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You are browsing the archive for October 2016 - Mountain Beltway.

29 October 2016

New digital media of Shenandoah National Park feeder dikes

In Shenandoah National Park, astride Virginia’s Blue Ridge, feeder dikes of Catoctin Formation (meta-)basalt cut across the Grenvillian-aged granitoid basement. Due to their mafic composition and columnar jointing, these feeder dikes generally weather more rapidly than their host rocks. I led a field trip in the park on Thursday for my son’s school, and my student Marissa was there the weekend prior, checking out the autumn leaves and geology with …

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28 October 2016

Friday fold: “the eye of Sauron” at Sibubule

Have a look at this week’s Friday fold – but be aware that it will be looking back!

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26 October 2016

Archean meteorite impact evidence from the Fig Tree Group in Barite Valley, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa

What does the sedimentary record of a giant meteorite impact look like? Turns out it is full of tsunami breccia, fine ash, hail-like spherules, and a barium-rich ocean’s crystal precipitates. Join us in the Barberton Greenstone Belt of South Africa to learn more.

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24 October 2016

GIGAmacro views of komatiite

Erik Klemetti posted today at Eruptions about komatiite, which is apropos, considering I just finished imaging some samples of that ultramafic volcanic rock. Have a look at three samples from Barberton Greenstone Belt here, each from the 3.27 Ga Weltevreden Formation: Link GigaPan by Callan Bentley Link GigaPan by Callan Bentley Link GigaPan by Callan Bentley And, while we’re at it, here’s one from the Red Lake Greenstone Belt (~3.0 …

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21 October 2016

Friday fold: a miniature ramp and flat

Sometimes you find big ideas in small places. Here, a South African chert boulder mimics in miniature fold and thrust belts the world over.

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19 October 2016

Oddball Icelandic rocks, part III: conglomerate

At the Volcano Museum in Stykkishólmur, I learned that Iceland has fossils. Specifically, they have a display of bivalve (clam) fossils there, and when I asked where to find them, I was directed to a point further east on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula. The next day, I set off to find them. Here was what I saw on a cliff high above me, at the spot nearest to where I thought …

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11 October 2016

A virtual field trip to Portrush, Northern Ireland

One of my favorite places in Northern Ireland is the east side of the peninsula that hosts the tourist town of Portrush. There, two early schools of geological thought engaged in a battle. The opposing sides were: the Neptunists, who thought all stratified rocks, and in particular basalt, must form from precipitation from the sea, and the Plutonists, who thought some rocks, including basalt, formed through intrusion of molten rock …

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10 October 2016

Oddball Icelandic rocks, part II: granite!?!?

Silly Iceland! Don’t you know you’re not a continent?

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7 October 2016

Friday folds: Dalradian schists at St. Ninian’s Isle

Remember St. Ninian’s Isle? It is connected to Mainland Shetland by a tombolo. But it has rocks there, too. Here are some outcrops on the beach: If you visit these schisty fins, you’ll find they are populated by a cavalcade of small folds. Some of the folds are crisp things known as kink bands: Annotated version: And finally, as a lagniappe, here’s a bit of boudinage. This quartz vein has …

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6 October 2016

Oddball Icelandic rocks, part I: A green ignimbrite

Iceland does basalt really, really well. But there are a few non-basaltic igneous rocks to be found there, too. One of them is a green ignimbrite (pyroclastic conglomerate) that crops out in coastal Berufjörður, eastern Iceland. Check it out!

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