This EarthCache is located at the only real geologic exhibit for the Blue Ridge Parkway,
THE MUSEUM OF NORTH CAROLINA MINERALS.
NOTE: you do NOT have to wait for a reply from me before logging.
TO LOG THIS CACHE: (SEND ANSWERS IN A SEPARATE EMAIL or MESSAGE, DO NOT PUT IN YOUR LOG): Tell me the name of ANY of the 6 rock specimens displayed here
Also: A photo (of you if you wish) (with you GPS if possible) standing in front of the museum, its sign, or the displayed rock specimens MAY BE USED AS PROOF OF YOU VISIT IF YOU WISH.
The Museum of North Carolina Minerals is located near Mile Post 331 of The Blue Ridge Parkway, at Gillespie Gap (elevation 2,819 feet), where N.C. 226 crosses under the Blue Ridge Parkway. From here it is 14 miles south to Marion, and 6 miles north to Spruce Pine.
The museum features specimens of the very large variety of minerals, rocks, and gemstones found in North Carolina as well as regional geology and exhibits.
The museum's hours are: Summer (May-October) from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. daily, and Winter (weather permitting) 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. with a closure from 12 noon - 1 p.m. daily.
The museum also highlights the history of mining in North Carolina, especially in the neighboring Spruce Pine District
An interesting note: The Eastern Continental Divide also crosses the Parkway at the exit for the museum.
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Park in the museum's parking lot (N 35 51.240 and W 082 03.073 and continue to the posted coordinates. This cache is handicap accessible.
This cache can be done whether the museum is open or not, but, you are highly encouraged to enter if open and see the numerous exhibits.
One inside exhibit of particular interest is the HUGE quartz crystal on display which was found in the 1950s while excavating the area of the parking lot for the visitor's center at Mabry Mill.
The photo is shown with a set of keys for scale.
MINERAL GEOLOGY of the Spruce Pine Mining District:
MORE THAN 50 ROCKS AND MINERALS have been mined in North Carolina during the 19th and 20th centuries.
In 1955, North Carolina led the nation in production of feldspar, scrap mica, olivine, and lithium. It ranked 5th in talc and clay production, and 7th in sand and gravel production. NC leads the nation in production of brick clay and is 2nd in phospate production.
The 
Spruce Pine Mining District has an abundant supply of ALASKITE . ALASKITE is a medium-to course-grained, light colored PLUTONIC IGNEOUS ROCK that contains the MINERALS Feldspar, Quartz, and Muscovite Mica.(see below). (plutonic refers to igneous rock that has crystallized from magma at great depth in the Earth, and an igneous rock is one formed by solidification from a molten or partially molten silicate material, that is, from magma). All three represent an important economic resource for the neighboring community of Spruce Pine. In the past, these minerals were produced from exceptionally coarse-grained igneous rock called PEGMATITE that is also found throughout the Spruce Pine District.
PEGMATITE 
is a rock of exceptionally coarse-grained intrusive igneous granitic composition, intruded into the GNEISS (gneiss is a foliated rock, usually formed by regional metamorphism, in which bands or layers of granular minerals alternate with bands or layers in which minerals having flaky or elongate prismatic habits predominate.), SCHIST (schist is a finely foliated metamorphic rock that splits easily into thin layers or slabs due to the well developed parallelism of abundant flat or elongate minerals such as MICA(see below)), and ALASKITE (see above). It is usually found as irregular DIKES(a dike is an igneous intrusion that cuts across the bedding or foliation of the rock surrounding it), LENSES (a lens is a mineral deposit or body of rock that is thick in the middle and thins out towards the edges, like a convex lens), or VEINS (a vein is a thin sheet-like mass of rock or mineral intruded into a fracture), especially at the margins of large bodies of plutonic igneous rock.
