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21 April 2010
Blobiform
Whilst poking about Sunday on the fine exposures along West Virginia’s new route 55, my structural geology students and I noticed some joint surfaces decorated with pyrolusite dendrites. But I also found a nice slab which had one surface covered with a thicker coat of manganese oxide, and here the habit was botryoidal, like little bunches of grapes. A few photos for you: Because I don’t care as much for …
More mud
Remember the mud I saw on Pimmit Run? Turns out that West Virginia mud pulls many of the same tricks as Virginia mud. Here’s some mud cracks I noticed on Sunday afternoon on the shoulder of New Route 55 in eastern West Virginia: Notice how West Virginia spices her mudcracks with chunks of Silurian quartzite and fresh crabgrass. A tasty combination!
Callan Bentley is Associate Professor of Geology at Piedmont Virginia Community College in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America. For his work on this blog, the National Association of Geoscience Teachers recognized him with the James Shea Award. He has also won the Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council on Higher Education in Virginia, and the Biggs Award for Excellence in Geoscience Teaching from the Geoscience Education Division of the Geological Society of America. In previous years, Callan served as a contributing editor at EARTH magazine, President of the Geological Society of Washington and President the Geo2YC division of NAGT.