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[bright piano arrangement]

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♪

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(male narrator) 
You may remember 
a scene like this

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from last week 
or last year or decades ago:

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a school classroom.

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But bet you didn't 
hear words like this

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when you were comin' up.

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Lukogranodiuriticmetatonalite.

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Lukogranodiuriticmetatonalite.

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Uh, 
lukogranodiuriticmetatonalite.

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Lukogranodiuriticmetatonalite.

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Lukogranodiuriticmetatonalite.

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Lukogranodiuriticmetatonalite.

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The 
lukogranodiuriticmetatonalite--

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the Spruce Pine rock.

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(narrator) 
Lukogranodiuriticmetatonalite

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is just one 
tongue-twisting example

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of what Alex Glover 
brings to his classroom

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at Mayland Community College 
in Spruce Pine,

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where he teaches a course

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on the fascinating and unique 
geology of the region.

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And to hear him talk,

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there's nowhere else 
in the world

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quite like right here, 
at least geologically.

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This is a man 
in love with his work.

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He ended up here

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in what amounts to his 
geologic mountain paradise

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in a roundabout way,

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when during summers in college 
he worked in a coal mine,

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which he described 
as "hot, nasty, and dirty,"

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12 hours a day, 
7 days a week.

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And then something happened.

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(Alex) 
I got to help 
the geologist one day

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because his helper was sick,

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and so I got to do that, 
and it was just awesome.

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I mean, four-wheel drives 
in the woods,

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and we're drillin' 
and makin' maps and surveyin',

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learn how to survey 
and how to test the coal,

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how to run the lab samples, 
and it was just--

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it was 
an unbelievable job for me.

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(narrator) 
He liked it so much

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that he encouraged 
the real geologist's helper

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to take more time off--

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heh, heh-- 
so he could step in.

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(Alex) 
I just, uh, fell in love 
with the subject.

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[bright piano arrangement]

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(narrator) 
As you might imagine,

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Alex's classroom 
is as big as all outdoors.

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(Alex) 
You're seein' 
just awesome stuff.

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I mean, uh, we had a class 
today in the field

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where I still 
have to pinch myself thinking,

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how could this happen,

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the awesomeness 
of this happening,

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and it happenin' here

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where we 
can actually have a class

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and take students 
to go see those things,

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and to be blessed 
with an area in the mountains

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to live like this 
and see geology

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that most people 
don't ever get to see?

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We see igneous rocks here.

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We see 
metamorphic rocks here.

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We see some--some versions 
of sedimentary rocks here

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there are not many places 
in the world

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where you can see all of those 
and how they react together.

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(narrator) 
You might easily think 
things happened fast

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when you hear 
Alex's quick explanation,

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but tectonic motion 
is measured

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in centimeters per year, 
so slow a pace

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that it's nearly impossible 
to stretch your mind around.

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When Africa 
and the Eurasian continent

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were slamming together,

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this is where those pressures 
were focused,

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so lots of things 
were buried deep,

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and then these things

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were, uh-- 
were uplifted.

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(narrator) 
One popular site

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where you can witness 
this thrusting

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is in Linville Gorge, 
not far from Spruce Pine.

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That's where you'll find

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the Linville Falls 
thrust fault,

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where something 
amazing happened.

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A slab of rock 
called the Cranberry Gneiss

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that's over 
a billion years old

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was thrust 
on top of a rock

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called quartzite,

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which is a mere 
550 million years old.

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The crusty rock in the middle 
is mylonite,

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and it's 
300 million years old--

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quite a sandwich.

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Some of the oldest rocks 
in this state

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and in the Southeast--

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it's been shoved

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up and over rocks 
that are 540 million years old

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with a half a billion years 
in between!

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Awesome!

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(narrator) 
"Awesome" is a reaction 
that comes easily to Alex,

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especially now 
that he's come home

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to the mountains

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after a career 
in commercial geology.

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And then came the mother lode 
of teaching opportunities,

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practically 
right in the Glover's

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mountain-loving, 
gemstone-hunting,

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rock-strewn backyard.

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I started collectin' samples,

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and I thought, you know, 
when I retire,

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I'd love to do 
some of this stuff.

