The Berkeley Pit is a former open pit copper mine in the western United States, located in Butte, Montana. It is one mile (1.6 km) long by one-half mile (800 m) wide, with an approximate depth of 1,780 feet (540 m). It is filled to a depth of about 900 feet (270 m) with water that is heavily acidic (2.5 pH level), about the acidity of Coca-Cola, lemon juice,[1] or gastric acid. As a result, the pit is laden with heavy metals and dangerous chemicals that leach from the rock, including copper, arsenic, cadmium, zinc, and sulfuric acid.[1]
The mine was opened in 1955 and operated by the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, and later by the Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO), until its closure on Earth Day in 1982.[2] When the pit was closed, the water pumps in the nearby Kelley Mine, 3,800 ft (1,200 m) below the surface, were turned off, and groundwater from the surrounding aquifers began to slowly fill the Berkeley Pit, rising at about the rate of one foot (30 cm) per month.[1] Since its closure, the water level in the pit has risen to within 150 feet (46 m) of the natural water table.
The Berkeley Pit is currently one of the largest Superfund sites. The water, with dissolved oxygen, allows pyrite and sulfide minerals in the ore and wall rocks to decay, releasing acid. The acidic water in the pit carries a heavy load of dissolved heavy metals. A water treatment plant has been operating since October 2019.[citation needed]
The Berkeley Pit is a tourist attraction.[citation needed]
^ abcEdwin Dobb. "New Life in a Death Trap". Discover, 2000.
^"Anaconda to abandon Butte mine". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. April 24, 1982. p. 4A.
The BerkeleyPit is a former open pit copper mine in the western United States, located in Butte, Montana. It is one mile (1.6 km) long by one-half mile...
in 1982 when the deep pumps draining the BerkeleyPit and the underground mines were shut off, allowing the Pit and mines to fill. The company presently...
and intermittently for years thereafter. Open-pit mining began at the BerkeleyPit in 1955; the BerkeleyPit has been inactive for years, and continues to...
company, Montana Resources, operates a much smaller open-pit mine east of the defunct BerkeleyPit. ARCO was the responsible party (by its ownership of Anaconda...
was first discovered in a fungal species which evolved to live in the BerkeleyPit. Stierle, AA; Stierle, DB; Kelly, K (2006). "Berkelic acid, a novel spiroketal...
operates an open pit copper and molybdenum mine in Butte, and also recovers copper from the water in the BerkeleyPit. In 1980 the BerkeleyPit, the Clark Fork...
"The Auditor" is assumed to be a Puli. It lived in the contaminated BerkeleyPit copper mine in Butte, Montana. Notable for being one of the few things...
Parkersburg, West Virginia, USA 1951-2003. Effects of polluted water in the BerkeleyPit in the United States Gulf of Mexico dead zone Ignition and conflagration...
The La Brea Tar Pits is an active paleontological research site in urban Los Angeles. Hancock Park was formed around a group of tar pits where natural asphalt...
discovered in fungal species which evolved to live in an acidic lake at BerkeleyPit. Stierle, DB; Stierle, AA; Hobbs, JD; Stokken, J; Clardy, J (2004). "Berkeleydione...
Ontario, Canada Ok Tedi Mine in Western Province, Papua New Guinea The BerkeleyPit Wheal Jane Mines Environmental impact of deep sea mining Environmental...
and a metabolite of mine-dwelling Penicillium vermiculatum found in BerkeleyPit Lake, Butte, Montana. Penisimplicissin is a vermistatin analog with anticancer...
Tar pits, sometimes referred to as asphalt pits, are large asphalt deposits. They form in the presence of petroleum, which is created when decayed organic...
the product of open pit lignite mining, have to deal with acid mine drainage Argo Tunnel, Idaho Springs, Colorado, US BerkeleyPit superfund site, covering...
Company. Much of the ore the smelter processed after 1955 came from the BerkeleyPit just north of Butte, Montana. At the time it was built, the stack was...
longer flows directly into Silver Bow Creek as it is now captured by the BerkeleyPit. Silver Bow Creek flows northwest and north through a high mountain valley...
microbes with the same kind of extreme novel characteristics as Stetter's. BerkeleyPit Polypeptide Protein Allostery "Amazing Microbes". www.ornl.gov. Archived...
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