EAST TENNESSEE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

November 2025 Virtual Meeting

---

Monday, November 10, 2025
6:00 - 7:30 pm

Note: ETGS members will receive an email with info for logging into the meeting.
 

November Presentation

Geochemical and Spatial Analysis of Acid Mine Drainage at the Ravenscroft Mine in White Co., Tennessee


By

Abby Daniel
 

Acid mine drainage (AMD) is a biogeochemical process that is associated with metallic ore and coal deposits. The oxidation of sulfide minerals (commonly pyrite, FeS2) in these deposits generates sulfuric acid which lowers the pH of the surrounding soil, surface water and groundwater. Along with sulfuric acid, these reactions also release metals into the environment, such as Cd, Fe, Mn, Zn, As and Hg (Jacobs et al., 2014). In the U.S., AMD impacts over 20,000 km of streams causing a degradation of water quality and biodiversity in affected soil and water (Skousen et al., 2019; Acharya and Kharel, 2020).

The Ravenscroft mine near Sparta, TN began operation in 1902. It was one of several area coal mines that operated until 1936 (Carmichael and Carmichael, 2025). The mine consisted of a vertical shaft 178 ft deep, a tipple to load coal into hopper cars and a powerplant. Part of the mining operation was the removal of subsurface rock to access the coal. Waste rock was brought up to the surface forming large tailings piles. Oxidation of these tailings produces acidic leachate that enters the soil, groundwater and flows away from the site as runoff. Today, the Ravenscroft mine is a historic site with a walking trail.

This research expands on a pilot study by Mofield (2024) on evaluating the potential for AMD at the Ravenscroft mine. Mofield (2024) determined that the tailings produce acidic leachate with conductivities of 54-281 uS/cm, indicating the presence of dissolved ions. However, Mofield (2024) did not identify these ions. In this study, we tested the AMD for over 20 metals and 8 anions as well as other water properties such as hardness, conductivity and dissolved organic content (DOC).

Preliminary results show that spring and stream water sampled in May-June 2025 had a pH that ranged from 3.5-6.1 and that the AMD contained elevated concentrations of aluminum (up to 1.14 mg/L), iron and sulfate (up to 32.5 mg/L). Iron precipitate staining is ubiquitous in streams on and off the mining site including Buck Creek, a tributary of the Calfkiller River to the northwest. Streams and ponds on the site contain few if any fish, insects or macroinvertebrates. Site investigation indicates that the mine tailings extend far off the historic park site and have the potential to generate AMD over a large area. Future work will map the extent of the tailings and generation of AMD.

Biography

Abby Daniel is a senior at Tennessee Tech University majoring in the Geoscience. Originally from Spring City, Tennessee, she currently serves as President of Tech's chapter of Sigma Gamma Epsilon, the national honor society for the Earth Sciences. Abby is also a former member of the Tech Chorale, an audition-based university choir, through which she has toured internationally to Ireland and Scotland. Her personal and academic experiences have taken her across much of the western and southern United States, deepening her appreciation for geologic diversity. After graduation, Abby plans to pursue a master's degree in structural geology or environmental geology and geochemistry.

 

 

Greetings, and welcome to the November 10, 2025 ETGS virtual meeting.
 

This meeting will be attended via Zoom and as a courtesy please mute your cell phone or the microphone in your laptop/tablet to minimize background noise and feedback echos. We will also make an effort to mute all participants - at least until the presentation is finished. Please use the chat feature to type any comments or questions you may have. We recommend that you send questions for the speaker to "everyone" so all participants can see the question. In the interest of time, we may hold the Q&A at the end of the presentation.

We will create a virtual attendance list. It is not always possible to tell who is participating on-line, especially for those joining by phone, so please email etgs@live.com to be listed on the attendance sheet. Let us know exactly how your name should appear on the list. We will add a note explaining the lack of signatures due to remote participation and have an ETGS officer sign as usual.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue with this online format. As always, we welcome and appreciate your feedback and suggestions for improvement.

 

---

---

President
Tony McClain

Vice President
David Carlone

Secretary
J. Brad Stephenson

Treasurer
Seaira Stephenson

Webmaster/Social Media Coordinator
Bob Gelinas

---

Page updated October 29, 2025