used in a wide range of manufactured goods, including roofing shingles, ceiling and floor tiles, paper and cement products, textiles, coatings, and friction products such as automobile clutch, brake and transmission parts. The Toxic Substances Control Act defines asbestos as the asbestiform varieties of: chrysotile (serpentine); crocidolite (riebeckite); amosite (cummingtonite/grunerite); anthophyllite; tremolite; and actinolite.
Five of the minerals listed above that have asbestiform versions are amphiboles: riebeckite, cummingtonite/grunerite, anthophyllite, tremolite, and actinolite. The sixth mineral, chrysotile, is one of the Serpentine Group minerals. The asbestiform version of riebeckite is crocidolite, that of cummingtonite/grunerite is amosite.
Anthophyllite is often
but not always fibrous, and it is not always asbestiform. The EPA, nevertheless lists the mineral as "asbestos." The same is true for the minerals
tremolite and
actinolite (two end members of the
tremolite-actinolite solid solution series, and to complicate things more mineralogically, both minerals form solid solution series with
ferro-actinolite:
tremolite–ferro-actinolite and
actinolite–ferro-actinolite). Both tremolite and actinolite are commonly found in non-asbestiform habits, and consequently the asbestiform versions are sometimes referred to as "tremolite asbestos" and "actinolite asbestos," which seems to imply, incorrectly, that both minerals are entirely asbestiform.
Are we now going to take all samples of serpentine group minerals and any asbestiform minerals out of circulation, out of all teaching and personal rock and mineral collections? What?? Why? As
Lab Lemming says (after pointing out that serpentine can be used for CO2 sequestration and that it
prevents earthquakes by
allowing faults to creep):
There are 20 forms of serpentine, only one of which is an asbestos mineral. The very dangerous amphibole asbestos minerals specifically mentioned in the bill are completely unrelated to serpentine.
The uproar about serpentinite, the rock, needs to die down: the legislature needs to back off. Otherwise one might think that the legislature was getting ready to fund the state of California (and themselves?) through litigation, rather than by any legitimate means.
GeoBlogosphere - Blogosphere Reports and Photos:
Photo of serpentinite (About.com: Geology - Metamorphic Rock Types gallery)
Monday Mineral: Serpentine (Outside the Interzone, January 19, 2009)
The Other California: Geology and our State Symbols (Geotripper, December 2, 2009)
Rock 365 : Day 74 : Serpentine #365photos (hypocentre's posterous, March 16, 2010)
The Other California: A Journey to the Center of the Earth (kind of...) (Geotripper, March 31)
Dire Threat to Benign State Rock (Updated) (About.com: Geology, June 19)
Unreasoned Fear of Serpents? We Geologists Need to Be Heard (Geotripper, June 24)
Losing Serpentine as the State Symbol of California? Why not educate instead? (Teaching the Earth Sciences, June 24)
CA SB 624 - Senator Gloria Romero's Bill based on BAD SCIENCE (Justin Zzyzx at The-Vug.com, unknown date)
Serpentinite Under Attack, Part 2 (About.com: Geology, June 30)
Libby and the Serpentine Killers (About.com: Geology, July 2)
Hiking up Big Rock Ridge (Literrata, July 2)
Something Doesn't Feel Right About This: The Serpentine Issue in California (Geotripper, July 2)
In defense of serpentine (Lounge of the Lab Lemming, July 3)
More on the asbestos dust-up (Lounge of the Lab Lemming, July 4)
Throwing the Baby Out with the Bathwater: The Serpentine Issue in California (Geotripper, July 5)
Serpentine – SB 624, Senator Gloria Romero and ADAO (FakeMinerals.com, July 5)
Politics, California and serpentine (Eruptions, July 6)
Save Our State Rock...Serpentine Gets A Bad Rep! (AFMS- American Federation of Mineralogical Societies blog, July 6)
