Document Type
Poster
Publication Date
4-17-2019
Abstract
From the mid 1800s to the early 1900s there was an iron smelting industry in Standish, New York. During this time, a large amount of slag, a byproduct of smelting, was created. The slag is now found in a large, 60 ft tall pile that covers ~1 acre of land in the Adirondacks. The pile is left out in the open and is subject to both physical and chemical weathering. Within the Standish pile there is a wide variety of slag types that range from glassy to powdery. Our study focuses on how the different slag types weather. Samples of glassy, rocky, and chalky/powdery slag were placed outside for eight weeks. Rainwater that interacted with each slag sample was collected periodically over the testing time. After 8 weeks, samples were weighed to determine if material was lost due to weathering. The glassy and chalky slags lost the most weight. The weathering of slag is important in Standish because it has a chemical effect on both the water and soil in the surrounding area. Further chemical data was obtained from our water samples which should indicate the impact the slag weathering has on the local environment.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Kelk, Rachel; Leonard, Maria; and Farthing, Dori J., "Slag Alteration Study, Standish NY" (2019). Papers, Posters, and Recordings. 33.
https://knightscholar.geneseo.edu/great-day-works/33