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So I retired March 31st 
and thought, well, you know,

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Mayland hasn't had 
a geography instructor

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in 12 years, 
and here they are

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in the middle 
of a mining community,

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and I-- 
I just asked 'em

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if they'd like to have 
a part-time instructor,

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and so 
they were very welcoming.

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And so I've been-- 
had my little class

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for the last two months, 
and it's just awesome.

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Alex is great.

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He really knows 
what he's talkin' 'bout,

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and he helps explain to us 
very well,

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to where we know 
what we can talk about

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and to help us 
get a better understanding.

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From the first day, uh,

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I really just fell in love 
with the class.

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He's just very patient 
and very kind,

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and you can tell 
that he's really interested

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in what he does, 
and he's very excited about it,

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and it makes you excited 
about it too.

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[piano patterns 
lead mellow chords]

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I've never looked at rocks 
in the same way,

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and I don't think 
anyone else will.

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If they ever 
take a course in geology,

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especially from Alex, they're--

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they're gonna look at rocks 
entirely differently.

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[shuffling leaves]

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(narrator) 
Now matter how instructive

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the classroom experience 
may prove,

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most of this man's teaching 
happens in the field...

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because that's 
where the rocks are.

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So join the class 
for a short while

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and experience Alex Glover 
for yourself,

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where he's at his best

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and where you 
can learn the most.

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The next stop 
on the field trip

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is an abandoned mine 
that once provided minerals

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for early Native Americans

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and later supplied

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the pioneers 
of the carbon age.

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We're in the Hoot Owl Mine.

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We're in Mitchell County.

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This mine is a large pegmatite

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of the Spruce Pine 
pegmatite district.

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This mine is named 
after the two big portals,

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which look 
like hoot owl eyes.

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The rock is actually 
lukogranodiuriticmetatonalite,

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and our class has-- 
they have fun with that name,

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but it's really composed 
of quartz, feldspar, and mica.

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The quartz in this rock

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is the most pure quartz 
on earth,

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and you can't make 
a semiconductor,

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a computer chip,

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without the quartz 
from this rock.

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(narrator) 
The quartz is also used 
in automobile lights,

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street lights, 
and solar panels.

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The feldspar is used 
in ceramics, putty, caulks,

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sealants, even paints.

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And the mica, 
once used by Native Americans

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for ornamentation and makeup,

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is now a primary ingredient 
for Sheetrock mud.

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[sparkling arrangement]

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(narrator) 
Almost everything 
we clever humans have created

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in the last half-century

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has a little 
Spruce Pine inside.

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(narrator) 
The Hoot Owl Mine,

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while small 
by today's standards,

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is like a small playground 
for Alex and his class.

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These days, 
people come to this area more

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with the idea of fun in mind 
than mineral mining,

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but sometimes they're after 
riches of another kind.

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(man) 
Whoa, look at that pretty, 
pretty blue one right there.

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See that pretty blue one?

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♪

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(child) 
Oh, Mom, look at this one!

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(narrator) 
There are places 
to hunt for gems

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on and off the road,

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tucked in and around bends 
in the North Toe River

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as it curls through 
Mitchell and Yancey Counties

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where towns have names 
like Bandana, Wing,

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and, of course, Micaville.

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Matt Housley can tell you 
about all of it

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here at the Spruce Pine 
Gemstone Mine jewelry shop.

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He grew up in these parts

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and hunted gems 
with his family.

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Well, my grandfather 
used to say

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that rocks had flavors.

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So we look for 
a specific sort of blend

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of certain minerals, uh,

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or flavors 
as he would call it,

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and if you have that blend, 
then it's an indicator

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that you have the 
right building blocks

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to have whatever you're 
lookin' for gemstonewise.

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This area is known 
for the largest variety

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of gems and minerals 
of anywhere on planet earth.

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There are veins 
around this, uh, area

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that produce 
31 different types

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of gems and minerals, 
which is unheard of

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in most places 
in the world.

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Usually a mine produces

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one or two or maybe three 
different things,

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and so 31 is just 
a crazy number, um.

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This area has just about 
every precious gemstone.

