By Chuck Schepke
ROGERS CITY – Roscommon High School geology students toured the Carmeuse Limestone Quarry (the world’s largest limestone operation) in Rogers City, Monday, Oct. 22. Joining the class for the day was retired state geologist and community member, Ty Black, who is also the renowned Michigan limestone expert in geological circles. The students got to see mining operations and processing techniques (they almost got to witness a 300 ton blast, but due to technical delays we missed it), learn about the geology of the area, the many uses of this resource, and got to collect fossils.
200 Ton Dump Truck L-R Jon Suvada, Justin Janisse, Micheal Ficaj, Mac Schultz, Brandon Mitchell, Jeff Kuchar, Samantha Defour, Kolby Tyler, Raffel Martin, and Ty Black.
Ty then lead the students in the afternoon to the Rockport Fossil Collecting State Recreational Area to collect and identify types, Mystery Valley (where subsidence of collapsed caverns produce large earth cracks and a fluctuating water level lake), disappearing streams going down seeps and small sinks, and the Bruski and Steven Twins sinkholes.
Carmeuse Quarry Group – Front row: Left to Right: Ty Black, Jon Suvada, Brandon Mitchell, Raffel Martin, Kolby Tyler, Samantha Defour, and Justin Janisse.
Back row: Left to Right: Micheal Ficaj, Mac Schultz, and Jeff Kuchar
The field-trip lasted for 14 hours including driving time. Ty was great with the kids and had them try to figure out why certain features existed by letting them try to figure out why certain features existed by having them observe and discuss evidential geological clues.
