May 2, 2010

Mica Mine

This Saturday we went to the site of a former mica mine in Burnsville. We did a 1/2 mile slightly uphill hike to an area where there is lots of debris from the mine. In addition to mica, there are
other interesting rocks, including tourmaline, garnet, beryl, feldspar, granite, among others. We were lead by a geologist from UNCA who showed us examples of each of the kinds of rocks and soon it became a treasure hunt. We would find interesting rocks and he would either confirm what we thought we found or tell us what it really was. Here are some examples of mica:

















I also captured some images of some of the wildflowers we saw, including the showy orchis and the Jack-in-the-pulpit below:


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