Down with serpentine; or, clueless in California (The Volcanism Blog, July 6)
Fear and Ignorance winning out over Education and Knowledge: Serpentine Bill Sailing on through Legislature (Geotripper, July 7)
First Of All, California, It’s Your State Rock And It’s Called Serpentinite (Maitri's VatulBlog, July 7)
California Senate to drop Serpentine as state rock because of asbestos ties (Halfway to Concord, July 8)
Throwing the Baby Out with the Bathwater: The Serpentine Issue in California (Geotripper at
Daily Kos, July 9)
A Letter to Governor Schwarzenegger and the California Legislature...About Serpentine!?! (Geotripper, July 9)
Wow...If I had a press secretary, would my assemblyperson call me? Update on the serpentinite issue in California (Geotripper, July 11)
Speak up for serpentine (Oakland Geology, July 11)
California's Unique Serpentinite Landscapes 1 (Geotripper, July 11)
California's Unique Serpentinite Landscapes 2 - And How Education is a Better Choice than a Press Secretary (Geotripper, July 12)
The Law Against Serpentine: The Attorneys' Arena (Andrew Alden, About.com: Geology, July 12)
In praise of green rocks (Active Margin, July 12)
California's Unique Serpentinite Landscapes 3 - Finding Beauty (Geotripper, July 13)
Save our serpentine! (California Dreaming - and the Reality, July 13)
California's Unique Serpentinite Landscapes 4: What can our state rock tell us about geologic processes on Mars? (Geotripper, July 14)
Geology Fail: California Moves to Disown State Rock (Discover Magazine, Discoblog, July 14)
An Introduction to Asbestos, clicks through to the next article (Andrew Alden, About.com: Geology, July 14)
Asbestos in a Nutshell: This miracle material has taught us some lessons (Andrew Alden, About.com: Geology, July 14)
Standing up for serpentinite (Highly Allochthonous, July 15)
A Serpentine-Inspired Rant (Haronic Tremors, July 15)
Serpentine Collecting Spots around California (map by Justin Zzyzx, July 15)
Unscientific California: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Serpentine and Biodiversity (Discover Magazine, The Intersection, Sheril Kirshenbaum, July 15, 2010)
California's Unique Serpentinite Landscapes 5: Doing What I Like to Do, and An Invitation! (Geotripper, July 16)
Calling on Californians: West Coast Represent! (Discover Magazine, The Intersection, Sheril Kirshenbaum, July 18, 2010)
California's Unique Serpentinite Landscapes: Eldridge Moores and California's State Rock (Geotripper, July 18)
What California most needs right now -- a defrocking campaign! (Classical Values, July 23)
Serpentinite Adored (Andrew Alden, About.com: Geology, July 23)
SB 624 Senator Romero’s Lies (and more lying liars that tell them) (FakeMinerals.com, July 24)
Fighting For California's State Rock: What's Wrong With Senate Bill 624? (Geotripper, July 25)
Fighting For California's State Rock: What's Right With Serpentine? (Geotripper, July 25)
At home with serpentine (Oakland Geology, July 27)
My Serpentine Letter (Oakland Geology, July 28)
Rock in the limelight: serpentinite (Angelina Souren's Earth Blog, July 29)
My letter opposing SB 624: Serpentin(it)e (Perrykid's Posts, July 29)
An Update on the State Rock Debate in California (Geotripper, August 1)
San Francisco suiseki (Oakland Geology, August 1)
Serpentinite - California's State Rock (Gigapan by Ron Schott, August 1)
The Power of Words: The Debate over Serpentine in California (Geotripper, August 2)
Snaky Words like Serpentinite and Ophiocalcite (Olelog, August 3)
A #CAserpentine photo (Ron Schott, taken May 24, uploaded August 3; click #CAserpentine tag for more photos)
Learn the Facts About Serpentinite Before It’s Removed as California’s State Rock (KQED's Quest Science Blog, Brian Romans, August 5)
Serpentine, Science, and the politics of fear (Talkin' Rocks, August 8)