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We have ruby; 
we have sapphire.

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We have emerald; 
we have aquamarine.

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We have beautiful garnets, 
beautiful kyanite, uh,

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moonstone, amazonite--

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it just goes on 
and on and on.

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(narrator) 
And where else on this planet

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could you actually 
scramble around

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on the earth's mantle-- 
heh, heh, heh!

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These are actually mantle 
deposits, uh.

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This is below the crust.

220
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This is a dunite 
or an olivine deposit.

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They're mainly iron-based.

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They're very rare, 
and during subduction,

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when you had 
the Eurasian continent bumpin'

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into the North American 
continent, uh,

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the ocean floor 
was bein' subducted down.

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Ocean floor is material

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that comes up 
from the mantle and spreads,

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which is what causes 
the mid-Atlantic Ridge.

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So you had pieces 
comin' over here

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and bein' subducted down,

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and a few pieces 
were scraped off right here.

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So if this were a knife edge

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and this were a chunk o' cheese 
goin' down like this,

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a piece of that cheese 
was scraped off.

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And so this is

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high-temperature 
mantle material

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that is not 
where it's supposed to be.

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So this is very, very rare.

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(narrator) 
Our final stop:

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just a short walk 
down the tracks,

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a marble deposit 
with an unusual heritage.

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(Alex) 
This is the Bandana marble,

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and this is rare marble 
in western North Carolina.

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There are other-- 
are other marbles,

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but this is a rare 
white crystalline,

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coarsely crystalline marble, 
and it's beautiful.

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This is actually 
a dolomitic marble,

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so it's magnesium rich.

249
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But it's about 
ten feet thick,

250
00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:10,242
and it was a lens 
inside of this.

251
00:10:10,343 --> 00:10:13,746
All of this rock is foliated 
and dipping this way.

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00:10:13,846 --> 00:10:16,616
Then later, 
380 million years ago,

253
00:10:16,716 --> 00:10:20,019
the Spruce Pine pegmatites, 
which is right here,

254
00:10:20,119 --> 00:10:23,055
came in and intruded 
through all of it.

255
00:10:23,155 --> 00:10:25,291
So this is a rare event,

256
00:10:25,391 --> 00:10:28,461
to see 
an early calcareous marble

257
00:10:28,561 --> 00:10:31,998
in an oceanic deposit, 
debris...

258
00:10:32,098 --> 00:10:35,401
that's cut 
by a Spruce Pine pegmatite.

259
00:10:35,501 --> 00:10:37,269
So there are many things.

260
00:10:37,370 --> 00:10:40,406
I could have a whole week's 
worth of classes

261
00:10:40,506 --> 00:10:41,974
here at this deposit.

262
00:10:42,074 --> 00:10:44,276
(narrator) 
Unfortunately, 
we don't have that much time,

263
00:10:44,377 --> 00:10:47,113
so we'll leave the class 
to learn more about the rocks

264
00:10:47,213 --> 00:10:49,081
under their feet 
and over their heads--

265
00:10:49,181 --> 00:10:52,151
like us, visitors 
to this part of our state,

266
00:10:52,251 --> 00:10:55,021
only from hundreds 
of millions of years back.

267
00:10:55,121 --> 00:10:56,922
And since 
we've learned something too,

268
00:10:57,023 --> 00:10:59,258
we'll now no doubt 
all be open

269
00:10:59,358 --> 00:11:01,727
to learning even more 
about North Carolina's

270
00:11:01,827 --> 00:11:05,498
far distant and endlessly 
fascinating past.

271
00:11:05,598 --> 00:11:08,601
You could be lucky enough 
to find a gem or two

272
00:11:08,701 --> 00:11:10,936
on your next visit 
to the area.

273
00:11:11,037 --> 00:11:12,972
And should you 
really luck out,

274
00:11:13,072 --> 00:11:15,808
you may even encounter 
this knowledgeable fellow,

275
00:11:15,908 --> 00:11:18,644
who can sum up 
the amazing geologic history

276
00:11:18,744 --> 00:11:22,148
of Spruce Pine 
in just one word.

277
00:11:22,248 --> 00:11:23,883
Awesome!