Mignette Moorman Mule Hollow Mine April 12, 2014

Mignette Moorman GEO 1010 Paul Inkenbrandt

Mule Hollow Mine

The Big Cottonwood Canyon is a beautiful byway of the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. It ranges about fifteen miles long and has over fifty hiking trails. One of those trails leads to Mule Hollow Coal Mine. Mule Hollow Mine is a trail consisting of four abandoned mines. Although mining rails still protrude from the ground, no structures remain standing. The trail is intertwined with about twenty streams, as well as bits and pieces of rusty metal; and because of the huge walls, Mule Hollow has become a desirable place for rock climbing as well. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this old mining area is the rocks that are found there. The Big Cottonwood Canyon formation consists of about 16,000 feet of shale and quartzite. Most of the rocks found there contain a sequence of ripples and mud cracks, which is consistent with its environment of deposition. The deposition included areas of shallow water, and it still does in some parts. The source of the sediment was Paleoproterozoic-age rocks that were exposed in the uplift of northwest Utah and were weathered in tropical to subtropical climate near the equator. Scientists have found tidal rhythmites in the area, which would explain some of the rock that were found there.
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Although I was able to find an array of different rocks, such as igneous rocks that appeared to consist of phenocrysts and some conglomerates, especially located in the stream nearby, the most prevalent rocks found in the area were quartzite and shale. The quartzite was pretty text book. About 50% of them were smoothed down by water, while the other 50% were grainier. On the smooth rocks, you could see what looked like layers of sandstone laid down over time, whereas on the grainer rock you could easily spotted specks of sand that seemed to sparkle in the sunlight. Most of the quartzite I found was darker gray, with strings or splotches of pink, coral, and orangey colors. In fact, the dark colors intertwined with the pink and orange seemed to be common in most of the other kinds of rocks found at Mule Hollow as well. Although I wasnt able to find too much information about the minin g area, it appears that the ground was rich in iron, which may have caused the pinks and oranges in the rock. While quartzite seemed to rule the ground around the mountain, the mountainside itself was made mostly of shale. When looking at the shale I could see those iron rich colors really pop. Almost every piece of shale that I picked up was riddled with the orangey color. Some were mostly black with swirls of orange, while others had full surfaces of complete orange. The other thing I noticed with the shale rock was the cleavage of each rock, which is what first indicated to me that it was shale. I was able to find thin, almost paper-like pieces of rock scattered all over. Even as I held some of the rocks in my hand, layers were breaking of one by one with perfect flat surfaces. One of the shale rocks I found looked like it was still in the process of changing and wearing down. At first, I thought it was just another quartzite stone because it was smooth and rounded around the edges, but after taking a closer look, I could see the layers beginning to wear down and break off.
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The last, and most intriguing rock I found at the site was one that I couldnt even narrow down enough to classify. Its a two-sided rock. One side is smooth and looks similar to a quartzite, whereas the other side is rough and looks layered. I asked my dad, who received his bachelors in geology, and he even had a hard time identifying it; he did have a few guesses though. At first he too thought it was just a quartzite, but after turning it over, he noticed what appeared to be banding. He said it looked like bands of quartzite and limestone together. According to him, what may have been going on was that the rock was at the bottom some water, which deposited a layer of limestone, and then was covered again with a layer of sand. Im not sure if thats the case, but that explanation does coincide with the fact that the whole area was covered in water, as mentioned before. As we can see, although Mule Hollow Mine is still mostly made of quartzite and shale, it still has a lot of interesting things to see. Not only can you still find a wide range of other rocks lying around, but its a great place to visit for recreation, as seen in the following pictures.

Figure 1: Shale Rock Wall

Figure 2: Mountainside

Figure 3: Cleavage of Shale

Figure 4: Conglomerate

Figure 5: Rock Climbing

Figure 6: Quartzite

Figure 7: Shale

Sources Parry, William T. (2005). A hiking guide to the geology of the Wasatch mountains: Mill Creek and Neffs Canyon, Mount Olympus, Big and Little Cottonwood and Bells Canyon. Salt Lake City, UT: University of Utah Press. The Big Cottonwood Canyon Scenic Byway. Utah.com. Utah Travel Industry, 2013. Web. May 26, 2014. http://www.utah.com/byways/big_cottonwood.htm. http://www.miningutah.com/id121.html

Winegar, Donald K. Treasure House Relics Project. MiningUtah.com. 1977-2014. Web. May 26, 2014. http://www.miningutah.com/id147.html