Save California's State Rock: CGF opposes SB 624 (CGF, Committee for Green Foothills, Greenfeet, August 9)
Standing on a Rock: Why the California Legislature Needs to Hear From Educators, Students and Scientists (Geotripper, August 10)
California Serpentine: To Assembly Member Lieu - A Question of Openness and Fairness (Geotripper, August 12)
Home Sweet Serpentine (KQED's Quest Science Blog, Jennifer Skene, August 16)
The California Serpentine Fight Goes On (Andrew Alden, About.com: Geology, August 19)
Politics of a rock (California's Islands, August 23)
Ding, Dong, SB624 Is Dead (Andrew Alden, About.com: Geology, September 2, 2010)
Erionite and Cancer in Cappadocia, Turkey (Olelog, November 5, 2010)
Serpentinite and mélange (Mountain Beltway, December 25, 2010)
Guest Post - Naturally Harmful Metals and Minerals (The Geology P.A.G.E., December 29, 2010)
Concerns over erionite dust as cancer source (Arizona Geology, January 5, 2011)
Mineralogical Society of America proposes a position statement on Asbestos (Lounge of the Lab Lemming, March 1, 2011)
Asbestos (Hudson Valley Geologist, March 9, 2011)
Maligned Minerals and Serpentinite in Sun (En Tequila Es Verdad, July 31, 2011)
My state’s official rock is a mineral! (En Tequila Es Verdad, Karen Locke, January 11, 2013)
Chrysotile (Sandatlas, March 3, 2013)
More about Serpentine, Serpentinite, and Related Topics:
A Serpentine Haiku: Peter B. Moyle, unknown date.
California State Rock: Serpentine: State Symbols USA.
Klamath-Siskiyou Wilderness Wild and Rugged Sanctuary: California Academy of Sciences – about flora and fauna and serpentinite (among other things).
California Floristic Project: Centres of Plant Diversity, Smithsonian Institution.
North American Serpentine Flora, U.S.A. and Canada: Centres of Plant Diversity, Smithsonian Institution.
Day, D., 2005,
Rugged Plants Struggle to Survive on Barren Serpentine Soil: Northern California Geological Society Newsletter, February 2005 [
also reprinted here].
Hotz, P. E., 1964,
Nickeliferous laterites in southwestern Oregon and northwestern California: Economic Geology, v. 59, no. 3, p. 355-396 [abstract].
Rinaudo, Caterina, Gastaldi, Daniela, and Belluso, Elena, 2003,
Characterization of chrysotile, antigorite, and lizardite by FT-Raman spectroscopy: The Canadian Mineralogist, vol. 41, p. 883-890.
Wrucke, C. T., 1995,
Serpentine- and carbonate-hosted asbestos deposits,
in USGS Open-file Report 95-831.
And Some Other News-Type Items:
Recreation Wrongly Targeted in Clear Creek Closure (Blueribbon Coalition, May 1, 2008)
Several Sierra trails are toxic, group says (San Francisco Chronicle, SFGate, June 23, 2010)
California's state rock raked over the coals (San Francisco Chronicle, SFGate, June 24, 2010)
Why rock this boat? Decertifying the California state rock, serpentine, because it contains asbestos won't alleviate the cancer that the substance causes. (Los Angeles Times, July 28, 2010)
Should California's state rock be stripped of its title because it contains asbestos? (Los Angeles Times, July 2, 2010)
Lawmakers have serpentine rocks in their heads (San Francisco Chronicle, SFGate, July 3, 2010)
Letters to the Editor (San Francisco Chronicle, SFGate, July 3, 2010)
California Looks to Shun State Rock Over Asbestos Content (DailyTech, July 6, 2010)
Is Mother Nature Really Out To Get Us? (Carnegie Forever, July 6, 2010)
Serpentine Politics (Burrito Justice, July 6, 2010)
Dan Walters: California state-rock bill has serpentine agenda (Fresno Bee, July 9, 2010)
What's Underneath the State Rock Bill? More Lawsuit Abuse! (California Civil Justice Blog, July 9, 2010)
Throwing the Baby Out with the Bathwater: The Serpentine Issue in California (Geotripper at
Daily Kos, July 9)
Rock stuck in a hard place (San Francisco Examiner, July 10, 2010)
