Glassy Rock Perlite Mine, Bristol Mountains, San Bernardino County, California

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1 Glassy Rock Perlite Mine, Bristol Mountains, San Bernardino County, California Gregg Wilkerson 2017 Acknowledgement and Disclaimer The information in this paper is taken largely from published sources. I have reproduced this material and present it pretty much as I found it, not trying to harmonize discrepancies in mine descriptions. I have changed verb tenses for readability and have used some paraphrase. Authors of the original information are indicated at the end of each paragraph. Paragraphs without a citation are my own material. LOCATION 8N 10E Sec. 33 SBM MRDS This mine is in the central Bristol Mountains 6.2 miles east-northeast of Ash Hill and 0.8 miles north of Interstate 40 (former Route 66). In their report on the mines or San Bernardino county, Lauren Wright and others (1953) locate the The Glassey Rock Perlite Mine: in Section 32, T. 8 N., R. 10 E., S.B.M., on the southwest flank of the Bristol Mountains, about 6 miles northeast of Klondike, a siding- on the Santa Fe railroad (Wright and others, 1953, p. 187).. OWNERSHIP AND HISTORY The Southern Pacific (1959) report for T.8N, R.09-10E, SBM indicate that the Glassy Rock Perlite Mine was formerly known as the Rust Perlite Deposit (Southern Pacific, 1959). The USGS topographic map for the area labels it the California Mine. In 1963, Lauren Wright and others noted: George W. Rust, Box 718, Kentfield, California, owned 180 acres in the southeast quarter of the section in Although the deposits of perlite on the Glassy Rock are large and contain a large tonnage of expansible perlite, their output has totaled only several hundred tons for experimental purposes prior to In mid-1952 the property was idle. (Wright and others, 1953, p ) GEOLOGY Concerning the geology of the deposit, Lauren Wright and others (1953) said: The perlite occurs in irregular to lens-like bodies that range in thickness from a few feet to 50 feet and are at least 1000 feet in maximum length. The perlite ranges in color from dark to light gray and commonly shows reddish-brown streaks. In places, it is brecciated and pumiceous. At the main quarry where a bulk of the perlite has been mined, it is quite massive and shows both granular and splintery fractures (Wright and others, 1953, p ). 1

2 Kumpfer and Bassett (1962) mapped the area of the Glassy Rock Perlite Mine as Quaternary or Tertiary Rhyolite flows and tuffs (QTvr). Dibblee (2008d) mapped the area as Oligocene-Miocene Andesite (Ta). Southern Pacific (1959) mapped the area as Tertiary Upper Volcanic Sequence rocks that include Perlite and Devitrified Perlitic Rhyodacite (Tup) and Pumiceous Lapilli Tuff and Breccia (Tupm) and Basal Lithic Tuff (Tutu) near a northwest-southeast striking fault that is dipping to the southwest. A regional geologic mosaic of the Bristol and Old Dad Mountains is at: A regional stratigraphic compilation for this mosaic is at: tains_san_bernardino_county_california_text REFERENCES Dibblee, Thomas W., Jr., 2008d, Geologic Map of the Ludlow and Bagdad 15 Minute Quadrangles, San Bernardino County, California, Dibblee Foundation Map #DF-396. Kumpfer, Donald H. and Allen M. Basset, 1962, Reconnaissance Map of Part of the Mojave Desert, California, in A Geologic Reconnaissance of the Southeastern Mojave Desert, California Division of Mines and Geology Special Report 83 and U.S. Geological Survey Mineral Investigations Field Studies Map MF-205 scale 1:125K. MRDS, 2011, Mineral Resources Data System, U.S. Geological Survey, Southern Pacific Company, 1964, Minerals for Industry, Volume III Southern California, California Division of Mines and Geology, Special Report 95, 242 pages plus maps. The data in this report is based on geologic maps Southern Pacific produced pre-1964 covering two townships each. These maps create a mosaic of township geologic maps throughout much of the Mojave Desert. These have been scanned and rectified and are on file with the Bureau of Land Management, Riverside, California. See p Southern Pacific, 1960, Geology and Mineral Resources of T.08N-R.09-10E, SBM with map. Mapped by Raymond T. Laird, Wright, Lauren A., Richard M. Stewart, Thomas E. Gay, Jr., and George C. Hazenbush, 1953, Mines and Mineral Deposits of San Bernardino County, California, California Journal of Mines and Geology, v. 49, n. 1 and 2, 192 pages plus maps. See pp MAPS 2

3 Figure 1. Regional topographic map of the Glassy Rock Perlite mine and surrounding area. 3

4 Figure 2. Topographic map of the Glassy Rock Perlite mine and surrounding area. 4

5 Figure 3. Geologic map of the Glassy Rock Perlite mine and surrounding area. Adapted from Kumpfer and Bassett,

6 Figure 4. Geologic map of the Glassy Rock Perlite mine and surrounding area. Adapted from Dibblee, 2008d. 6

7 Figure 5. Geologic map of the Glassy Rock Perlite mine and surrounding area. Adapted from Southern Pacific,

8N 10E Sec. 08 SBM MRDS, Wright et al, 1953

8N 10E Sec. 08 SBM MRDS, Wright et al, 1953 Ribbon Rock Onyx Mine, Bristol Mountains, San Bernardino County, California Gregg Wilkerson 2017 Acknowledgement and Disclaimer The information in this paper is taken largely from published sources. I