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Strontium Minerals from Wise County, Virginia - an Update 1 2 D

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Strontium Minerals from Wise County, Virginia - an Update 1 2 D Vol. 29 May 1983 No. 2 STRONTIUM MINERALS FROM WISE COUNTY, VIRGINIA - AN UPDATE 1 2 D. Allen Penick and Lynn D. Haynes The two principal minerals containing Strontianite crystallizes in the ortho- strontium, celestite and strontianite, have rhcanbic crystal system, and in Wise Funty been found in relative abundance in the area usually forms dull globular msses terrmnat- around East Stone Gap in Wise County, Vir- ed by acicular crystals. Crystals are gen- @ ginia. Celestite is strontium sulfate erally white and often can be seen as small (SrS04) and contains 56.4 percent strontium sprays attached to the celestite crystals. oxide. The name celestite is derived fm The mineral has a specific gravity of 3.7, the Latin mrd caelistis "of the sky" in hardness of 3.5 to 4, and good primtic reference to the typical blue color. Crys- cleavage. tals are predminantly blue and zoned in According to R. V. Dietrich (1970) and J. color but can also be red, green, or brown. A. Speer (1977) , strontium minerals have The mineral crystallizes in the ortho- been reported frcm seven different areas in rhcmbic crystal system and can fom thin to Virginia. These localities, all in the Val- thick heavy tabular crystals elongated along ley and Ridge Province, extend frcm Wise the b-axis; prismatic crystals elongated County in Southwest Virginia to Frederick along the a-axis; or equant crystals elon- County in the northwestern corner of the gated on the c-axis. Crystals can also have State (Figure 1). All exposures except two pyramidal faces with good terminations. Ce- have been located in Upper Silurian Cayugan lestite has a high specific gravity of close Age rocks (Cambrian Elbrook Formation and to 4 and a hardness of 3 to 3.5. Cleavage is perfect parallel to the base and poor parallel to the prim. The mineral strontianite is strontium car- bonate (SrCK) ) and contajns 70 percent strontium oxiL. ~llthe strontianite in Wise County is probably calciostrontianite where calcium content varies from 7.5 to 15 percent (Mitchell and Pharr , 1960 and 1961) . Hmever, for the sake of brevity, the miner- al will be referred to as strontianite in this report. Strontianite is named for the ldity at Strontian, Argyll,- Scotland. Figure 1. Strantium mineral ocmmences reported in Virginia. Localities are: 1. East Stone Gap - Wise County; 2. Hayters Gap - washing.ton County; 3. salt- 0 Sirsinia Division of Mineral Fk-ces, Charlottesville ville- Smyth County 4. Dublin - Pulaski County %Ginia Division of Mined Land Wlamtion, Big Stone Harrisanburg - Roclungham County 6. Fulks Run - Gap RDckingham County 7. Hayfield - Frederick County. 14 VIRGINIA DMSION OF MllERAL RESCURCES Vol. 29 the Ordovician Athens Formation are the ex- with crystallization. This contact mks ceptions). The celestite occurrences in the approximite maximm depth of excavation Wise County are entirely within the Hand in the quarry because the tan dolanite is, Limestone which is Upper Silurian. The in mst cases, too soft to be used as a con- Hancock is synonymus with the Tonolcway struction aggregate. For this reason, the Limestone in northern Virginia. quarry depth is not over 70 feet in mst Strontium minerals frm Wise County, were areas. first recognized by R. F. Pharr in 1958. Hand digging in the quarry floor exposed Both celestite and strontianite were found mre brecciated, vuggy areas which contained in a quarry operated by G. H. Belton along celestite. As these shallow excavations State Faad 613 near East Stone Gap. Since exposed celestite over a large area, it be- then six additional occurrences of strontium came apparent that the entire quarry floor minerals have ken observed by the authors represents the top of the dolanite host in the area around East Stone Gap. This ar- rock. Since the celestite occurs over such ticle reviews these occurrences and briefly a large surface area, it is conceivable, describes the geology and varied crystal given sufficient thickness and grade, that habits associated with the different sites. the strontium may exist in carmercial quan- A brief discussion of econanic considera- tities in the quarry. The quarry mnagement tions and scm thoughts on origin are also was notified of the strontium occurrence and included. in the spring of 1981 expressed an interest Most of the crystals described in the re- in sgne preliminary developwrit work. Con- port and sham in the photqraphs can be sequently, four pits were excavated with a seen at the Division of Mineral Resources backhoe and all four revealed strontium min- building in Charlottesville . eralization. The distance from pit 1 to pit 4 is approximtely 600 feet (Figure 2). In EAST STONE GAP QUARRY addition, bm drill holes were completed in the vicinity of pits 2 and 3 