Personal Injury Lawyers Between a Rock and a Hard Place - Lawsuit Industry Picks a Fight With Geologists and Friends (California Justice Association of California - CJAC, July 12, 2010)
State rock debate rocks Twitter The Sacramento Bee, CapitolAlert, July 13, 2010)
Lawmakers want to get state rock off the books (The Oakland Tribune, InsideBayArea.com, Political Blotter, July 13, 2010)
Outcry as State Rock Toppled (The Bay Citizen, July 13, 2010)
California May Drop Rock, and Geologists Feel the Pain (New York Times, July 13, 2010)
California May Drop Its Official State Rock (New York Times, July 13, 2010)
The battle over the California state rock (CalCoastNews, July 14, 2010)
Geology Fail: California Moves to Disown State Rock (Discover Magazine, Discoblog, July 14, 2010)
Calif may dump 'state rock' that contains asbestos (AP,
Yahoo! News, July 15, 2010)
Unscientific California: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Serpentine and Biodiversity (Discover Magazine, The Intersection, Sheril Kirshenbaum, July 15, 2010)
Geologists take to Twitter to save beloved rock (Mother Nature Network, July 15, 2010)
Lawmakers Look To Change Cancer-Causing State Rock (The Huffington Post, July 15, 2010)
NYTimes, Calif. Press, twitterers too: Big ruckus over state rock serpentine, asbestos activists, and demonization of a stone (Knight Science Journalism Tracker, July 15, 2010)
Geologists protest bill to remove state rock (San Francisco Chronicle, SFGate, July 16, 2010)
Cut and thrust election online (The Sydney Morning Herald, smh.com.au, July 16, 2010)
Wait, they're going after the state rock? (FresnoBee.com News Blog, July 16, 2010)
Political call to 'defrock the rock' (The New Zealand Herald, nzherald.co.nz, July 17)
Lawmaker seeks to defrock 'toxic' official state rock (BBC News, July 17, 2010)
My Word: Rocky stance on serpentine status as state rock (Eureka Times-Standard, July 17, 2010)
My Word: Rocky stance on serpentine status as state rock (The Ukiah Daily Journal, July 17, 2010)
Our Opinion: Between a rock and a hard place (Imperial Valley Press, ivpressonline.com, July 18, 2010)
Calling on Californians: West Coast Represent! (Discover Magazine, The Intersection, Sheril Kirshenbaum, July 18, 2010)
A serpentine approach toward more asbestos litigation (PointofLaw.com, July 18, 2010)
Serpentine rocks on as CO2 vacuum (San Francisco Business Times, July 23, 2010)
Between a rock and a hard place: California’s rock debate (89.3 KPCC, Southern California Public Radio, podcast with Garry Hayes and Brian Wernicke, July 23, 2010)
'Serpentine, Shelly, Serpentine' (El Defensor Chieftan, July 24, 2010)
Geologists Revolt Over Proposal to Change California State Rock (Gawker, July 24, 2010)
Natural Wonders: California state rock in danger of demotion (Chico Enterprise-Record, ChicoER.com, July 24, 2010)
Hamlin: Don't laugh -- this is really important legislative stuff (The Reporter (Vacaville), July 25, 2010)
Californians Debate Fate of Official State Rock (Voice of America, VOANews.com, July 26, 2010)
The irrational fear of our state rock (Los Angeles Times Opinion, July 27, 2010)
Caught between the state rock and a hard place (Stockton Record, Recordnet.com, August 2, 2010)
Ashton: MJC teacher on a mission to vindicate state rock (The Modesto Bee, August 2, 2010)
Why California is between a rock and a hard place (Manteca Bulletin, August 5, 2010)
Serpentine to Avoid Flying Serpentine! (OCWeekly, August 5, 2010)
‘Save the rock’ or ‘Drop the rock’? (The Orange County Register, August 12, 2010)
Editorial: Stop ridiculous debate over state rock (The Oakland Tribune, InsideBayArea, August 13, 2010)
State rock controversy enters new phase (The Sacramento Bee, Dan Walters, August 18, 2010)
Finally:
Signs: "Warning Unsafe To Enter" and "Everything Outside Might Be Dangerous"
NOTE:
I will be updating the Geoblogosphere and news links as more posts and articles are written.
