THREE DIMENSIONAL (3D) MODELING OF HISTORIC MINES IN COLORADO'S WESTERN SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS

The western San Juan Mountains are renowned for a mining history that spans 125 years. Most of the records of mining and related geologic activities in the region are preserved mostly as hard copy documents. This presentation highlights how GIS and Vulcan software were utilized to create three dimensional maps for the Gold King mine near Silverton and the Camp Bird mine near Ouray. This presentation highlights the steps and challenges used to integrate, edit, and display large amounts of complex spatial data.

Contamination of the Animas River watershed from the Gold King mine in 2015 spawned a desire to understand the complex relationship between subsurface workings and the fault system existing in Silverton. A collaborative effort between the Colorado State Department of Mining, Reclamation, and Safety and the Department of Geosciences at Fort Lewis College resulted in the production of a speculative surface to subsurface model of the Gold King mine using existing mine plans and published geologic maps. This product allowed possible relationships of underground working and surface structures to be explored through the context of an undergraduate environmental geochemistry class.

The Camp Bird mine is one the last remaining mines in the region that has a potential for future mining operations. There are numerous paper maps and geologic profiles of the mine workings, but no digital compilations. A digital compilation was created as the focus of a senior thesis to make quick and accurate assessments for exploration, mine-development, depict and understand the geology of ore deposits, and preserve historical records.

This research provides an example of how modern digital formats and methods can be used in the preservation of historical documents and maps currently vulnerable to loss, deterioration from age, and poor archiving conditions. Virtual reconstruction provides further academic and economic value by creating a digital database, complete with three dimensional models of mine workings, mitigating the onerous challenge of sharing historic data for mining activities and within the public domain.