using the The East Stone Gap quarry in Wise County quarry air-trac drill. Both of these drill has ken an active operation since the late holes were collared where strontium minerals 1960's and supplies crushed stone to local were observed. Haever, because of the industry and lime dust for use in nearby difficulty in collecting saqles for analy- coal mines. This quarry is approximately sis, the results of the drilling were incon- 2000 feet frm the Belton quarry where clusive. Any further drilling on the site strontium minerals were first recognized in should be done with a core drill, so that the area. the core can be studied and split for &- The East Stone Gap quarry has long been tailed analysis. noted for producing fine scalenohedral cdl- As stated previously, all production frm cite crystals up to 3 inches in length with the quarry is fmthe upper 70-80 feet of clear, -&aq tehrinations. The authors were actually on an expedition to collect the calcite when the strontium minerals were encountered. Small, blue, tabular crystals were observed in vugs directly below the horizon in the quarry which produced the best calcite crystals. These crystals were first noted in the fall of 1980. The blue crystals were later verified by X-ray analy- PIT 3 A sis to be celestite. In addition, small, white, globular masses of strontianite could often be observed attached to the celestite in the vugs. Although -11 calcite cry- stals were found associated with the celes- tite, the large crystals found in Overlying beds were absent. Often 1 nrbly terminated calcite crystals were observed attached to the celestite. A verv distinct contact is evident near the q&ry floor elevation between the overlying blue dense lhs- and the tan Figure 2. Locality 9 at the southeastern end of the brecciated dolanite which contains the theEast rmarmStone Gapflmr. quarry. FourRinerals pits were amu excavated in pit.into celestite crystals. This overlying ld- The Devonian Wildcat Valley Sandstone (5-10 feet) caps Q stone appears to be ahmst devoid of vugs the uuter quarry walls. (DH denotes drill hole.) No. 2 VIXINIA MI the Hancock Limestone. Strontim minerali- zation was not observed in this upper hori- zon. Approximately 10 feet of highly weathexed and fossiliferous Wildcat Valley Sandstone forms the quarry rim above the Hancock. Much of the sandstone has been weathered fmthe rim and gccd fossils can often be found near the base of the highwall in the quarry. The generalized geologic column shown in Figure 3 depicts conditions as they exist in the quarry. The strata within the quarry generally strike N40°E and dip low. The celestite £ran the quarry has a wide range of crystal habits, including: Figure 4. A group of clear light blue tabular celes- 1. very thin, tabular, almost bladelike tite crystals. Largest crystals 0.2 inch. Etching seen on large crystal may represent beginning of alteration crystals up to 0.2 inches in length to strontianite. Speck is 2.5 inches in length (pit colorless to light blue in color no. 4). (Figure 4) . white to pale blue tabular crystals 3. pale blue, blocky crystals to 0.5 inch in length; sane shw double tennina- (thicker than 1); sg.rrt crystals occur tions. in clusters (saxre size as 1) . 4. colorless, gray or pale blue to dm blue prismtic crystals to 1 'inch in length. Devonian Ivaiky lo#.! ;: .;. 5. prim-like celestite crystals with ss. '. .. .... pyramidal faces up to 1 inch in length. Sam have excellent blue color; the best sanples are fmpit 4 Thick- bedded in quarry (Figure 5). limestone 6. Equant crystals which are usually gqand have excellent blue color. (up to 0.2 inches in diamter) . 7. Amber colored scalenahedral calcite Laminated fine- crystals on tabular celestite crystals IHancocd~~ rained limestone (Figure 6). Mycrystals show etching and color band- Lime- stone Fine-grained ing or zoning. Rarely, celestite occurs as massive cross-fiber vein filling in the dol- Silurian vuggy dolomite mite and can be especially noted in pit 3 contains celestite in the quarry. As mntioned previously, and strontianite strontianite and calcite are often found associated with the celestite. Other miner- als noted during the study were minor fluo- rite and pyrite. Laminated fine- grained limestone Sandstone with sandy shale and limestone layers Rose Hill - ..-.- ~- 1 Fm. ~T'.'LZZ~ Figure 3. General stratigraphic section of the Hancock Figure 5. An exceptional prism-like celestite crystal Limestone in the East Stone Gap quarry and vicinity. with pyramidal faces. 'Jke crystal, which is 0.8 inch Strontium minerals occur in the vuggy dolanite in the in length with good blue color, was found in the East middle of the lhstone. Stone Gap quarry (pit no. 4) . 16 VIRGINIA DIVISION OF MINERAL FasOmmS Vol. 29 Figure 6. A vug in dolanite showing amber colored Figure 8. Vug in dolanite showing white globular mass scalenohedral calcite crystals (largest 0.7 inch) on of stronMte.
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