View allAll Photos Tagged quartzite
Therme Vals, Peter Zumthor's masterpiece in Vals, Switzerland, is made from local quartzite stone and bermed into the slope beneath a hotel that it is connected to.
This is a photo taken in the center of Vals, where a bridge also made of quartzite crosses a river. Bridge by Conzett, Bronzini, Gartmann with conceptual assistance by Peter Zumthor.
MUST BE VIEWED IN STEREO TO FULLY APPRECIATE!
A 3D (stereo) crosseye view.
TO SEE THIS IN 3D, there's a tutorial here:
Errigal (An Earagail) is the most southern, steepest and highest of the mountain chain, called the "Seven Sisters". The Seven Sisters includes Muckish, Crocknalaragagh, Aghla Beg, Ardloughnabrackbaddy, Aghla More, Mackoght and Errigal. The nearest peak is Mackoght Irish and meaning "son of the mountain breast", is also known as Little Errigal or Wee Errigal.
Errigal is known for the pinkish glow of its quartzite in the setting sun.Another noted quality is the ever changing shape of the mountain depending on what direction you view it from.
The legend of Errigal states it has been named by the Fir Bolg who, originating in Greece, came to worship Errigal as they had Mount Olympus. The name comes from the Latin orare (to pray) and the Greek ekklesia (church). Scholars consider it one of the oldest placenames in Ireland. A more prosaic origin for the name is from the Old Irish airecal, meaning "oratory". There is no remains of an oratory on the mountain, so it may refer to the mountain as a whole as a place of prayer.
Therme Vals, Peter Zumthor's masterpiece in Vals, Switzerland, is made from local quartzite stone and bermed into the slope beneath a hotel that it is connected to.
Quartzite.
Karnak, Temple of Amun.
New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty, Reign of Ramesses II (1304 - 1237 BCE).
As the steward of Amun, Hapy served in Ramesses II's court. He had this scibal figure placed in the Temple of Amun, and dedicated it to deities Amun-Re, his consort, Mut, and the deified Ahmose Nefertari.
Therme Vals, Peter Zumthor's masterpiece in Vals, Switzerland, is made from local quartzite stone and bermed into the slope beneath a hotel that it is connected to.
Therme Vals, Peter Zumthor's masterpiece in Vals, Switzerland, is made from local quartzite stone and bermed into the slope beneath a hotel that it is connected to.
■ Arquitectura Negra's (Black Architecture's) rural stone house at Campillo de Ranas, a small village in Guadalajara (Castile-La Mancha, Spain) near mount Ocejon. It was built using mainly slate and assorted quartzites.
Taken handheld with my Panasonic Lumix TZ7 (ZS3) in available light in the afternoon ( 25 mm, F4.5, 1/400 sec., ISO 80, EV -2/3 ).
■ Casa rural de piedra de estilo Arquitectura Negra en Campillo de Ranas, un pequeño pueblo de Guadalajara al pie del monte Ocejon. Fue construida utilizando principalmente pizarra y cuarcitas diversas.
Tomada a pulso con una Panasonic Lumix TZ7 (ZS3) en luz ambiente al atardecer ( 25 mm, F4.5, 1/400 sec., ISO 80, EV -2/3 ).
Variegated Indiana LIMESTONE Rubble with some South Bay QUARTZITE highlights (the ones with the hint of rust), and Mountainview QUARTZITE (the silver-grey highlight in the centre of the picture). Also, 2 1/4 " Indiana Limestone sill (at the top of the picture) and keystone (at the bottom of the picture)
Therme Vals, Peter Zumthor's masterpiece in Vals, Switzerland, is made from local quartzite stone and bermed into the slope beneath a hotel that it is connected to.
Therme Vals, Peter Zumthor's masterpiece in Vals, Switzerland, is made from local quartzite stone and bermed into the slope beneath a hotel that it is connected to.
Tennessee Quartzite Rubble Veneer Stone from Crab Orchard District (Since 1931)
Schubert Motel AAA, Wartburg, Tenn. U.S. 27
Produced by Tennessee Stone
(See our catalog in Sweet's)
New York Distributors:
Colonna and Company, Inc.
Long Island City, New York
Thompson's, Knoxville, Tenn.
Dextone
59367
CAPA-027133
Therme Vals, Peter Zumthor's masterpiece in Vals, Switzerland, is made from local quartzite stone and bermed into the slope beneath a hotel that it is connected to.
