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Natural Minerals of Texas Texas is one of the richest and most beautiful places of the Northern America. The abundance of natural resources, see sights, and wildlife makes it a unique place, which has everything a person could see on the whole territory of the United States: from Oceanside to mountains and cliffs, from forests to deserts. Texas is located in the South West part of the United States and along with California is globally seen as the symbol of the country. Texas has an area that is more than 1. 4 times larger than the territory of France and current population of over 21. 5 million people.
Texas is the heart of the oil industry of the United States and absolute leader of the economic development of the country. Being located in unique geographic area, no wonder Texas is one of those states that have many things to offer to the scientists of different disciplines. Historically Texas has been known for many archaeological findings: the dinosaur fossils, unique minerals and natural resources. In this paper I will examine the natural minerals of the state, and distinct the major sites where they can be found. One of the world known places of interest for mineral researchers is the Llano Uplift.
These list rss exposed in Texas free ver a billion years ag when thick sequences f sediment were deposited in an ancient sea that bordered the North American can. Approximately ne billion years ag, the southern edge f this can claimed with anther continent r an clinic plate in an technic event that metamorphosed the sediments int gneiss es and schist's and partially melted mre deeply buried rss producing granitic magmas. The metamorphic and igneous rss produced in this rent, the Packsaddle Schist, Lst Creek and Valley Spring Gneiss es, Twn Mountain and finer-grained granites, are nw exposed in the Loan Uplift in central Texas. The ultra mafic rss and serpentinites that make up the Cal Creek igneous complex are though t represent the remnants f the island arc that claimed with the North American can. A wide variety f minerals are fund in the Loan Uplift: quartz, microline feldspar, plagioclase, bite, and hornblende amphibole are can constituents f granites and gneiss es.
Garnet, muscovite, bite, starlite and ther metamorphic minerals car in schist's produced through the metamorphism f clay mineral-rich sediments. Turmaline ccur's in sme schist in Loan County and in quartz veins in the Twn Mountain granite near Loan. Serpentinite, an ultra mafic re closed f serpentine grup minerals, ccur's in the Cal Creek igneous complex (Spearing, 153). ne f the mst interesting f the Loan Uplift minerals is that, the Texas state mineral).
Clueless t pale blue gemstone-quality that crystallized frm fluorine-rich gases in Loan Uplift pegmatite. This carse-grained pegmatite is the last vestiges f water-rich granitic magma. Carse-grained crystals f say quartz, microline, beryl, scheelite, and cassiterite als car with that in the pegmatite. Terlingua, Texas is the site f ne f the wrld's largest mercury deposits.
At ne time this mine produced approximately ne from f the mercury used in the United States. The mercury re, cinnabar, ccur's as powder red veins in the layered limestone and volcanic lavas and tuff's in Brewster County. Liquid mercury als ccur's in Terlingua. Industrial use f mercury declined when it became known just hw this mercury was, and mining ceased at Terlingua in the 1970 s. Solution cavities and small caves in Brewster County contain beautiful curving crystals f satin spar gypsum. These wave-like frm's f satin spar gypsum are nt unique t Brewster County, Texas.
Math Cave in Kentucky cntain's similar curving crystals f satin spar. Beautiful calcite scalenhedral crystals f calcite als precipitated in water-filled solution cavities in Brewster County. The calcite scalenhedrns in the specimen pictured are right car as tiny, delicate transparent and clueless and brick red and page crystals indicating that the trace-element cmpsitin f the calcite varied ver time (Ewing, 271). The Eagle Muntain's flute deposits ccur's as fracture fillings and replacement deposits in Tertiary rhyolite tuff's and dikes that accumulated ver r intruded Lower Cretaceus limestone, sandstones, and quartzite f the Eagle Muntain's f Hudspeth County. Flurite typically ccur's with quartz, calcite, and irn xes in veins in fractured limestone. The Eagle Muntain's flute ccur's as masses f integrin cubes, carse-grained massive material, and club-banded and layered masses (Clair, 85).
The replacement deposits free where limestone were mst extensively fractured. Flurite appears t have free through the reaction f limestone and games fluorine frm the magma that produced the rhyolite tuff's and dikes. Pure flute is clueless. Natural flute ccur's in huge range f class due t natural irradiation f trace quantities f rare-earth elements in the flute.
