# Redwood County, Minnesota - Aggregate Resources Aggregate Pits and Prospects

This page last updated: 10/02/2022
Metadata created using Minnesota Geographic Metadata Guidelines

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1. Overview
2. Data Quality
3. Data Organization
4. Coordinate System
5. Attributes
6. Distribution - Get Data
7. Metadata Reference

## Section 1: Overview

Originator: Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Division of Lands and Minerals, Mineral Potential Evaluation Section
Title: Redwood County, Minnesota - Aggregate Resources Aggregate Pits and Prospects
Abstract: This dataset consists of location information, source information, and geological characteristics for 404 aggregate pits (322 Gravel Pits, 2 Sand Pits, 4 Clay Pits, 7 Dimension Stone Quarries, 4 Crushed Stone Quarries, 12 Quarries, 24 Borrow Pits, 1 Metallic Mine, and 28 sand and gravel Prospects) in Redwood County, MN. There are pits that are currently being mined or have been mined in the past. Several sources of information identify pit locations: topographic maps, aerial photographs, soil surveys, MnDOT (Aggregate Source Information System) ASIS files, fieldwork, interviews with gravel operators, and other miscellaneous sources. Pits range in size from less than 1 acre to greater than 50 acres and may be active, inactive, or reclaimed. The aggregate quality of the pit varies. Some gravel pits were observed in the field during the summer and fall of 2021. All gravel pits were re-evaluated using Farm Service Agency (FSA) 2008-2019 air photographs
Purpose: To display the current and historic mining pit (gravel, sand, clay, stone quarry, metallic, and borrow) locations within Redwood County, MN.
Time Period of Content Date: 10/02/2022
Currentness Reference: Source information in the pit shapefile was collected from the following: fieldwork, soil survey, topographic maps, aerial photographs, LiDAR and ASIS (Aggregate Source Information System). Pits were identified during fieldwork conducted in the summer and fall of 2021. Pit locations were digitized and edited in ArcGIS 10.6. either in real time while in the field or in the office. Pits from aerial photographs were identified from NAPP (National Aerial Photography Program), 1991-1992, Farm Service Agency (FSA) air photos from 2003-04, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2017, and 2019 . ASIS data points were acquired from the Minnesota Department of Transportation in March of 2017.
Progress: Complete
Maintenance and Update Frequency: None Planned
Spatial Extent of Data: Redwood County, Minnesota
Bounding Coordinates: -95.62
-94.86
44.71
44.19
Place Keywords:
Theme Keywords:
Theme Keyword Thesaurus: Gravel pit, Sand pit, Clay pit, Quarry, Metallic mine, Aggregate Source Information System (ASIS)
Access Constraints:
Use Constraints: Acknowledgement of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is appreciated for products derived from these data.
Contact Person Information: ,
,
Phone:
Email:
Browse Graphic: None available
Associated Data Sets:

## Section 2: Data Quality

Attribute Accuracy:
Logical Consistency:
Completeness: Described in the lineage section
Horizontal Positional Accuracy: These points were captured from several different sources, including USGS 1:24000 quadrangles, 1:12000 USGS DOQs (from 1991), Farm Service Agency (FSA) color air photos (from 2003-04, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2017, and 2019), Natural Resource Conservation Service Soil Survey point data, and the ASIS (Aggregate Source Information System) dataset from the Minnesota Department of Transportation. Points captured in the field were assisted with a GPS (+/- 2 Meters), Tablet, and ArcGIS 10.6.
Vertical Positional Accuracy: Not applicable.
Lineage: These points were captured from several different sources in the summer and fall of 2021, including USGS 1:24000 quadrangles, 1:12000 USGS DOQs (from 1991), Farm Service Agency (FSA) color air photos (from 2003-04, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2017, and 2019), Natural Resource Conservation Service Soil Survey point data, and the ASIS (Aggregate Source Information System) dataset from the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The pits captured were edited in the field during the summer and fall of 2021 with a GPS (+/- 2 Meters), tablet, and ArcGIS 10.6.