Forlorn but still standing, an old gas station in Quartzite, Arizona. This place looked as if it was converted for a while to auto repair. It stands on the main street in Quartzite not far from the Pilot car and truck center, and right next door to an early post office for Quartzite called "The Camel Stop".
Therme Vals, Peter Zumthor's masterpiece in Vals, Switzerland, is made from local quartzite stone and bermed into the slope beneath a hotel that it is connected to.
Quartzite.
Thebes, Funerary Temple of Ay and Horemheb.
New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, Reigns of Tutankhamun, Ay, and Horemheb (1355 - 1315 BCE).
One of a pair, this colossal figure with features of a young man may have stood in Tutankhamun's mortuary temple. After his early death, Ay appropriated the statue and carved his name on the front belt. Horemheb, in turn, took it over for his use and reinscribed the belt with his name. The large amount of surviving paint provides a hint of its original vivid colors.
Offering Scenes of King Sobekhotep III
Quartzite
Second Intermediate Period, Dynasty XIII, reign of Sobekhotep III (circa 1744-1741 B.C.)
From Sheel, an island near Elephantine Island an Aswan
77,19a-c, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
Sobekhotep III offers vessels to the goddesses Satis (left) and Anukis (right) in eliefs that probably formed part of a naos, or a shrine for a cult image. These scenes represent a basic element of Egyptian temple decoation: the king, who theoretically conducts the cult in every temple every day, offers to deities, who in turn, bless him and--through him--Egypt. Both goddesses tender three "life" hieroglyphs (ankh) to the king, their number indicating plurality and the idea of "all." In order to suggest a timeless and universal religious truth, these scens do not indicate a specific time or setting. Some such scenes may also have been magically empowered to act as that which they represented.
These back-to-back scenes seem symmetrical, but deviations from symmetry are noticeable in the inscriptions, the goddesses' crowsn, and the king's faces. If the Egyptians abhorred the chaotic and the random, they also disliked mechanical rigidity. Ma'at is the concept of order or equilibrium with some flexibility. Most Egyptian art is well balanced rather than truly symmetrical.
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The Brooklyn Museum, sitting at the border of Prospect Heights and Crown Heights near Prospect Park, is the second largest art museum in New York City. Opened in 1897 under the leadership of Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences president John B. Woodward, the 560,000-square foot, Beaux-Arts building houses a permanent collection including more than one-and-a-half million objects, from ancient Egyptian masterpieces to contemporary art.
The Brooklyn Museum was designated a landmark by the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1966.
National Historic Register #770009
■ Arquitectura Negra's (Black Architecture's) rural stone house at Majaelrayo, a small village in Guadalajara (Castile-La Mancha, Spain) near mount Ocejon. It was built using mainly slate and assorted quartzites.
Taken handheld with my Panasonic Lumix TZ7 (ZS3) in scarce available light in the afternoon under a clouded sky ( 37 mm, F4, 1/125 sec., ISO 80, EV -2/3 ).
■ Casa rural de piedra de estilo Arquitectura Negra en Majaelrayo, un pequeño pueblo de Guadalajara al pie del monte Ocejon. Fue construida utilizando principalmente pizarra y cuarcitas diversas.
Tomada a pulso con una Panasonic Lumix TZ7 (ZS3) en escasa luz ambiente al atardecer bajo un cielo nuboso ( 37 mm, F4, 1/125 seg., ISO 80, EV -2/3 ).
Quartzite.
Thebes, Funerary Temple of Ay and Horemheb.
New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, Reigns of Tutankhamun, Ay, and Horemheb (1355 - 1315 BCE).
One of a pair, this colossal figure with features of a young man may have stood in Tutankhamun's mortuary temple. After his early death, Ay appropriated the statue and carved his name on the front belt. Horemheb, in turn, took it over for his use and reinscribed the belt with his name. The large amount of surviving paint provides a hint of its original vivid colors.
Quartzite from the Cambrian of Virginia, USA.
Metamorphic rocks result from intense alteration of any previously existing rocks by heat and/or pressure and/or chemical change. This can happen as a result of regional metamorphism (large-scale tectonic events, such as continental collision or subduction), burial metamorphism (super-deep burial), contact metamorphism (by the heat & chemicals from nearby magma or lava), hydrothermal metamorphism (by superheated groundwater), shear metamorphism (in or near a fault zone), or shock metamorphism (by an impact event). Other categories include thermal metamorphism, kinetic metamorphism, and nuclear metamorphism. Many metamorphic rocks have a foliated texture, but some are crystalline or glassy.