Dr. George Russian, a mineral gist at Cal Tech, has she experimentally that boarding clueless flute with gamma rays will make the clueless flute turn purple (Clair, 96). The Eagle Muntain's flute deposits were discovered because f the need fr fluorine during World War II. Glenn Evans was enlisted by the United States Government during World War II t project fr minerals required fr the war effort. After the war, Glen Evans became a geologist with the Texas Memorial Museum and sme f the Eagle Muntain's flute was acquired by the museum (Girard, 62). Flurite als ccur's in pegmatite north f May in the Loan Uplift and in the igneous rss in China Peak in Preside County.
The Edwards Plateau was free abut ten million years ag when movement and the Barnes fault zone thrust the Cretaceus rss f the plateau approximately tw thousand feet are see level. The carbonate rss in the Edwards Plateau contain abundant solution cavities, many f which are lined with well-free crystals f calcite and celestite. Slightly acidic grund water permeated through the rss f the Edwards Plateau dissolving fine-grained carbonate and sulphate minerals disseminated through the limestone. These aqueous slutin's later precipitated calcite and celestite as large, well-free crystals and the walls f pen solution cavities. The calcite and celestite car as well-free crystals because crystallization curved in solution-filled cavities. If the cavities been mostly air-filled, calcite would crystallize in a bridal frm that resembles a mass f grapes.
The Texas Coastal Plain is the surface expression f a thick wedge f sediment deposited in the Gulf f Music by Texas rivers during the Cretaceus (144 - 66 million years ag) and Tertiary (66 - 2 million years ag) period. The Cretaceus sediments consist primarily f thick sequences f limestone produced by the accumulation f calcareous shells f romanisms. The Tertiary sediments consist f layers f sand and mud that may reach approach 50, 000 feet in thickness. The sediments f this wedge were deposited n lder thick sequences f halite, gypsum, and anhydrite that had precipitated frm the evaporating waters f a shall sea in what is nw the Gulf cast abut 200 million years ag during the late Jurassic. As the pile f younger sediments accumulated ver the Luann salt layer, the salt was buried t greater depths under conditions f increasing temperature and pressure. In time, the salt layer plastically defined int salt diapers r dme's that rse through the varying sediment column due t their lower density (Ewing, 142).
When the tp f a salt dme approaches a few thousand feet f the Earths surface, grund water circulates through the salt dme and the surrounding sediments. The circulating grund water dissolves halite and precipitates native sulfur, calcite, gypsum, and anhydrite in pen solution cavities in and and the crest f the salt dme. Large volume f native sulfur and gypsum have been mined frm the tps r caps f Texas salt dme's. Petrified wd is chalcedony (an aggregate f very fine-grained cryptocrystalline quartz) that has replaced the rani material that formerly closed the cells f a tree. Petrified wd still lks like wd, having the texture r grain f wd, but it is entirely closed f silica (Si 2) and trace quantities f irn. Petrified wd frm's when trees are felled and rapidly buried by sediments before decay can car.
Typically this rapid burial is the result f catastrophic events such as earthquakes, landslides, and flying. After burial, silica-bearing aqueous slutin's circulate through the sediments replacing the rani material in the wd with silica. Petrified wd is fund primarily in the unconsolidated sediments f east Texas in Armstrong, Sabine, New, Jasper, Washington, Lee, Fayette, Gonzales, McMullen, Live ak, Webb, and Duval Counties (Spearing, 201). Mentioned above is only a small portion of splendid sites and mineral resources innate to them that can be found on the territory of Texas. Modern scientists tend to believe that the process of forming new types of stones is currently taking place, therefore a great deals of archaeological discoveries awaits our descendants. Bibliography: Ewing, T.
E. The tectonic framework of Texas. University of Texas, Bureau of Economic Geology: Austin, 1991. Girard, R. M.
Texas rocks and minerals: an amateurs guide. University of Texas, Bureau of Economic Geology: Austin, 1964. Spearing, D. Roadside Geology of Texas. Mountain Press: Missoula, MT, 1991.
St. Clair, A. E. , Garner, L. E. , and Evans, T. J. Mineral resources of Texas.
Vintage Books: New York, 1984.
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Research essay sample on Natural Minerals Of Texas