## Section 3: Spatial Data Organization (not used in this metadata)

## Section 4: Coordinate System

Horizontal Coordinate Scheme: Universal Transverse Mercator
UTM Zone Number: 15
Horizontal Datum: NAD83
Horizontal Units: meters
Vertical Datum:
Vertical Units:
Depth Datum:
Depth Units:

## Section 5: Attributes

Overview: This dataset consists of field observation unique id, type of site, type of geologic material, description of the observation, unit thickness, and overburden thickness.
Detailed Citation:
Table Detail:

pits_redwood
Field Name | Valid Values | Definition | Definition Source
--- | --- | --- | ---
PIT_Q_ID | - | Aggregate pit unique ID |
thickness | - | The thickness of the deposit expressed in combination with a modifier. Not Available (NA) indicates that the measurement does not apply or was not observed. |
Watertable | - | The depth of the water table expressed in combination with a modifier. Not Available indicates that the measurement does not apply or was not observed. |
Wattabmod | - | Modifiers to express numeric approximations for the depth to the water table: ~ approximate; - to, as in 10-20; + greater than |
Wattabval | - | Describes the depth to the water table within a pit or quarry. If 20 feet of gravel was exposed and there was no water table encountered, then >20 were used. (-999 is a null value) |
Status_1 | enumerated | Refers to the status of the pit at the time of mapping. |
| Active | Active indicates that the pit is either being actively mined or used for other mining related usage like stockpiling material. |
| Inactive | Refers to a pit that was not immediately active when documented or may appear to have been inactive for some time. |
| Prospect | Site that has been prospected, leased, or assigned an ASIS number by MnDOT. This designation does not imply the site has produced aggregate or is currently producing aggregate. The site may have been leased by MnDOT. |
| Reclaimed | The pit has been passively or actively reclaimed. Status_2 further describes the type of reclamation. |
Status_2 | enumerated | Associated with the field Status_1. This field further explains the condition of a partially or fully reclaimed gravel pit. The status could be a combination of more than one use. |
| Active | Specifies that pit is an active aggregate producing pit. |
| Agriculture | Pit has been reclaimed into an agricultural use. |
| Inactive | Pit is not presently active at time of assessment. |
| Industrial | Pit has been reclaimed into a refinery, substation, highway or other industrial application. |
| Naturally Vegetated | Pit has been partially or entirely passively reclaimed and naturally vegetated. |
| Naturally Vegetated- Grass | Pit has been partially or entirely passively reclaimed and naturally vegetated with grass. |
| Naturally Vegetated- Trees | Pit has been partially or entirely passively reclaimed and naturally vegetated with trees. |
| Partially Vegetated | Sections of the pit have been passively or actively vegetated. |
| Partially Vegetated- Grass | Sections of the pit have been passively or actively vegetated with grass. |
| Partially Vegetated- Trees |  |
| Pond | Mining was likely below the water table and created a pond. |
| Recreation Area |  |
| Residential | Pit has been reclaimed into residential development. |
| Sloped and Vegetated |  |
| Vegetated | Pit has been partially or entirely actively reclaimed and vegetated |
| Vegetated- Grass |  |
| Vegetated- Trees | Pit has been partially or entirely actively reclaimed and vegetated with trees |
| Wetland | Part of the pit is covered by a wetland. |
Dom_litho | enumerated | Dominant lithology of the pit. |
| Des Moines | Sand and gravel associated with a glacier called the Des Moines Lobe. These sands and gravels contain deleterious rocks (like shale, iron oxides, and soft limestones) that can degrade the quality of the deposit. |
| Granite | An intrusive, felsic igneous rock that has medium to coarse crystalline texture. Includes granite, quartz monzonite, and granodiorite based on Minnesota Geological Survey bedrock descriptions. Referred to as “Sacred Heart Granite”. |
| Granite/Gneiss | A coarse-grained crystalline and metamorphic rock. Includes foliated, biotite tonalitic to granodioritic gneiss based on Minnesota Geological Survey bedrock descriptions. Referred to as “Morton Gneiss”. |
Dom_text | enumerated | The dominant texture of the pit. |
| N/A | The texture of the pit was undetermined due to lack of access or exposure. In some cases, proximal geologic evidence was used to make a textural determination. |
| Sand | Indicates the deposit is composed of mostly sand and has a fine texture. |
| Sand minor Gravel | Indicates the deposit overall has more sand than gravel (~5-15%) by percent weight and has an overall fine texture. |
| Sand with Gravel | Indicates the deposit overall has more sand than gravel (~15-35%) by percent weight and has an overall fine texture. |
| Sand and Gravel | Indicates the deposit has approximately equal or slightly more sand than gravel (~35-50%) by percent weight. |
| Fine Sand | Rocks and minerals that range in diameter of 0.0625 to 0.25 mm. |
| Gravel with Sand | Sediment that contains a mixture of rocks in varying sizes ranging from 0.0625 to 64 mm. This description is given to sediment that contains an approximate estimate of gravel between 65-85% by volume. |
| Silty Sand and Gravel | Sand and gravel that contain a portion of silt. |
