[In 2007, as my son wanted to ride in a car with a working air conditioner (and he was tired from Scout camp), he declined the offer to roam around southeastern Tennessee and rode home with the mom of a fellow Scout. Sometimes he does like to get out and explore, but not this time.]
To the above-left is an aerial photo of a portion of the Ducktown, TN area, probably from the 1940s. The photo is part of the Ducktown Basin Copper Museum in southeastern TN.
Nary a tree in sight, from acid rainfall from the local smelters and deforestation to provide fuel for the furnaces. Not to discount the environmental destruction pictured here, you can see what Geomorphologists/ Hydrologists refer to as a "dendritic stream pattern". Normally in the eastern United States, these patterns are obscured by trees.
The acid rainfall destruction was caused by the "roasting" of the iron and copper sulfide ores (pyrite, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite,...). The museum curator mentioned that, in this decades-long process, five feet of topsoil was lost. The heating of the sulfide ores released sulfur dioxide (SO2) which, when mixed with rainfall produced sulfur acids, probably sulfurous acid (H2SO3).
The destruction of the local vegetation (over a 50 square mile area) wasn't done on purpose, it was one of those human screw-ups where we didn't understand the future environmental impacts of our actions.
[2007] The photo to the right was taken from the grounds of the old Burra Burra mine in Ducktown, now the site of the museum. The name Burra Burra is from a famous Australian copper mine.
To the lower left, you can see a circular pit, the result of a partial mine collapse, circa 1925. Beyond and to the right of the pit are the areas that have been left "fallow", i.e., reclaimed by nature with no human assistance. This is to offer the viewer a perspective of the damage that was done in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Beyond the fallow area, there is a fenceline, beyond which are the human-reforested areas, the results of a project that began in the early 1900s. Also useful in the process was the modifications made to the roasting process, by which sulfur dioxide (SO2) was captured and converted to sulfur trioxide (SO3), then sold for the production of industrial sulfuric acid (H2SO4).
The area definitely looks better than it did when I first visited in early 1976, while on a Geology field trip. It still may be a few decades before hardwood trees are ready to grow on this reclaimed ground.
The last of the Ducktown Basin copper mines closed in 1987. This was largely due to the importation of copper from other countries and the increased expenses of operating here. If you happen to be in the area, check for the date of the yearly "miners homecoming" music festival.
