Copperas Mountain, Paxton Township, Ross Co., Ohio, USA
Latitude: 39°13'57"N
Longitude: 83°11'52"W
The Copperas Mountain exposure is adjacent to a dirt road (Copperas Mountain Road) and Paint Creek, which eroded the 350' cliff. Exposed at the site is the Ohio Shale, with the overlying Bedford Shale and Berea Sandstone. The Ohio Shale (3/4 of the exposure, starting at the road elevation) is divided here into the Huron and Cleveland Shales.
The site is well known for large concretions, 1 to 5 feet in diameter, with soft septarian centers, often mineralized with dolomite, barite, quartz, calcite, and pyrite. Pyrite nodules (2"-5") also weather out of the shale.
Mineral efflorescences cover significant areas of the cliff exposure. Fibrous masses of halotrichite-pickeringite (white), melanterite (blue-green, "copperas" - used in the past to dye cloth), and copiapite (yellow, "yellow copperas") can be found.
The cliff is unstable, with significant rotting to the exposed shale.
References
Ernest H. Carlson. Minerals of Ohio. Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological Survey. Columbus: 1991.
Mineral List
8 entries listed. 8 valid minerals.
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