On 5 Jan 2009, at 19:19, Marilyn Pekasky wrote: > And because Crater Lake is a National Park it is ILLEGAL to collect even one > little pebble of pumice there no matter how much is in the Park. Quite right! Besides, it's impractical to cart away a useful quantity of pumice unless you own a big pickup or dumptruck. A suitcase simply won't suffice. Those desirous of samples should keep their hands in their pockets until they are out of the park; at any rate there is probably more Mazama pumice outside the park than in. It is interesting to note that on the road up Annie Creek, the various outbarfings from Mazama are mixed with quite coarse material. Down by Hwy 97 at some distance from the caldera, the pumice particles are smaller and more uniform, free of the hard bits of rock you see along Annie Creek. Understandable, given that the eruptive cloud was carried by the prevailing westerlies away from the caldera, the heavier and coarser particles reaching ground first. Given President Bush's Christmastime changes to regulations about mining in National Parks, let none of us be surprised, however, if the Giant Humongous Unstoppable Pumice Extraction and Landscape Destruction Company, Inc. Pty. LLC announces that in cooperation with Walmart they'll be selling Mazama pumice for $10 a cubic yard as cat litter. [The forgoing paragraph is tainted by bitter irony.] I've had horticultural pumice from two sources, one in Washington State and one in the Vancouver area. The Washington material (quarried I know not where) is a lovely tawny-buff color; the Vancouver material (also quarried I know not where) is a rather ugly bone white. The geologists can distinguish pumice not only by its source, but also which eruption belched it forth. They've found Mazama ejecta over an astonishing area. Best reference for those curious is "Fire Mountains of the West" by Stephen L. Harris. Thank you all for your attention; now back to matters bulbous. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate on beautiful Vancouver Island http://maps.google.ca/maps/…