GMS Field Trip

GMS Field Trip
Various mineral sands and iron furnace tour
in Georgia
Saturday, August 10, 2019

Sand is another aspect of geology often overlooked, so the Sand Section sponsored the August field trip to local sites where members could explore geology by looking at sand. We started at a small metamorphic outcropping. At first glance it looks like hornblende is weathering out with some yellow material that could be sulfur or iron stained quartz, but we won’t know for certain until it has been analyzed.

Because of water levels and logistics, we did not visit two locations originally planned for the trip, but everyone got samples of sand from each location. Luckily, all was fine for the next stop where we did some gold panning in a beautiful wooded creek. More intrepid members hiked a mile through the woods to areas known to have gold. Everyone else panned closer to where we parked. Juniors had a grand time exploring the woods and splashing in the creek. I’m not sure how much gold was found, but we definitely found lots of heavy sand that was loaded with magnetite, garnet, and other minerals that we will have fun identifying later.

After some additional fun at a playground and a refreshing picnic lunch, we headed for the third stop. Once again we splashed around in a wooded creek where we found some sand with beautiful, pale blue bits. Just for fun we panned there as well and found even more heavy sand. We also found some curious flowers and fungi.

The last stop was at an old iron furnace. Unfortunately, Tom Batcha, our resident iron furnace expert had a family emergency and couldn’t be there, but I printed copies of an article about iron furnaces that he wrote for SandFest 2013. Although I was a poor substitute for Tom, I did my best to fill his shoes. There were also a few informative plaques, so we got a reasonably good idea of the workings and history of the furnace.

What a fun day! For a trip with so many moving parts, there are numerous people to thank. First, a big thank you to the local gold panning group that was incredibly generous with their time and knowledge in helping us locate a gold panning site. Many thanks to a local company that worked hard to try to put together a visit for us even though we were not able to go there this time. Also, many thanks to the members, young and old alike, whose company made the day so enjoyable, and for the members who contributed their knowledge and expertise to help us learn about the flora, fauna, and geology around us. And finally, the trip would not have been possible without all of the time and effort from Charles Carter helping with prospecting, planning, logistics, and travel for a trip that not only had a lot of great locations, but was actually close to home!

Lori Carter
On behalf of Charles Carter, GMS Field Trip Chair
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