| Silty Sand | Sand that contains some silt. |
| Silt |  |
| Till | A term used to describe the unsorted sediment deposited by glaciers- contains a mixture of clay, silt, sand, gravel and boulders. |
| Bedrock | General term to describe consolidated rock underneath the surface. Bedrock outcrop is where the bedrock can be seen above the surface. |
| Clay | Very fine-grained sediment that is less than 0.004 mm in size. |
| Cobbles |  |
Comments | - | Geologist comments related to the pit. |
PIT_Q_ID | - | Aggregate pit unique ID |
Source | enumerated | Construction aggregate pit data source compiled from or observed (ex: topographic map- found on the topographic map). Where multiple records existed for a single gravel pit, data points were removed based on a constructed hierarchy of source information. The following sources of information are listed according to rank. |
| MNDOT ASIS | Minnesota Department of Transportation database called Aggregate Source Information Systems (ASIS). If the location didn't intersect a gravel pit, the locations were interpreted off of existing gravel pit sheets to relocate the mines as specified on the sheet. This was ranked highest because of associated quality and texture data. Some locations were modified to better correlate to present gravel pit boundaries and on top of USGS 7.5 Minute Topographic Map symbols. |
| Field Work | These pits were located while in the field. These pits were ranked second highest due to the fact they were directly observed for quality, texture, and spatial accuracy. |
| Topographic Map | These gravel pits are located from USGS 7.5 minute quadrangles. This was ranked third highest because of the widespread use of the maps. Where field checked, some of these pit types were changed from gravel to borrow or sand pits to reflect the material excavated. |
| Soil Survey | Gravel pits were identified using SSURGO (Soil Survey Geographic Database), a database produced by the Natural Resources Conservation Service. |
| LiDAR | Gravel pits were located and some attributes were interpreted with LiDAR. These pits were ranked second to last because they were remotely interpreted. |
| Air Photo | Gravel pits were located and some attributes were interpreted with air photography. These pits were ranked last because they were remotely interpreted. |
| MGS | These pits were identified using maps and/or databases compiled by the Minnesota Geological Survey. |
Type | enumerated | The type of pit observed |
| Borrow Pit | Contains other unconsolidated sediment like clay, silt, or clay with boulders and does not contain significant amounts of sand and/or gravel. Includes sites that have been or are currently being mined. |
| Gravel Pit | Includes sites that have been or are currently being mined for varying percentages of sand and gravel. |
| Prospect | Site that has been prospected, leased, or assigned an ASIS number by Mn/DOT. This designation does not imply the site has produced aggregate or is currently producing aggregate. The site may have been leased by Mn/DOT. Sites with this designation include ASIS status classifications: P, O, C, and I. |
| Sand Pit | A pit that contains significant amounts of sand with little to no gravel. Includes sites that have been or are currently being mined. |
| Quarry | Includes sites that were or are currently being mined for bedrock. Either as crushed or dimension stone. |
| Dimension Stone Quarry | Includes sites that were or are currently mining bedrock for dimension stone. |
| Crushed Stone Quarry | Includes sites that were or are currently crushing bedrock to be used as aggregate. |
Fieldcheck | enumerated | Explains how pits were investigated. The following sources of information are listed according to rank. |
| Observed on Site | Observations were taken on site. |
| Observed from Road | Observations were taken from the road due to limited access and/or no permission was given to enter the site. |
| Observed with Air Photo | Observations were taken from air photos and/or LiDAR due to limited access and/or pit may have been fully reclaimed. |
ASIS number | - | Aggregate Source Information System Number (MN/DOT Database). An empty field means that it does not have an ASIS number. |
Size | enumerated | Refers to the relative size of the pit. |
| Very Small <1 ac | Very small pits are less than 1 acre in size. These are typically used as borrow pits by private owners of for small jobs. |
| Small 1 to <5 ac | Small pits are between 1 and 5 acres. These pits are usually used by private landowners or for small jobs. |
| Medium 5 to 15 ac | Between 5 and 15 acres in size. These pits are used by landowners and for small construction jobs. They are generally used for short periods of time by contractors. |
| Large >15 ac | These pits are generally greater than 15 acres and are typically used by commercial aggregate operators. |
new_attribute | - |  |
new_attribute | - |  |
thick_val | - | Gives the minimum value for thickness. (-999 is a null value) |
overburden | - | Expresses overburden thickness by possibly using one or both the modifier and value. Not Available (NA) indicates that the measurement does not apply or was not observed. |
ob_mod | - | Modifiers to express numeric approximations observed for deposit thickness: > greater than; < less than |
ob_val | - | Gives the value for overburden thickness. (-999 is a null value). |

