Tiny Rugged Mountains

The choice of locations for the survey I was helping out with was based on geology. There wasn't time/money to survey the whole wilderness area so places with different rock types were chosen. This location was chosen for its carbonate (limestone/marble sorts of rock).

The rock there seems to wear away relatively easily. There were vertical channels worn into the face of the rock, presumably warn down over the years by water runoff. There were also deep narrow crevices here and there which made walking on the snow above it interesting - wondering if there might be a crevasse beneath your feet.

Much of the rock was quite smooth, but there were also many places where little jagged peaks would form, looking much like miniature mountain ranges. These were fun to see, but could be a little painful when climbing up the slope. I'm not sure why these mountains formed when the rock around them was so smooth. One theory I have is that there are mineral imperfections and the mountains are formed when a harder rock underlies the carbonate.

Pretty Rocks

This is also from my trip to the Washington cascades last summer. Up near the head of the valley there were a lot of rocks around with these reds and oranges. I assume that those colors are due to iron. I particularly like the white streaks through this rock, almost like lighting.



This rock reminds me of glaze. The part at the top of the picture was in the dirt. I am curious if it turns the glazed deeper red from the sun, if it is from polishing in the elements or something else.