View of the Pond
This area was home to a few small Iron Deposits. They were removed to create roads in the area some years back. All that exists now is this park and the holes where the deposits were located that are now ponds.
Metallic iron is virtually unknown on the surface of the Earth except as iron-nickel alloys from meteorites and very rare forms of deep mantle xenoliths. Although iron is the fourth most abundant element in the Earth's crust, comprising about 5%, the vast majority is bound in silicate or more rarely carbonate minerals. The thermodynamic barriers to separating pure iron from these minerals are formidable and energy intensive, therefore all sources of iron used by human industry exploit comparatively rarer iron oxide minerals, primarily hematite.
Prior to the industrial revolution, most iron was obtained from widely available goethite or bog ore, for example during the American Revolution and the Napoleonic wars. Prehistoric societies used laterite as a source of iron ore. Historically, much of the iron ore utilized by industrialized societies has been mined from predominantly hematite deposits with grades in excess of 70% Fe. These deposits are commonly referred to as "direct shipping ores" or "natural ores". Increasing iron ore demand, coupled with the depletion of high-grade hematite ores in the United States, after World War II led to development of lower-grade iron ore sources, principally the utilization of magnetite and taconite.
Bog iron refers to impure iron deposits that develop in bogs or swamps by the chemical or biochemical oxidation of iron carried in the solutions. In general, bog ores consist primarily of iron oxyhydroxides, commonly goethite (FeO(OH)). Iron-bearing groundwater typically emerges as a spring. The iron is oxidized to ferric hydroxide upon encountering the oxidizing environment of the surface. Bog ore often combines goethite, magnetite and vugs or stained quartz. Oxidation may occur through enzyme catalysis by iron bacteria. It is not clear whether the magnetite precipitates upon first contact with oxygen, then oxidizes to ferric compounds, or whether the ferric compounds are reduced when exposed to anoxic conditions upon burial beneath the sediment surface and reoxidized upon exhumation at the surface.
Iron made from bog ore will often contain residual silicates, which can form a glassy coating that grants some resistance to rusting.
Here are the logging requirements. To log this cache, you must answer the following questions and complete a few small task. Email me the answers. Please do not post this is your log.
1.) Picture requirement: Please post a picture of yourself with the pond in the background. (Not Required)
2.) Send answer to the following questions through my profile:
a. Walk Around the edges of the pond. You can clearly see the iron ore still in the ground. What color is the dirt?
b. Grab a small amount of dirt in your hand. Gently rub it and tell me how you would define it. Is it smooth or gritty? What other characteristics does it have?
c. Read the sign. In what year did the iron ore begin to be excavated for the roads?
d. Use a magnet and go to the edge of the pond where the iron is located. Does the iron stick to the magnet? Describe why it does or does not stick
Please do not log your find until email or a message with the requested proof of visit has been sent. Found logs without a corresponding email or message will be deleted without further warning.
Congratulations ot Texaswriter for FTF!
Special thanks to Cachestacker for helping with this earthcache.
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