- A family friend from Luxembourg, rich from
generations of family-owned mining businesses, has an enormous
collection of exotic mineral ores from countries worldwide.
She takes an interest in the fact that you are studying northeast
U.S. geology and says she'd like to give you a summer job
tracking down mineral resources for her collections from the
Northeast U.S. She asks what it would take financially for
her to be able to hire you for the job. Coming from a line
of business people, she wants your estimates written out and
itemized. Assuming you can collect your own examples of mineral
resources, plot out a travel course to take you to as many
sites as you could visit during one summer and list the minerals
you could collect. Find the shortest possible route to find
as many minerals as possible. Also explain, for her educational
benefit, the age and geologic context in which each formed
using the following events: (1) the Grenville passive margin
(2) the Taconic converge, (2a) interval (Silurian-Early Devonian)
between Taconic and Acadian (3) the Acadian convergence, (3a)
interval (Mississippian-Early Permian) between Acadian and
Alleghenian (4) the Alleghenian convergence, (4a) interval
(Early-mid Triassic) between Alleghanian and rifting (5) the
rifting apart of Pangea, and (5a) interval (mid-Jurassic-late
Jurassic) between rifting and creation of Coastal Plain (6)
the Coastal Plain passive margin and shaping by erosion of
many of current land-forms (7) Pleistocene glaciation and
Holocene post-glacial.
- Your friend grows interested in the number
of mineral resources in the Northeast, and wonders if there
are any potentially financially lucrative mining operations
in your local area. Although you make it known that your community
must consider environmental implications of future mining,
you do agree to look for some background information on the
Web and in the library. Based on figures from the NE Guide
or elsewhere, figure out (a) what has been mined in your area
and (b) explain in a letter to your friend how these minerals
relate to your local geological history.
- Through her connections, a European geographer
grows interested in the amount of experience you have accumulated
tracking down mineral resources. He wonders if the northeast
might be self-sufficient in mineral resources, which would
have implications for understanding the economy and human
history of the Northeast. He says he will hire you for the
next summer to help him in his research. Using an almanac
or other resources and your creativity, estimate as best you
can which minerals are abundant enough to supply the Northeast
and which are not. Predict if this has changed over the last
200 years. Describe how the varied geology contributed to
the variety of minerals, and similarly explain the absence
of any prominent minerals that we do not find in the area.
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