Don Valley Brick Works: November 2010

WELCOME TO THE DON VALLEY BRICKWORKS

Welcome to Don Valley Brick Works! Start your adventurous journey now!

Original Open-pit mine (http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl)

Brief Introduction:
The Don Valley Brickwork is a former open-pit-mining site located in the Don River Valley in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was first established by the Taylor Brothers in 1889. The brothers created the brick works because the city at that time needed a large amount of bricks to build extravagant houses, especially after a big fire in Toronto in 1904. Many of the significant landmarks in Toronto were made of the bricks from the Don Valley Brick Works, such as Casa Loma and Massey Hall. Now, the brick works have been long abandoned and reclaimed by the evergreen environment organization. The site has been reclaimed to a small garden with animals such as frogs and fish now. It is a beautiful site to visit in the spring.

Video from Youtube(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLzgr_JcFcA&feature=channel)

North side after reclamation(picture taken by BC)

The west side reclamation(Picture taken by BC)

picture of the west side (By BC)

Part D: Reclamation

The effects of the former Brickwork

Positive Effect

1. It was beneficial for the economical development of Toronto. The brick works created jobs, made many people rich and live a good life.

2. It helped to build many houses. As described in the Home page. Many famous landmarks in Toronto were made of the bricks from the Don Valley Brickwork.

Negative Effect

1. Environmental Pollution
Digging minerals in the Don Valley pollutes the environment. The Don Valley used to be a plain area with natural habitat. When the mining company stepped in the area, all things changed. Not only the water was contaminated, but also the air around the area was polluted. The beautiful site was changed into a dirty open pit mining site.
2. Disturbance of the residences' peaceful lives.
Since the quarry polluted the environment in the area, the people live there was affected as well. The noise, the air pollution and the water contamination all made a very bad impacts on the residences' lives.

Reclamation Project

1. Flood Control and Wetland(No.1 in picture)

   Description: As shown in picture 1 and 2, there is a mud creek dam that blocks the Don Valley River from going southward, it directs the water to the east side. It helps to prevent the flood of the Don Valley river because it carried the water to the lake in the Don Valley. Valley is a good place to store water because the water is hard to flow out from the valley.
    Impacts and benefits: (1)Prevent flood from happening.
                                               (2)Create a beautiful lake in the Don Valley Brick Works.


Picture 1(Hint:Black curve is Dam)

(http://www.lostrivers.ca/brickworkspark.gif&imgrefurl)

Picture 2 Creek Mud Dam(By BC)

2.The Weston Wildflower Meadow

Description: As shown in picture 3,4,5, and 6, there are a mixture of grass and planting flowers such as black-eyed Susan, Bergamot, Evening Primrose, Aster and Goldenrod growing in the meadow area. The meadow consists of many herbaceous plants and cool season grasses in the north side of the Don Valley Park. They were all planted for the purpose of reclamation after the brickwork was abandoned.

    Impacts and benefits: (1). Create a attractive scene in the park.
                                        (2). Purify the air in the polluted area.
                                        (3). Create a nature habitat for animals.

Picture 3. Grass and Trees (By BC)

Picture 4. Flowers(By BC)

Picture 5. Trees(By BC)

Picture 6. River, Trees, Flowers(By BC)

Picture 7, (By BC)

3. The Existing Deciduous Woodland Slopes
     Description: As shown in picture 8, the woodland slopes formed the back of the park. The slope of the valley is dominated by deciduous forest. Most of the trees in the forest are Red Oak with Sugar Maple and Ash.
   Significance: (1)The forest helps to make a temperate climate condition in the Don Valley.
                             (2)It is a important element of the beauty of the park.
                             (3)It creates a good habitat for many animals such as birds.

