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Adrian College Professor Sarah Hanson documents new mineral

Posted Wednesday, March 27, 2019

As a child, little Sarah Hanson was fascinated by National Geographic programs on volcanoes. In fact, watching the shows led to an obsession of rocks and minerals that had her mother wondering if she had rocks in her head.

Her mother supported Sarah's interest in geology, taking her to Colorado and the Appalachians for rock and mineral hunts. She even joined a local rock club with her daughter despite not really having an interest in collecting herself.

Everyone has seen that one kid who always shoves rocks in their pants and takes them home. We introduce you now to grown up Sarah L. Hanson, Ph.D. professor of geology and discoverer of a new mineral called Tantalowodginite, found in the Emmons Granite Pegmatite Dike in Oxford County, Maine.

“I discovered it the way most new minerals are discovered,” Sarah explained. “A miner in the New Hampshire quarry, Ray Sprague, brought it to us and said, ‘This looks different, I don’t know what it is.’”

With a bunch of other rocks in her pockets to look at, it was a couple of years before she realized she had a new mineral in her hands. The University of New Orleans research group she works with helped her analyze the dark red specimen, but she set aside the information until she had time to explore it and write a paper.

“When I plotted all the data, I realized it was a new mineral,” Sarah said. “So, half of me cheered and half of me cried because it’s really cool that I found a new mineral, but now I had a lot more work to do!”

There are two ways a new mineral gets named, Sarah noted. “If it’s a new species the discoverer can name it whatever they want. The second is if it’s connected to another mineral, that relative has to be included in the name. That’s where Wodginite in the title comes from. Its name was predisposed.”

The mineral is not expected to ever be abundant. However, those seeking a piece need only explore as far as eBay, where bits are being offered for sale, including one approximately a half inch long for $275.

“That’s one of the authors who lives about five miles from the quarry,” Sarah chuckled. “He goes up there every weekend and buys it to sell on eBay. He was about to explode waiting for this paper to come out, because you can’t announce it or sell it until it’s official.”

The mineral, created in a magma chamber below a volcano approximately 420 million years ago, is very valuable from the viewpoint of a mineral species, but not so much from an industrial perspective, according to Sarah.

She estimated there are between 80 to 100 new minerals discovered each year. She is confident, however, this the first time anyone from Adrian College has discovered a new mineral. “…The citation will always be Sarah Hanson, Adrian College,” she said.

Sarah was a co-author on another mineral discovery of Samarskite-(Yb) in 2004, found in Colorado.

Those interested in seeing the brand new Tantalowodginite discovery need only go to Jones Hall where it will be on display with other specimens.

Sarah has been with Adrian College since 1998. “It’s a vocation and an avocation all wrapped up in one. I really like teaching the students. And I like the small classes. We have great students,” she said.

She is also the director of the College’s Robinson Planetarium — astronomy being another fascination of little Sarah Hanson. “Yeah, that’s sort of on the side,” she said with a smile.

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