The California legislature is about to strike an unfortunate blow at education, and apparently not one of the legislators, Democratic or Republican, seems aware of it. Senate Bill 624 would remove serpentine as the state rock of California, and furthermore would declare the rock to be dangerous to the health of state residents.
The bill, short as it is, contains several factual errors, and instead of being "uncontroversial" as one assemblyperson put it, may open up the state and residents to litigation. Serpentine is not a toxic rock. It sometimes contains the fibrous mineral chrysotile asbestos, but chrysotile asbestos is not the form of asbestos that is proven to cause mesothelioma and lung cancer.
Serpentine (or more properly, serpentinite) was a great choice for the state rock, although the backers of the choice back in 1965 were almost surely unaware of its real value at the time...they wanted to promote asbestos mining, and serpentine sometimes hosts one of the six varieties of asbestos. The fascination with the rock as an educational tool runs deep. Deep, as in the earth's mantle...
The source of the rock is deep in the earth's mantle, beneath the 15-25 mile thick crust, and its presence all over the state of California is a revelation and acknowledgement of the incredible forces that have shaped the state. Imagine what it takes to bring masses of rock from such great depths! California has the incredible scenery that it does because of forces of movements along plate boundaries, whether the lateral movements along the San Andreas fault, the vertical churning that occurs along convergent boundaries, where ocean crust is driven underneath the edge of the continent, or the splitting that occurs at the divergent boundary in the far south of the state.
The rock is also quite pretty, to this geologist's eye. It ranges in color from black to intense jade-green. The journey from deep in the crust to the surface along fault zones usually leaves beautiful polished surfaces on the rock.
When ultramafic rocks like serpentine are brought to the surface, they are far out of chemical equilibrium with the ambient conditions, which means they are easily attacked by oxygen, water and organic acids. Clay is a common product of this process, as well as red or yellow iron oxides. The surface layer resulting from this weathering process is of course soil. We tend to think of soil as a rich surface layer that supports plant life, but some soils lack the necessary nutrients for most kinds of plant growth. This is definitely the case for soils developed on serpentine, which lack nitrates, phosphorus, and potassium. To make things worse, chrome and nickel are actually toxins. Hence, only specialized species can thrive on these rocks. Endemic species found nowhere else on the planet.
These ultramafic rocks are fairly rich in a number of unusual metal ores, including platinum, nickel, magnesium and mercury. One of the most important ores is chromite, which is the only significant source we have for chromium, the metal that puts the "stainless" in stainless steel. We import most of the chromium that we need from foreign sources, but in wartime (especially the two World Wars), the ores were mined domestically, and a number of operations were present in California.
The bill was promoted by cancer awareness groups, and is supported, somewhat strangely I think, by lawyers involved in asbestos compensation claims. Why would lawyers be interested in a state rock, and having it declared as dangerous? So far as I can tell, no one involved with the bill ever consulted with geologists or teachers.
State senator Gloria Romero, defending her sponsorship of a bill, was quoted as saying: " "This bill is about raising awareness to protect the health of our citizens. Serpentine contains asbestos, a known carcinogen. Toxic materials have no place serving as emblems for the State." This statement is not really logical. Consider some analogies:
California Poppies, our state flower, contain some morphine and codeine, the raw materials for making heroin, an illegal drug. Therefore "This bill is about raising awareness to protect the health of our citizens. California Poppies contain morphine and codeine, illegal drugs. Illegal materials have no place serving as emblems for the State." Let's get rid of poppies as our state flower.
Gold miners, breathing the dust of quartz in the milling and crushing of gold ores, died by the score in the mines during the Gold Rush, the event that led to the establishment of the state (gold mining also pretty much ended dozens of Native American cultures through direct violence and disease). So... "This bill is about raising awareness to protect the health of our citizens. Gold ore contains quartz, a known cause of silicosis. Toxic materials have no place serving as emblems for the State." Let's eliminate gold as our state symbol.
Grizzly bears killed hundreds and hundreds of Native Californians and Mexican-Americans in the early history of the state. So... "This bill is about raising awareness to protect the health of our citizens. Grizzly bears contain teeth and claws, known killers of people. Toxic animals have no place serving as emblems for the State." Let's eliminate the California Grizzly Bear as our state mammal. Oh, wait. We did one better: we eliminated the California Grizzly Bear instead. The last one was shot in the 1920's.
The current status of the bill is here. The Vug.com seems to have the best collection of responses on this issue from geologists and educators (see the links under July 6th). A twitter movement can be accessed at hashtag #CASerpentine. The geoblogosphere has been all over this issue: Silver Fox has a nice review of the many factual problemsin the actual text of the bill (serpentine is not asbestos; it may contain an asbestiform crystal habit, but so do five other minerals, and it is they which are most implicated in causing disease), as well as a review of geobloggers who have been discussing the problem. Also, check out Andrew Alden's take on this at About Geology
I do not want to belittle the problem of asbestos, lung cancer, and mesothelioma. Asbestos may have killed some of my own relatives. These are serious enough issues, but going after serpentine is misguided, and I believe, actually hurting the effort at raising awareness of the connections between the two. The fracas going on today will be over, and in another month no one will remember the issue. But any child studying the state symbols over the coming decades will discover an interesting rock, but also the connection to asbestos and disease.
They're throwing the baby out with the bathwater, and since it has already passed the state senate, I fear they may succeed. If you are concerned about this, and you're in California, call your assembly representative before August 2, or Governor Terminator with your concerns.
This is a compilation of several posts on the serpentine issue from my blog at Geotripper
