Trail Ridge
The Trail Ridge is a relic beach ridge in southeastern Georgia and northeastern Florida. Portions of the sand contain deposits of heavy metals, which have been mined near the southern end of the ridge.
Name
[edit]Trail Ridge is named for the Alachua Trail, which ran along its crest in Florida. The Alachua Trail was an Indian trail that led from the Altamaha River in Georgia to the "Alachua Country", the area around what is now called Paynes Prairie in Alachua County, Florida, that was used by white Americans in the colonial and Florida Territorial periods. In Florida, the trail followed the crest of the ridge from east of Maccleney to Kingsley Lake, providing a dry path between flanking wetlands.[1]
Description
[edit]Trail Ridge is a relic beach ridge on the Atlantic Plain, extending in a very gentle curve about 65 kilometres (40 mi) west of the Atlantic coast from the Altamaha River in southeastern Georgia to Bradford and Clay counties in northeastern Florida. It is 209 kilometres (130 mi) long, and 1 to 2 kilometres (0.62 to 1.24 mi) wide. The ridge is conspicuous, rising tens of meters above the adjacent land. The crest of the ridge is 46 to 52 metres (151 to 171 ft) above sea level in Georgia, and 51 to 76 metres (167 to 249 ft) above sea level in Florida. The ridge forms the eastern border of the Okefenokee Swamp, preventing any drainage of the swamp to the east. At the southern end of ridge, in Bradford and Clay counties, the top 10 to 20 metres (33 to 66 ft) of the ridge is sand, underlain by layers of lignitic peat intermixed with layers of sand.[2][3]
Mining
[edit]The Trail Ridge Ore Body is at the southern end of the ridge.[4] The sand in the Ore Body contains lenses of sand enriched with heavy metals, with an average content of 6% of metals including the titanium containing ores ilmenite and rutile, and zircon. The DuPont chemical company has mined the sand of the Ore Body for titanium and other heavy metals since 1949.[5] A plan by Twin Pine Minerals to mine titanium from the Trail Ridge next to the Okefenokee Swamp was heavily opposed, and the mining company sold their land to the Conservation Fund in 2025.[6]
References
[edit]- ^ Vanderhill 1977, pp. 423, 432–434.
- ^ Rich 1985, p. 1.
- ^ Force & Rich 1989, p. 1.
- ^ Rich 1995, pp. 153–154.
- ^ Force & Rich 1989, pp. 1–2.
- ^ Brady, Dennis (June 20, 2025). "Land deal ends controversial mining fight near Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp". Washington Post.
Sources
[edit]- Force, Eric R.; Rich, Fredrick J. (1989). Geologic Evolution of Trail Ridge Eolian Heavy-Mineral Sand and Underlying Peat, Northern Florida (PDF). U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper. Vol. 1499. United States Government Printing Office. doi:10.3133/pp1499.
- Rich, Frederick J. (1985). Palynology and Paleoecology of a Lignitic Peat from Trail Ridge, Florida (Information Circular No. 100) (Report). Tallahassee, Florida: Florida Geological Survey.
- Rich, Frederick J. (September 1995). "Palynostratigraphy and Environment of Brown Coal from Beneath the Trail Ridge Ore Body, Florida" (PDF). Southeastern Geology. 35 (3): 153–160 – via CORE bibliographic database.
- Vanderhill, Burke G. (April 1977). "The Alachua Trail: A Reconstruction". The Florida Historical Quarterly. 55: 423–438 – via University of Central Florida Digital Collection.