Strataca - Underground Salt Mine EarthCache

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In an effort to accommodate ALL cachers: an underground visit will not be necessary. However; you will be required to make a visit inside the Visitor Center to obtain the answers to log this EarthCache successfully. TheLabGuys recommend you plan your underground visit if you can get the chance and/or your situation allows.

•Formed from Sodium(Na) and Chloride(Cl), in large concentrates these ions form an association and drop out of water to create a halite mineral: AKA - Salt.

Salt is called an evaporite mineral because it is formed by the evaporation of water. Sea water contains salt in solution. When sea water evaporates, salt is deposited on the ocean floor. During most of the Permian Period, shallow seas covered what is now Kansas.
When the Hutchinson Salt Member formed; the climate was hot and dry, the sea was restricted to central Kansas and the rate of evaporation exceeded the inflow of water. As evaporation continued and the salt content of the water increased, thick layers of salt built up on the sea bottom - Hutchinson now sits on part of that sea bottom.

(About 80 feet of sea water can produce a foot of salt.)

Q#1: During your visit you will find a table of Halite minerals. What is the length of the longest side of the white Halite mineral rock?

Before Kansas was settled, salt marshes and salt springs were used by wildlife, nature and early travelers. Wild animals of the plains obtained salt from places known as licks. Salt licks - or salt flats - are areas where saline ground water reaches the surface and then evaporates during dry times, leaving salt on top of the ground. Salt could then be obtained by evaporating water collected from salt springs.
Salt has been commercially manufactured in Kansas as early as 1863. Rock salt was discovered in central Kansas in 1887. Rock salt was first mined in Hutchinson in 1888, using solution mining when two wells and a salt factory were put into operation. Underground mining began at Hutchinson in 1923 when the Carey Salt Mine was officially dedicated.

Q#2: What type of salt is mined using the Underground method?

Salt is mined in Kansas using two methods: Underground mining and solution mining.
Underground mines in Kansas range in depth from 600 to 1,000 feet. They use the room-and-pillar method of mining, which begins with a shaft sunk through the overlying rock to the salt deposit. The salt is removed in a checkerboard pattern, in which large square caverns alternate with square pillars of salt that serve as support for the rock above. Approximately 75 percent of the salt is mined, while 25 percent is left for pillars. Blasting breaks the salt into manageable pieces, which are conveyed to crushers and removed to the surface through the shaft with large buckets. Because of the impurities, rock salt is used mostly as road salt for melting ice.
Solution mining uses water to dissolve the salt. Freshwater forced down a cased well dissolves the salt and produces an artificial brine, which is then pumped to the surface and evaporated to recover the salt. As long as freshwater is added and saturated brine removed, the cavern continues to enlarge. The shape of the cavern is controlled by directing the water. A sonar tool is used to measure the shape and size of the cavern. Brine is evaporated in a series of large vessels called vacuum pans. The result is a high-purity product consisting of over 99.8% sodium chloride.

Q#3: What is evaporated to create the purest Sodium Chloride?

In 2000, Kansas ranked fifth in the U.S. in salt production, producing 2,944,000 tons valued at $111 million. Roughly 13 trillion tons of salt reserves, about 1,100 cubic miles, underlie Kansas. This is enough to form a salt cube more than 10 miles long on each edge.

NOTE: Due to mine safety regulations, Strataca cannot allow children under the age of four (4) years old to go underground.