FELDSPAR, 
which makes up about 65% of the rock from the Spruce Pine pegmatite, is a group of widespread aluminum-silicate minerals containing oxides of sodium, calcium, or potassium, which constitute 60 percent of the Earth's crust. Feldspar minerals occur as components of most rock types, especially igneous and metamorphic rocks. It is a major ingredient in making many types of glass, such as automobile windshields, computer screens, light bulbs, and is a major source of aluminum, sodium and potassium for glass manufacture. It takes about 110 pounds of Feldspar to make a ton of glass. Feldspar is also used in the making of ceramic products like pottery, plumbing fixtures, ceramic tiles, dinnerware, and planters.
MICA, 
which comprises about 10% of the rock mass here, is a group of hydrous aluminum-rich silicate minerals, all of which have perfect basal cleavage that allows them to be peeled apart in thin layers. It was once used for wood and coal burning stove windows, and for radio tube(remember those?) insulators. Muscovite Mica, which is a silver to white variety of mica, is ground very fine and use in dry-wall joint compound as an anti-shringing agent due to its flat particle shape, which interlocks the joint compound as it dries, reinforcing it without shrinkage. Mica is also used for electrical insulators, automotive metallic paint, and facial makeup.
QUARTZ 
is another major ingredient in the Spruce Pine rocks, comprising about 25% of the rock mass. It is a very common rock-forming mineral consisting of silicon dioxide. Quartz is also used to make high-temperature light bulbs for automobiles, streetlights, and film projectors.
Spruce Pine Quartz is extremely pure, and due to that is used in several critical process steps in the manufacture of computer chips.
AT PRESENT, NO OTHER QUARTZ IN THE WORLD can match the processed quartz purity from here. In Fact, EVERY COMPUTER CHIP IN THE WORLD uses Spruce Pine Quartz in its manufacturing process!
Waste quartz that would have once been discarded as waste is now recovered and used in industrial concrete and as trap sand in fine golf courses.
OLIVINE 
is an olive-green to brown iron and magnesium-rich silicate mineral, common in many igneous rocks. It is the primary mineral in the igneous rock Dunite. It is used in the iron and steel industry. Nearby Green Mountain, N.C. is home to one of the few active Olivine mines in the United States.
PYROPHYLLITE 
is a metamorphic rock intermediate in degree of metamorphism between slate and mica schist, and occurs in metamorphic rocks rich in aluminum. It is used in insecticides and as an additive for glazing ceramic tiles, and is used in making soap and bleaching powder.
TALC: 
The physical properties of pyrophyllite and talc are practically identical. The main difference is that pyrophyllite has an abundance of aluminum in its chemical make-up and talc has an abundance of magnesium. Talc is used in themanufacture of paints, insecticides, paper, and cosmetics.
The story of the Spruce Pine Mining District actually began before recorded time. The area was utilized by the "Ancients" (the name given to early Native Americans by settlers of the area) 2000 years ago. They would mine mica and use it for decorations of graves and for wampum, and it is known to have been traded as far away as the Ohio valley. The mines this mineral came from are believed to have been those now known as the Clarissa, Ray, and Sinkhole mines. Legend has it that this mica led Hernando DeSoto to this area aournd 1540 thinking gold and silver was being mined there. What he found was only "silver mica", better known as muscovite mica.
In the 1700s the Cherokee are thought to have mined kaolin and feldspar from here, which was transported to the coast for ships bound for England where it was used for patented English ceramic wares.
Then from 1767 to 1911, sporadic mining of feldspar and mica occurred - sheet mica for its insulating properties in the Edison electric motor in 1878.
In 1917, North Carolina became the primary feldspar producer in the U.S. and still is today.
GEOLOGICAL HISTORY of the Spruce Pine Mining District:
About 380 million years ago the African Continent was being forced toward the Ancestral Eastern North American Continent by PLATE TECTONIC FORCE. This SUBDUCTION, or forcing down of the Oceanic Crust underneath the North American Conitnent resulted in tremendous friction-generated heat in excess of 2000 degrees F. This melted the surrounding rock 9 to 15 miles below the surface. This IGNEOUS molten rock was generated under intense pressure which forced it into cracks and fissures of pre-existing rock, causing the rock to open up, along with melting the host rock it was in contact with, and sucking up rich mineral-forming fluids. As these cooled, they crystallized and became a mineral-rich buried treasure.