Quartzite is a common, crystalline-textured, intermediate- to high-grade metamorphic rock. It forms by metamorphism of quartzose sandstones or siltstones. Quartzite is composed of interlocking quartz crystals, but the original sand grains may still be visible. This rock is hard (H = 7), will not bubble in acid (unlike marble), and can be almost any color.
The term “quartzite” has been used in geology to refer to crystalline, quartzose metamorphic rocks and also to hard, well-cemented quartzose sandstones that have not been subjected to metamorphism. It is difficult to not call hard, well-cemented sandstones “quartzite” (for example, the Clinch Quartzite in the Appalachian Mountains & the Eureka Quartzite of the Great Basin in western USA). But the Clinch and Eureka aren’t metamorphic rocks. The term "metaquartzite" has been used by some geologists to refer to crystalline-textured, quartzose rocks that have been metamorphosed. This implies that “quartzite” be restricted to well-cemented, non-metamorphosed sandstones. I don’t often see the term metaquartzite used in the geologic literature.
Stratigraphy: Harpers Formation, Montezuman Stage, Lower Cambrian
Locality: outcrop in or near Verona, Virginia, USA
Therme Vals, Peter Zumthor's masterpiece in Vals, Switzerland, is made from local quartzite stone and bermed into the slope beneath a hotel that it is connected to.
This is a photo taken in the center of Vals, where a bridge also made of quartzite crosses a river.
Reigned 2029-1982 BCE.
Sumerian (Ur III period)--or modern? (See doubts here)
Quartzite with mica and chlorite.
Anonymous loan from a private collection, apparently overseas (pdf).
On display at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, USA: Anonymous Loan 5.2015.
The BLM approved the Desert Quartzite Solar Project in eastern Riverside County. The Record of Decision authorizes Desert Quartzite, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of First Solar, to construct, operate, maintain and decommission a 450-megawatt solar photovoltaic project on approximately 3,000 acres of public lands. Photo by the BLM.
Quartzite & jasper-quartz pebble conglomerate in the Precambrian of Ontario, Canada.
Southeastern Canada's ~2.3 billion year old Lorrain Formation includes some beautiful rocks that rockhounds have nicknamed "puddingstone". This refers to whitish-gray quartzites having common pebbles of red jasper.
The Lorrain Formation is somewhat heterolithic. Published studies mention that the unit has arkoses, subarkoses, quartzites, and jasper-pebble conglomerates. The latter two lithologies are present at the glacially-eroded outcrop seen here. The quartzites were originally sandstones. They have been well cemented and somewhat metamorphosed into very hard rocks. The jasper-pebble conglomerates, or "puddingstones", include clasts of white quartz and reddish jaspilites. Pebble shapes range from rounded to angular. Ordinarily, a sedimentary rock having rounded pebbles is called "conglomerate", and a rock having angular pebbles is called "breccia". This material has both shape categories, but is referred to as "conglomerate" here.
Jaspilite is a type of BIF (banded iron formation). BIFs only formed on Earth during the Precambrian - most are Paleoproterozoic in age. They are the # 1 source of iron ore for the world's steel industry. Numerous specific types of BIFs are known. Jaspilite consists of alternating laters of red and silvery-gray, iron-rich minerals. The red layers are hematite or jasper (= hematitic chert). The silver-gray layers are usually rich in magnetite and/or specular hematite. Jaspilite BIFs outcrop in many areas around Lake Superior, for example in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Minnesota, and Ontario.
During the Paleoproterozoic, BIFs were subaerially exposed as paleo-outcrops and eroded, producing BIF sediments, including many red jasper pebbles. These mixed with quartz-rich sediments.
Regional studies indicate that the Lorrain Formation was deposited in ancient shallow ocean, lake, delta, and shoreline environments.
Stratigraphy: Lorrain Formation, upper Cobalt Group, Huronian Supergroup, Paleoproterozoic, ~2.3 Ga
Locality: Ottertail Lake Northeast Roadcut - glacial knob on the eastern side of Rt. 638, northeast of Ottertail Lake & southeast of Rock Lake, north-northeast of the town of Bruce Mines, southern Ontario, southeastern Canada (46° 23' 30.59" North latitude, 83° 43’ 10.94" West longitude)
------------------------------
Some info. synthesized from:
Hadley (1970) - Paleocurrents and origin of Huronian Lorrain Formation, Ontario and Quebec. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 54: 850.
