Gold Mine Ridge EarthCache
bamagirl: The little sapling pines that were here when I placed this cache have grown up to the point that it is impossible to get the answers needed. Thanks to all who visited over the years.
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This earthcache overlooks the site where several "gold mines" existed during the days of Alabama's Gold Rush.
A special thanks to "The Muggle" for showing me this one and helping me get permission!
After gold was discovered in the mountains of North Georgia, prospectors began their search in Alabama. A "Gold Rush" followed the discovery of gold in what is now Chilton County in 1830. Much mining took place here (originally mining for copper), although there was never a significant amount of gold found here. The California Gold Rush took miners to the other side of the country; therefore, most of the mines here were abandoned by the Civil War.
Gold is usually found in two main types of deposits--lode (primary) deposits and placer (secondary) deposits. The deposits in this area were placers. The hypothesis is that gold-bearing veins in metamorphic rocks occur in mountain belts at continental margins such as the one here. In the mountain-building process, sedimentary and volcanic rocks may be deeply buried or thrust under the edge of the continent, where they are subjected to high temperatures and pressures resulting in chemical reactions that change the rocks to new minerals(metamorphism). This hypothesis suggests that water is expelled from the rocks and migrates upwards, precipitating ore materials as pressures and temperatures decrease. The ore metals are thought to originate from the rocks undergoing active metamorphism.
Placer deposits, such as the one here, represent concentrations of gold derived from lode deposits by erosion, disintegration or decomposition of the enclosing rock, and subsequent concentration by gravity.
Alabama's gold fields occur in a northeast trending belt about 100 miles long and 60 miles wide, in a region known as the Piedmont Uplift.
At the site of this earthcache, you can see the various elements necessary to form gold.
As you overlook this site, you will see how the land lays in a way that is conducive to mining.
TO LOG THIS CACHE:
1. Upload a picture of yourself including your GPSr at the posted coordinates.
2. Please email me telling what you see that would make prospectors feel this would be a good site for a gold mine.
PLEASE RESPECT THIS AS PRIVATE PROPERTY AND DO NOT ATTEMPT TO PAN FOR GOLD HERE. Do not cross guardrail.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ab uvag arrqrq.
Treasures
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