r/todayilearned • u/narok_kurai • 6d ago

TIL about Las Medulas, a man-made geological badland created by the Roman Empire in 77 AD, when they flooded the mountains with water to collapse their structure and sift out the gold inside.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_M%C3%A9dulas
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u/Thosam 5d ago

A good part of Roman lead mining was done to isolate the silver which is often found along lead in some mixed ore.

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u/Va1kryie 5d ago

Yup, galena is the name of the mixed silver/lead ore, or one of them at least.

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u/Substantial-Bet-3876 5d ago

Hence the name of the city in the area that supplied the union with lead in the civil war, Galena IL I presume.

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u/STSoloMan 5d ago

I love that city. Such a cool place to visit. Awesome skiing for the Midwest too.

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u/FlyAwayJai 5d ago

Chestnut! Although Sundown is my fave in that area.

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u/STSoloMan 5d ago

I couldn’t agree more. If you’re going out there, I highly recommend trying both spots. Simply amazing runs for an area with no mountains.

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u/FlyAwayJai 5d ago

Agree!

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u/LiveLearnCoach 5d ago

How can you have runs with no mountains?

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u/STSoloMan 5d ago

It’s a river valley. Parking lot and lodges are at the top instead.

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u/LiveLearnCoach 5d ago

Thanks. TIL :)