Siderite with Muscovite, Rutile

specimen number:
2102243

location:
Nello Teer Crabtree Creek Quarry, Raleigh, Wake Co., North Carolina, USA

description:
A beautiful thumbnail for this North Carolina locality, a lustrous rhombohedral crystal grouping of siderite without matrix. Minor muscovite and rutile are present. Complete all around and in great condition. There are no points of attachment.

The Nello Teer Crabtree Creek Quarry, located in Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina, is a massive industrial excavation situated within the Raleigh Gneiss of the eastern Piedmont. Geologically, the quarry exploits a late Paleozoic light-colored, foliated gneiss composed primarily of quartz, feldspar, and biotite, which represents the crystalline basement of the region. The mineralogy of the site is characterized by high-quality specimens of calcite, pyrite, and occasionally stilbite or other zeolites found along joint planes and fractures within the gneiss, rather than the pelitic metamorphic minerals found in neighboring terranes. Historically, the Nello L. Teer Company operated this quarry as a primary source of high-quality crushed stone and rip-rap for the construction of major regional projects, including the Research Triangle Park and the Raleigh-Durham International Airport. Active mining at the Crabtree Creek site was most intensive from the 1950s through the late 20th century before the site was eventually decommissioned as the city expanded around it. Today, the quarry remains a significant historical landmark in the industrial development of Raleigh and a key reference for the structural geology of the Raleigh Gneiss.

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