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Just north of Mexico in the Arizona desert, a crimson-hued pond is a reminder of past mining wealth and current pollution. Up to hundreds of yards long, with a service road jutting onto a promontory, it holds storm water that fell on mine tailings—crushed rock largely stripped of valuable metal. Oxidation causes the Technicolor effect. Phelps Dodge mined copper in Bisbee for decades, until profits dried up in the mid-1970s. Under state order, the company must improve contaminated groundwater caused by high sulfate levels in now flooded underground mines. It also hopes to restore the landscape to a normal tint by late 2010. —Chris Carroll
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Comments
Jun 23, 2009 5PM #
Wow,interesting picture.Red and rust
Jun 23, 2009 5PM #
What a great picture. Took me awhile to figure out exactly what I was looking at.
tj
Jun 23, 2009 5PM #
I agree took me a while to figure out what the picture was but it is quite interesting to see all the contamination.
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