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Hi all. I figured there is no better group of people to ask about strange minerals and chemicals found in mines than you! Who better to ask than mine explorers. My mom? Hardly! So I ask you, what did we get into in this last mine?
In several locations we came across green ooze leaking from the walls. This ooze was solidifying into flow stone and stalactites. This particular photo is of collapsed rocks at the bottom of a raise. There is definitely a level above us. So my thought is that this is a chemical spill leaking down from above and mixing with copper or other elements in the rock and crystalizing. Now I reveal the odd twist...
...The crystals oxidized to white powder once I broke them off. We took samples of a stalactite forming on a thread hanging from the ceiling. I kept it in my truck cab for a day. When I went to grab my cool green rocks they had turned white and powdery.
When I stepped on the crystal I found that it is still green inside. So I figured the oxidization was caused by UV light exposure and or some changes in the air composition. I left this out for two days now and the insides have not changed to white. There has been no further oxidization.
In these same tunnels we found two other odd formations. The ground was covered in places with a thick carpet of what I am calling sulfuric cave popcorn. I'm calling it this not because it smelled but simply because this stuff seemed like your standard calcite cave popcorn, but was yellow and greenish, and was somewhat fragile. As we walked on it it would crunch and sink like a softer spungy substance. It did not smell particularly sulfuric.
Then we got into pools of black/dark red liquid. Often this liquid was surrounded by the sulfur popcorn. There were many pools in many tunnels. Some had a solid black surface you could crack and punch through to the liquid below.
Here is one of the puddles covered in an orange liquid floating on top. A bat's impact cleared the orange surface liquid away revealing the dark red beneath. In this particular tunnel there were a lot of sulfur popcorn and black pools and we counted at least 6 dead bats. We decided this was a little unnerving and moved on quickly.
So what on earth is any of this stuff? Any ideas on any or all? Any cool chemicals and minerals you've found in mines?
In several locations we came across green ooze leaking from the walls. This ooze was solidifying into flow stone and stalactites. This particular photo is of collapsed rocks at the bottom of a raise. There is definitely a level above us. So my thought is that this is a chemical spill leaking down from above and mixing with copper or other elements in the rock and crystalizing. Now I reveal the odd twist...
...The crystals oxidized to white powder once I broke them off. We took samples of a stalactite forming on a thread hanging from the ceiling. I kept it in my truck cab for a day. When I went to grab my cool green rocks they had turned white and powdery.
When I stepped on the crystal I found that it is still green inside. So I figured the oxidization was caused by UV light exposure and or some changes in the air composition. I left this out for two days now and the insides have not changed to white. There has been no further oxidization.
In these same tunnels we found two other odd formations. The ground was covered in places with a thick carpet of what I am calling sulfuric cave popcorn. I'm calling it this not because it smelled but simply because this stuff seemed like your standard calcite cave popcorn, but was yellow and greenish, and was somewhat fragile. As we walked on it it would crunch and sink like a softer spungy substance. It did not smell particularly sulfuric.
Then we got into pools of black/dark red liquid. Often this liquid was surrounded by the sulfur popcorn. There were many pools in many tunnels. Some had a solid black surface you could crack and punch through to the liquid below.
Here is one of the puddles covered in an orange liquid floating on top. A bat's impact cleared the orange surface liquid away revealing the dark red beneath. In this particular tunnel there were a lot of sulfur popcorn and black pools and we counted at least 6 dead bats. We decided this was a little unnerving and moved on quickly.
So what on earth is any of this stuff? Any ideas on any or all? Any cool chemicals and minerals you've found in mines?
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