## Section 6: Distribution

Publisher: Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR)
Publication Date: 10/04/2022
Contact Person Information: ,
,
Phone:
Email:
Distributor's Data Set Identifier: Redwood County Aggregate Resources, Sand & Gravel and Crushed Stone Potential
Distribution Liability: The State of Minnesota makes no representations or warranties express or implied, with respect to the use of the information contained herein regardless of its format or the means of its transmission. There is no guarantee or representation to the user as to the accuracy, currency, suitability, completeness, usefulness, or reliability of this information for any purpose. The user accepts the information “as is." The State of Minnesota assumes no responsibility for loss or damage incurred as a result of any user’s reliance on this information. All maps, reports, data, and other information contained herein are protected by copyright. Permission is granted to copy and use the materials herein for any lawful noncommercial purpose. Any user of this information agrees not to transmit or provide access to all or any part of this information to another party unless the user shall include with the information a copy of this disclaimer.
Ordering Instructions: Redwood County’s aggregate resource spatial datasets (shapefiles & file geodatabase) are included in the file redwooddata.zip, accessible from the MN DNR Aggregate Mapping web page: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/lands_minerals/aggregate_maps/completed/index.html
The spatial datasets include sand and gravel resource potential, geologic field observations, aggregate pits, Minnesota Geological Survey (MGS) County Well Index (CWI) data points, MnDOT Aggregate Source Information System (ASIS) points, and MnDOT ASIS pit quality table.
Online Linkage: I AGREE to the notice in "Distribution Liability" above. Clicking to agree will either begin the download process, link to a service, or provide more instructions. See "Ordering Instructions" above for details.

## Section 7: Metadata Reference

Metadata Date: 10/02/2022
Contact Person Information: ,
,
Phone:
Email:
Metadata Standard Name: Minnesota Geographic Metadata Guidelines
Metadata Standard Version: 1.2
Metadata Standard Online Linkage: http://www.mngeo.state.mn.us/committee/standards/mgmg/metadata.htm

This page last updated: 10/02/2022
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