Post by Admin on Apr 13, 2021 16:56:26 GMT -7
Metamorphic Sandstone in Utah
During the past billions of years a lot of sand has accumulated in Utah. Pressure is applied to sandstone when deeply buried and when continents Collide.
Heat and pressure does strange things to "normal" rocks. For instance along the coast of California where continents have crashed, shale has grown weird crystals of aluminum silicate we have named Andalusite - BUT there was a bunch of unwanted carbon in the way!
As the growing crystals kept shoving the unwanted carbon away an interesting pattern emerged. a cross that slowly changed to a square! We have named this variety CHIASTOLITE.
forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/post/1106009/thread
But sand does something different. The quartz crystals grow together and interspersed with them are mica crystals that makes the resulting QUARTZITE hard to polish in a tumbler. A few northern Utah quarries can be seen here:
www.northernstonesupply.com/quarries/
And finally a piece in my back yard.