It took an estimated 100 million years for this deeply buried (and insulated) mass to cool and crystallize. This slow cooling in the Spruce Pine District grew some of the largest feldspar and mica crystals in the world. Then, it took millions more years of Appalachian Mountain building and erosion to expose the deposits we can see today.
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As you approach the museum building, please note the rock making up the outside of the building. 
It and the nearby monument are faced with greenish-gray METAGRAYWACKE quarried from the Grandfather Mountain Formation.
Graywacke is a type of dark, poorly sorted sandstone in which coarser fragments of rocks and minerals are cemented together by fine-grained material, much of which consist of clay minerals.
METAgraywacke is graywacke that has been metamorphosed, or recrystallized by extreme heat and/or pressures below the Earth's surface resulting in changes in the rock's texture and composition.
The Main Walkway is constructed of GNEISS quarried from road cuts in the Alligator Back Formation when the Blue Ridge Parkway was being built.
ADJACENT TO THE WALKWAY are several large blocks of ore from the Cranberry Iron Mine, 
located on U.S. 19E in Avery County.
The Large Dark Block on the end nearest the parking lot is almost entirely the iron-oxide mineral MAGNETITE. It is magnetic in nature.
THIS MAGNETIC ORE SPECIMEN was extracted some 25 miles from near Cranberry, N.C., from metamorphic rocks that are among the oldest in the Appalachians.
The other blocks are mixtures of magnetite and other minerals, including the pistachio-green mineral EPIDOTE. The other blocks are mixtures of magnetite and other minerals, including the pistachio-green mineral EPIDOTE.
EXPERIMENT TO TRY on the MAGNETIC ORE ROCK!! (MAGNETITE): If you have a compass with you , (as all good geocachers should) stand away from the rock and orient the compass so the needle and your compass base both point North. NOW, while keeping the compass pointed in the same direction, move it very near the rock. The compass NEEDLE's North end will swing towards the rock, showing this magnetism see photo Note that in the photo, the compass is being held so it points to the North(about 1:00 o'clock), but note that the compass' needle is pointing towards the rock (about 9:00 o'clock) due to the magnetism of the ore).
again, TO LOG THIS CACHE:(SEND ANSWERS IN A SEPARATE EMAIL or MESSAGE, DO NOT PUT IN YOUR LOG)
Also: A photo (of you if you wish) (with you GPS if possible) standing in front of the museum, its sign, or the displayed rock specimens, while not required, is always appreciated, MAY BE USED AS PROOF OF YOU VISIT IF YOU WISH.
I request that you email (or message) your answers to me on the same day that you log your “found it” log. (This does not have to be the day you visit, just the day you log the find on the computer.) I also request that you do not log a “found it” log unless you have actually visited the site of the earthcache and sent the answers to me. The only person who really benefits from your visit is YOU.
Please take the time to go inside the museum if it is open. It has many exhibits to see and explore, and is very enlightning.
There is also a monument just past the rock displays describing Gillespie Gap and its history on the date of Friday September 29, 1780 during the revolutionary war.
I hope you enjoy your visit to the Blue ridge Parkway's Museum of North Carolina Minerals
Permission granted for this EarthCache by The National Park Service, DOI.
I would like to thank the National Park Service (The Blue Ridge Parkway) United States Department of the Interior, for approval of this EarthCache. Remember: all EarthCache sites developed must have prior approval of the landowners before submission
Please remember that rock and mineral collecting is NOT PERMITTED along the parkway
Happy Caching and Enjoy Your Travles!
FTF HONORS GO TO...Konnarock Kid & Marge, along with Papafuz & Mama!!!
I used the publication "A Geologic Adventure Along The Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina" for much of the information included here, after calling and obtaining permission to do so from Mike Medina of The North Carolina Geological Survey. I also utilized the brochure "The Spruce Pine Mining District - A Brief Review of the History, Geology and Modern Uses of the Minerals Mined in the Spruce Pine Mining District" by Alex Glover which was funded by and provided by the Mitchell County Chamber of Commerce located at the museum.
Other information comes from exhibits at the Mineral Museum.
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| I have proudly earned the Geological Society of America's highest level: |
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