Bill Moose Run, Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio, USAi

Regional Level Types
Bill Moose Run	- not defined -
Columbus	- not defined -
Franklin County	County
Ohio	State
USA	Country

Bill Moose Ravine is one of a series of ravines that drain into the Olentangy River in the City of Columbus. All of these ravines cut into the Ohio Shale, found in the Devonian bedrock exposed in a strip in the center of Ohio, running from Adams/Scioto counties in the south, up through the heavily populated counties along the shore of Lake Erie.

Sources describing minerals in the Ohio Shale in the northern part of the state can be applied to the Ohio Shale in general: it is a similar geology. Thus a similar pattern of mineralized concretions (containing ferroan dolomite, calcite, quartz, baryte, and aragonite), pyrite disks, and mineral efflorescences (alunogen, botryogen, copiapite, epsomite, gypsum, hexahydrite, melanterite, ferroan pickeringite, and rozenite) can be found in central Ohio exposures of the Ohio shale. In addition, chert nodules weathered out of limestone can be found in the stream beds.

Bull Run Ravine runs about 3 miles from I-71, just north of the Morse Rd. exit, west to the Olentangy River. It is easily accessible at Delawanda Park (the lat/long below), in the woods behind the game fields. Moving east, the ravine runs behind the Graceland shopping center. The Run passes under High Street, through an apartment complex, and onto the grounds of the Ohio State School for the Blind and Ohio State School for the Deaf, then pnarrows near I-71.

Concretions occur in the exposed shale, and chunks of concretions can be found in the stream bed. A few monster concretions can be found in the woods in Delawanda Park. Efflorescences from the breakdown of pyrite in the Ohio Shale coat some of the exposed shale. Chert nodules are also common and some interesting glacial erratics can also be found in the stream such as unakite granite containing epidote, but the source of these rocks is probably in Canada.

This is an urban site, and much of the property is private. The exception is the mouth of Bill Moose Run in Delawanda Park, which is quite woodsy and undeveloped for such an urban site.

The Run is named after Bill Moose, known as the last of the Wyandot Indians who originally lived in central Ohio. After multiple displacements of his people westward, Bill Moose returned to the Columbus area, where he lived near the area where Bill Moose Run crosses Indanola Avenue.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References