Students in Dr. Derek Sawyer’s reflection seismology course recently spent part of their Friday night 1200 ft deep in an underground salt mine! The class was treated to a tour of American Rock Salt’s Hampton Corners mine in Mt. Morris, New York, which is the largest operating salt mine in the U.S. The mine supplies road salt to NY and other states across the northeast U.S. The mine excavates the Silurian age (~400 Mya) Salina Group salts at a depth of ~375 m (~1200 ft) below ground surface.
The 6-hour one-way drive from campus featured peak fall foliage, sunny skies, good music, and plenty of Halloween candy. The tour began with a history of mining salt in the region, the importance and uses of salt, and the local geology. After a safety briefing and putting on protective gear, we descended down to the mine. We toured the main operations to see drilling into the exposed walls to set charges and excavators that scoop up the fresh material and deliver it to a conveyor belt that delivers the material to be crushed, sieved, and brought to the surface.
We were able to examine the salt up close, (which is ~6-7m (~22 ft) thick at this location) and has 2 subunits: a basal massive salt that is locally called the “gray” salt and an overlying laminated salt with alternating black and white layers called “salt and pepper” salt. The gray salt squeezes, which we noticed by the roadways heaving up in many places making an up-and-down ride. After the tour, we were gifted with some pieces of salt to take home as souvenirs that have a beautiful orange color. We ended the day with a salty dinner of pizza!
A few quotes from students about the experience:
“I enjoyed the field trip because I was immersed in real-world experiences in industry. I liked seeing how the materials and methods I am learning in class apply to jobs that I could have in the future. I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to go!”
“It was great to have the chance to go underground and see first-hand how salt is taken from its natural state and made into a product we rely heavily on in the winter. It was incredibly interesting to learn how dynamic salt mining operations are given the mineral is constantly creeping and how engineers must continually update their mining plan and operations.”
Big thanks to Bill McGlynn and Joe Bucci of American Rock Salt for giving us the opportunity and to the School of Earth Sciences for financial support!
–Derek Sawyer