Dear Friends,
Inspired by the eloquent and moving obituary of Sorena posted by Liz Cottrell, permit me to share a memory of her indefatigable zeal to improve the formidable educational resources of the Smithsonian.
It was during the early- to mid-nineties. Sorena was searching for museum-quality specimens suitable for inclusion in the “Rocks Gallery” which opened in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in the late 90’s. She canvassed petrologists around the USA and visited many of them in their field areas in order to collect large samples that could be used to tell stories. Among those Sorena visited were metamorphic petrologists working in New Hampshire and Vermont.
The quartzite mountains of western New Hampshire are made of beach-sand deposits of the Clough Quartzite weathered from island arcs of the Ammonoosuc Volcanics. The quartzite outcrops were polished as smooth as glass by glaciers affording a clear view of the mm- to cm-scale, varied mineral assemblages found in sedimentary cross-beds. Sorena requested hiking up Black Mountain, Benton Township, NH, to explore and sample pelitic mineral assemblages containing combinations of muscovite, paragonite, kyanite, staurolite, chloritoid, garnet, chlorite, magnetite, and ilmenite.
One has to remember that Sorena, an accomplished field geologist, was using a cane to aid her walking at this time. One also has to know that New Hampshire in late Fall is vulnerable to early Nor’easters that sweep in with freezing rain, sleet, snow, and howling winds. And those quartzites are polished as slippery as glass. We gathered at breakfast early that morning, eyeing heavy clouds and already feeling the wind building up. Should we delay climbing Black Mountain? But we were there and ready to go so we did it. We reached the trailhead at the base of the mountain with threatening weather. By the time we had started hiking, snow was spitting down from the clouds.
I have an image of Sorena, in mind’s eye, partially obscured by swirling snow, energized with grit and determination, skillfully bracing and using the cane for upward propulsion, pursuing her quest for specimens to carry back to the Smithsonian.
The Smithsonian’s Rocks Gallery is a fitting memorial to the career of Sorena Sorenson, indefatigable petrologist and educator.
Doug
Douglas Rumble
1001 West Coy Drive
Flagstaff AZ, 86005
drumble@carnegiescience.edu