Virtual Field Trip , Kentucky Geological Survey site

KGS Home > Geology of Kentucky
KSPG Fall Fieldtrip, November 2-4, 2000

Panoramic view of the Vulcan Materials Reed Quarry

Field trip guidebook (in pdf format, WARNING 12 Mb!)

Images from the field trip (click on the thumbnail images to get a larger image):

All photos © 2000 by Brandon C. Nuttall. Camera used is a digital Olympus C-3030 zoom.
Click on the thumbnail images to see larger image.

Stop 1: Old Hickory Clay Company, Marshall Pit. Pit originally opened in 1989.

Breakfast at Days Inn, Mayfield	Hauler at Old Hickory Clay Co., Marshall Pit	Excavator at Marshall Pit
Fragments of log recovered from clay (on bench)	Failure on back highwall of Marshall Pit	Clay-filled root structures in lignite overlying main clay deposit
Clay-filled root structures in lignite overlying main clay deposit	Log, diagonal lines are tool marks of teeth on bucket of excavator	Overall view of Marshall Pit
View of pit wall showing rapid oxidation of clay	Field trip group watching excavator	Loading toilets into a hauler at the Marshall Pit
Lignite blocks	Scour zone in continental deposits (Lafayette Gravel) at Marshall Pit

Stop 2: Old Hickory Clay Co. storage shed and processing plant.

	Old Hickory Clay Co. storage shed and processing plant
Clay segregated into piles based on physical and chemical properties	Organic- and illite-rich clay destined for toilets	Tertiary leaf fossil
Tertiary leaf fossil (found by Steve Martin)	Cast of leaf in picture 122	Feed hopper for shredder
Controls for drying ovens, used for moisture content control	Drying oven	Mill with internal "whizzer" for controlling final powder size
Loader getting clay for a particular product mix	Slurry intended for casting as toilets	Slurry tanks

Much of the clay from Old Hickory's operations was destined for "sanitary ware."

Where all the clay was going
toilet and tiles

Sorted sand and gravel piles at Powell Pit

Working face at Powel Pit

Lafayette gravel showing poor sorting

Clastic dike with large tabular body

Small vertical clastic dike

Clastic dike, Roy VanArsdale in picture

Downtown Hickman, block cleared for park, shot along inside of floodwall	Downtown Hickman, shot along [virtually abandoned] main street	Dr. Kiefer telling group the story of Hickman (from top of floodwall)
Area of slurry trench, view from top of floodwall showing riprap	Corps of Eng. Remediated slide, shotcrete covering of slope held together by 80' +/- soil nails

Click on the thumbnail images to see larger image.

Vulcan Materials, Reed Quarry	Hauler being loaded on quarry bench	Zoom in on scene in picture 154
Quarry panorama picture 1 (left panel)	Quarry panorama picture 2 (center panel)	Quarry panorama picture 3 (right panel)
60' +/- high waterfalls at quarry bench edges	View of our destination, bottom of quarry	Zoomed view of falls into quarry
GPS at bottom of quarry showing elevation of 36' below sea level	Camera is faster than the speeding geologist	Bioherm (mud mound) in Ft. Payne
View of quarry floor from Ft. Payne bioherm	Onlapping beds on flank of Ft. Payne bioherm	[Distant] view of Ft. Payne bioherm
Chart showing section and model of bioherm	Stylolites (pressure solution features) in bryozoan-crinoid grainstone facies of Ullin	Hauler (85-90 tons per load)