Nathan Hall Quarry (Clark Hill quarries), East Hampton, Middlesex Co., Connecticut, USA

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The Nathan Hall Quarry (one of the quarries on Clark Hill) is located in the Meshomasic State Forest off of Woodchopper's Road. It is a small quarry in a zoned granite pegmatite and based on the few references, it appears to have operated completely before 1922. There is nothing specific in the mineralogical literature, but presumably it was quarried for feldspar and/or mica. The F. W. Beers County Atlas of Middlesex, Connecticut, published in 1874, shows a large rectangle of land north of Clark Hill Road owned by "N. Hall". The Hall Cemetery is on Clark Hill Road near the entrance to Woodchopper's Road.

Collecting is allowed only via permit issued by the Connecticut DEEP to educational organizations (schools, mineral clubs, etc.). See link below.

Besides the rock-forming albite, microcline and quartz, sharp muscovite crystals are very common and the large, dark almandine-spessartine garnets, although fairly rare, are noteworthy. XRF analyses of several garnets from Nathan Hall show them all to be almandine, but with a significant spessartine component. As a result, a black, probable manganese oxide, stain typical covers and surrounds these crystals. Annite (fka biotite) is also common, mostly in bladed crystals up to several feet long. Beryl is uncommon, but crystals can be large, gemmy, and terminated and vary in color from yellow through green to aqua. Zircon, uranium minerals (beautiful meta-autunite and metatorbernite halos around uranophane-altered uraninite), and fluorapatite are sprinkled throughout. There is schorl, plus interesting tapered pseudomorphs of muscovite after schorl. Schorl also occurs in the adjacent Littleton schist. Massive quartz, which encloses the sharp micas and matrix microclines, is very abundant at Hall, but good crystals are usually pocket micros. Rose quartz was reported by Foye (1922). Although tiny columbites are common, large ones are very rare but well-formed. One find of monazite-(Ce) was confirmed by XRD.

Mineral List

Albite Almandine Annite Autunite Beryl Columbite-(Fe) Fluorapatite

Foitite ? Meta-autunite Metatorbernite Microcline Monazite-(Ce) Muscovite Opal var: Opal-AN

Quartz var: Ferruginous Quartz var: Rose Quartz var: Smoky Quartz Schorl Spessartine Staurolite

Torbernite Uraninite Uranophane Yttrocolumbite-(Y) ? Zircon

26 entries listed. 22 valid minerals.

References

External Links