Forensic Analysis: Decoding Quarry Landscapes
Tuning forgotten data into actionable intelligence through adaptive analysis
Kelleys Island, Lake Erie Archipelago, Ohio | 2023–2025
In the abandoned East Quarry on Kelleys Island in the Lake Erie Archipelago, century-old blast piles held more than debris, they held evidence of complex decisions. I used precision image analysis to extract size trends and spatial rhythms, revealing how early crews advanced through the site and where their choices left lasting marks in stone.
project brief
In the century‑old East Quarry, blast piles trace a path of industrial ambition and pause. My goal was to read that path: mapping, modeling, & decoding the hidden logic of extraction.
I surveyed twenty key sites along a transect on foot and by plane, and then applied precision image segmentation to isolate fragment fields and determine how size distribution in the piles related to pile locations across the boundary of the quarry.
From those fragments I built morphological layers, inferred machine routes, and constructed a structural timeline.
My process made legible the dynamic operational narratives that had gone unnoticed for nearly one hundred years by reading the subtle traces left behind in static piles of stone.
From Debris to Data: IMage Analysis
Each frame shown here captures a layer of computational analysis used to infer debris sorting, tool application, & sequencing in long-abandoned extraction zones (for complete image set, request the full report at the end of this page):
The East Quarry study generated a spatial intelligence model from detailed image analysis of blast debris. By measuring size distribution and identifying residual material patterns, I reconstructed sequences of quarrying activity and the embedded logic behind site operations. This work translated static remnants into operational narratives, revealing workflows, toolpaths, and extraction strategies encoded in the terrain itself. The result is a usable framework for analog field testing, ISRU scenario planning, and comparative analysis in overlooked or legacy sites. It demonstrates how repurposed commercial tools can surface actionable insight where standard analysis sees only abandonment.
Systems & Outcomes
Foresight from the edge
Extending the reach of COTS analytics to surface long-buried sequences of action.
I specialize in finding and solving the edge cases that commercial software typically overlooks, pulling extra value out of ready-made tools by uncovering new sources of data. At East Quarry, I took a tool meant for live production analytics and used it to decode century-old blast patterns, transforming leftover stone into a record of industrial behavior. This isn’t just data extraction; it’s system modeling in places no one’s looking. By adapting standard platforms to unconventional domains, I build predictive frameworks from the overlooked, turning forgotten debris into untapped datasets and uncovering strategic foresight from the margins of usability.
Dig deeper into the operational memory of East Quarry.
Request the full Decoding Quarry Workflows report, complete with raw data tables, segmentation protocols, composite visualizations, and interpretive commentary.
Whether you’re in agriculture, infrastructure, heritage, or planetary analogs, let’s define the hidden value in your edge cases.