Picture 8(By BC)

Video taken from(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnLJ6ItBNYk&feature=BF&list=PLAA910E53AD01AB23&index=7)

Video taken from (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu15LwdxbrA&feature=watch_response)

Part C: The Quarry and Brick Making

Part C:The Quarry and the Brick Making Process

(http://www.lostrivers.ca/points/BrickWorksquarry.jpg&imgrefurl)

1. East Side of the Don Valley(By BC)

                        2. The capture of the whole brickwork (Designed By BC, Picture taken from Mr.P)

1. The mining place of the Don Valley Brickwork.
       As shown in figure 1 and 2, the North and South slope of the Don Valley has not been artificially changed since it was first formed. The area in the circle used to be at the same height as the top of the north and east slope. Change comes after the establishment of the open-pit mine. After the mine was founded, the miners began to extract and dig the area in order to get the mine they want.

                                                                                                     2. The use of open-pit mining


Example Open pit mining (http://www.bisbeeturquoise.com/Images/BisbeeLavenderPit.jpg&imgrefurl)

Open-pit mining is a cut or excavation made at the surface of the ground for the purpose of extracting ore and which is open to the surface for the duration of the mine's life. The Don Valley Brick Works is a typical open-pit mining site. When the Taylor Brothers first founded the site, they found out that the minerals lied close to the surface, but reach deep to the underground. So, the best way to extract minerals and save money is to use open-pit mining. Underground mining compared to open-pit mining, not only waste money, but also failed to extract minerals since the miners can only extract the minerals buried deep inside the earth.

Example Open Pit Mining Cross Section.

(http://www.mbmg.mtech.edu/graphics/env-berkeley-cross07.gif&imgrefurl)

Cross Section(From Mr.P)

Part B: The Rock

Part B The Rock

Large amount of shale deposit(by BC)

1. Clay (http://www.traditionaloven.com
/articles/wp-content/
uploads/2008/06/fire_clay_in
_bag.jpg&imgrefurl)

2. Shale with Fossil Evidence(by BC)

3. Shale(by BC)

    1.The Differences between clay and shale.
          There are many kinds of rocks in the Don Valley Brick works. Shale is the most typical rock that can be found in the area. Shale is a fine grained sedimentary rock mainly made of clay, and some quartz sand, pyrite and gypsum. It is a hard rock. On the other hand, clay is a putty like substance composed of extremely small particles. It is not even a rock because it is composed of only one particle. For anything to be a rock, it has to be composed of more than one mineral.

2. The characteristics of shale and the way to identify it.
       Shale is a sedimentary rock. It can be gray, black, brown, dark green, blue or even red. It is fine-grained. When it gets wet, shale usually smells like wet mud. There are two steps to identify and classify shale. First, it is composed of fragments of pre-existing clay. In other words, it is capable of being taken apart or return to its initial shape which proved that it is a sedimentary rock. Second, when being cut, the fragments are thin layers(clay).

                                                                                               3. The process of the forming of the shale.

4. Shale with a lot of fossil evidences(By BC)

Shale is made up from the cementing of the clay which is typically a weathered feldspar coming from the granite. The clay was settled under water, being compacted and cementing into shale. Clay sediments settled in the Don Valley River which was just above the Brick Works long ago. When buried and compacted under the water, the clay cementing into the shale. Around 12,500 years ago, the glacier melted and withdrew to the north. So, it left a large amount of shale exposed to the air like what it is like today.

5. Lots of fossil evidences(By BC

4. The reasons of the presence of the large deposit of clay and shale in the Don Valley Brick Works.
Thousands of years ago, the ice age left a glacier river at the area surrounding the Don Valley. The Don Valley was the mouth of the glacier river. Because the shale and clay can only be found near the river, bay or beaches or other decomposed area. As a result, the river is a great source of producing shale.

6. Shale with some fossil evidences. Hint: the black dot is a fossil(By BC)


		7. The Area to find shale(By Mr.P)

5. The area to find shale

This picture shows that shale normally settles in slow moving water. It can also be found in depositional area such as lake, lagoonal deposits, river deltas, floodplain and offshore from beach sands.