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Cheshire Traprock Quarry, Cheshire, New Haven Co., Connecticut, USA

Latitude: 41°30'59"N
Longitude: 72°55'29"W
An old, long inactive traprock quarry in Peck Mountain on the West Rock diabase sill. Exact dates of activity are uncertain, but the quarry is not mentioned in literature older than Schairer (1931). It is active, though relatively small, on 1934 aerial photographs, the first available. Hiller (1971) calls it inactive.

Schooner (1961) calls this area "near Roaring Brook" or just "Roaring Brook", though that feature is 2.4 miles south of the quarry. He references Dana's System of Mineralogy 5th edition (1875), which correctly says Roaring Brook is 14 miles north of New Haven (the quarry is about 16.5). It is unlikely the quarry is that old and because Roaring Brook cuts a gorge through the sill, the falls on the brook is a separate locality.

The most productive area for minerals was at the northwest end. Analcime and natrolite, typically together (with prehnite and fine-grained heulandite), were common there, but are very rare at other traprock quarries in Connecticut.

Some Cheshire specimens have been attributed to the traprock quarries in Woodbury and Southbury, Connecticut but natrolite and analcime are very rare there and the extrusive basalt is very fine-grained or aphanitic. The West Rock sill diabase matrix, being intrusive, is relatively coarse-grained (1-2mm) and the dark augite and light plagioclase grains give it a salt and pepper appearance quite different from the Woodbury/Southbury matrix. Many Cheshire specimens also have a brown stain on the minerals that is unlike the other quarries. This is "limonite" that is easily cleaned off if desired.

Mindat Articles

Mineralogy of the Cheshire Traprock Quarry by Rowan Lytle


Mineral List

Albite ?
Analcime
'Apophyllite'
Calcite
'Chabazite' ?
Chalcopyrite
'Chlorite Group' ?
Datolite
Epidote ?
Gypsum
'Heulandite'
Natrolite
Prehnite
'Pumpellyite'
Quartz
var: Agate


16 entries listed. 10 valid minerals.

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References

Schairer, J. F. (1931): The Minerals of Connecticut. State Geological and Natural History Survey, Bulletin 51, Hartford, Conn.

Januzzi, Ronald. (1959): The Minerals of Western Connecticut and Southeastern New York State. Taylor Assoc./Mineralogical Press, Danbury.

Schooner, Richard. (1961): The Mineralogy of Connecticut. Fluorescent House, Branford, Connecticut.

Hiller, John, Jr. (1971): Connecticut Mines and Minerals. Privately published.

Ryerson, Kathleen. (1972): Rock Hound's Guide to Connecticut. Chester, Conn.: Pequot Press.

Januzzi, Ronald. (1976): Mineral Localities of Connecticut and Southeastern New York State. Taylor Assoc./Mineralogical Press, Danbury.

Brunet, William M. (1980): Minerals of the Trap Rock Ridges of the Connecticut Valley With Emphasis on Reed’s Gap Quarry Near Durham. Rocks and Minerals, Volume 55, Number 6.

Tschernich, Rudy. (1992): Zeolites of the World. Geoscience Press, Phoenix, p.114.

Weber, Marcelle H. and Earle C. Sullivan. (1995): Connecticut Mineral Locality Index. Rocks & Minerals (Connecticut Issue), Volume 70, No. 6, p. 403.


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Copyright © Jolyon Ralph and Ida Chau 1993-2013. Site Map. Locality, mineral & photograph data are the copyright of the individuals who submitted them. Further information contact the Site hosted & developed by Jolyon Ralph. Mindat.org is an online information resource dedicated to providing free mineralogical information to all. Mindat relies on the contributions of hundreds of members and supporters. Mindat does not offer minerals for sale. If you would like to add information to improve the quality of our database, then click here to register.
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