Abandoned Quarry

Headed towards the quarry, just below the horizon in the distance.

Processing plant and other abandoned buildings.

Another view of the inclined conveyor and plant.

The deepest part of the quarry is now a good-sized pond.  You can see two people fishing in the lower left of the photo, which also gives a sense of the scale of the open pit.

Modern Mining Revisited

Back in September of 2015, I took a close-up look at a Modern Mining Operation.

That visit focused on the lower adit and associated tailings and buildings.

This visit focuses on the upper adit.

 

The hillside surrounding the upper adit is reinforced the same way as the lower.

Left of the opening are a number of serious generators with wires snaking into the mine.

Also like the lower adit, this opening is blocked by concrete barriers and a welded gate.

A glimpse through the gate.

View from the upper tailings, looking over the lower workings and river valley beyond.

Crusty old drill rig left to the elements.

Esoterizona Stones 43

 

Fluorescent and phosphorescent tremolite (white-blue) with "eyes" of an unidentified green fluorescent mineral outlined in white-blue. 6"x3.5"x1" (Maricopa County)

Same, white light.

Close-up of the green "eyes".

Fluorescent white-blue tremolite rosettes on a freshly split face. 4"x2.5"x1"

Same specimen, white light.  Rosettes this large were not easy to find.

Smaller tremolite rosettes with orange and yellow fluorescent caliche. 5"x5"x2"

This piece was weathered on the surface, allowing the secondary caliche to form.

Last Stop

Bullet-riddled, rusting chassis of an early 1950s Dodge pickup.

A late '40s - early '50s era school bus, also bullet-riddled.  Unable to determine the exact make and year, although it shares characteristics with models from the period such as Studebaker, International Harvester, & Dodge, most notably the 2-panel divided windshield, the size and placement of windows on the swinging doors, and the modular body styling.  The fact the bus is missing the entire engine compartment and front grill makes identification that much more difficult, unlike with the truck pictured above.

The side rear emergency exit door seems to be a product of the 1950s, although I could find no matches with any make or model of school bus for the uniquely styled rear windows, nor for the rounded transom windows above each passenger seat.*  

*GM did use such windows on their commercial passenger coaches in the 1950s.

Slickensides

Boulder with slickenside markings in a quarry near Tucson.

Slickensides are created by friction and pressure at the fault lines of the earth's crust as immense plates of rock slowly grind past one another, leaving distinctive parallel grooves.

Here is a fault with slickensiding, dipping at a steep angle down into the earth.

A boulder section with beautiful, well-defined slickensiding.

Close-up of the slickenside grooves.

These faults also create space for the growth of secondary minerals ...

.. which often have potential for fluorescence.

Esoterizona Stones 42

An outcrop of rhombic calcite crystals, most visible above left of the hammer handle.

Crystal plates chipped out of these boulders fluoresce red, (calcite), yellow-white (caliche), and green (unknown). 8"x5"x2"  There were literally thousands of crystalline calcite rocks at this quarry, but these were the only ones with a fluorescent response.

The purple-pink tones on the left side of the specimen are lamp reflection over the red.

Same specimen, white light.

Calcite (red), caliche (yellow), and gray-blue unknown mineral. 9"x5"x2"

Same specimen, white light.

Well-formed calcite crystals (red), with yellow caliche. 4"x3"x2"

Same, white light. The large crystal in the center measures 0.5"x1".

Odd Booth

This strange little structure in the desert ..

.. turns out to be the weirdest phone booth I've ever seen.