how Geology class can hlp you find treasure...

[Brandon/ny]

Wile reading a section on FAULTS, I happened upon "dip-slip faults" Prospectors and miners would excavate along fault zones because these sites frequently held ore deposits. the "footwall" and "hanging wall" were named using mining terms. The footwall were the rocks below the mineralized fault zone where the miners walked and the hanging wall was where they hung their lanterns. Here are a few pics. The bottom pic shows what it looks like in the outdoors.

 

[todd[ma]]

n/t

 

[DC/Id]

n/t

 

[Art SC]

The faults of California might be more famous but they are relatively harmless 'boring" as they are Transverse, aka Strike-Slip, faults (sorta like two side-swiping cars).

Comparing them to a Normal (old ground falls away), much less a Thrust (old ground pushes upward onto newer ground), fault is like comparing the gentle lava flow eruptions of Hawaii to the explosive self-destruction of volcanoes such as Mt. St. Helens or Mt. Pinatubo when they finally give way.

It's because of this that Normal and Thrust faults create such dramatic mountian and valley topography and can expose so much old rock and ore veins.

The area around Salt Lake City, Utah had some of the best geologic "field trip" country to be found in the world with example of all three faults as well as glacial formations (U shaped glacial valleys, Horns, Aretes, Hanging Valleys etc.) to be found up the various nearby valleys to the east of the city. With the exception of a living ocean beach, every single geologic formation to be found in the entire world was in evidence within an hours drive of downtown!

The entire Wasatch Mtn. range is a continuous series of Normal and Thrust faults.
[attachment 9989 WasatchFault.gif]

Good luck with your studies!