This red quartzite sarcophagus is decorated with figures of four goddesses, Isis, Nephthys, Neith, and Selket, carved in high relief on the corners, with their wings outspread to protect the body of the Pharaoh King Tut. Inside, three gold anthropoid coffins were placed within each other offering further protection. Inside the final coffin is the mummy of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun whose face was covered by his iconic death mask.
Hieroglyphs of religious text, religious scenes and the protective Wadjet eye are also engraved on the sarcophagus.
egyptian collection, brooklyn museum
Quartzite
1759-1675 B.C.E.
27 1/2 in. (69.8 cm) Base: 4 3/4 x 16 1/4 x 16 3/4 in. (12 x 41.3 x 42.5 cm)
Quartzite with red jasper pebbles in the Precambrian of Ontario, Canada.
Southeastern Canada's ~2.3 billion year old Lorrain Formation includes some beautiful rocks that rockhounds have nicknamed "puddingstone". This refers to whitish-gray quartzites having common pebbles of red jasper.
The Lorrain Formation is somewhat heterolithic. Published studies mention that the unit has arkoses, subarkoses, quartzites, and jasper-pebble conglomerates. The latter two lithologies are present at the glacially-eroded outcrop seen here. The quartzites were originally sandstones. They have been well cemented and somewhat metamorphosed into very hard rocks. The jasper-pebble conglomerates, or "puddingstones", include clasts of white quartz and reddish jaspilites.
Jaspilite is a type of BIF (banded iron formation). BIFs only formed on Earth during the Precambrian - most are Paleoproterozoic in age. They are the # 1 source of iron ore for the world's steel industry. Numerous specific types of BIFs are known. Jaspilite consists of alternating laters of red and silvery-gray, iron-rich minerals. The red layers are hematite or jasper (= hematitic chert). The silver-gray layers are usually rich in magnetite and/or specular hematite. Jaspilite BIFs outcrop in many areas around Lake Superior, for example in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Minnesota, and Ontario.
During the Paleoproterozoic, BIFs were subaerially exposed as paleo-outcrops and eroded, producing BIF sediments, including many red jasper pebbles. These mixed with quartz-rich sediments.
Regional studies indicate that the Lorrain Formation was deposited in ancient shallow ocean, lake, delta, and shoreline environments.
Stratigraphy: Lorrain Formation, upper Cobalt Group, Huronian Supergroup, Paleoproterozoic, ~2.3 Ga
Locality: Ottertail Lake Northeast Roadcut - glacial knob on the eastern side of Rt. 638, northeast of Ottertail Lake & southeast of Rock Lake, north-northeast of the town of Bruce Mines, southern Ontario, southeastern Canada (46° 23' 30.59" North latitude, 83° 43’ 10.94" West longitude)
------------------------------
Some info. synthesized from:
Hadley (1970) - Paleocurrents and origin of Huronian Lorrain Formation, Ontario and Quebec. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 54: 850.
Water Feature - Natural stone comprised of the following Aqua Grantique, St. Cloud Granite, New York Bluestone, Silver Quartzite, Pink Quartz and Fieldstone
Chilton Natural Stone raised patio wall & steps
Capital & Flint Antique Clay Paver
Custom Designed & Installed Natural Cedar Pergola & Landscape Structure
Landscape & Water Feature Low-voltage Lighting
Landscape design by Glenn! Switzer ~ Landscape located in Northfield, MN
Switzer Honored with Top Landscape Design Award
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Therme Vals, Peter Zumthor's masterpiece in Vals, Switzerland, is made from local quartzite stone and bermed into the slope beneath a hotel that it is connected to.
Therme Vals, Peter Zumthor's masterpiece in Vals, Switzerland, is made from local quartzite stone and bermed into the slope beneath a hotel that it is connected to.
This red quartzite sarcophagus is decorated with figures of four goddesses, Isis, Nephthys, Neith, and Selket, carved in high relief on the corners, with their wings outspread to protect the body of the Pharaoh King Tut. Inside, three gold anthropoid coffins were placed within each other offering further protection. Inside the final coffin is the mummy of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun whose face was covered by his iconic death mask.
Hieroglyphs of religious text, religious scenes and the protective Wadjet eye are also engraved on the sarcophagus.
My travels around the UK by car for three weeks with my son. June/July 2019 Scotland.
Day fifteen .. In the Northwest Highlands on our journey to Helmsdale where we are staying the night.
The Northwest Highlands are located in the northern third of Scotland that is separated from the Grampian Mountains by the Great Glen (Glen More). The region comprises Wester Ross, Assynt, Sutherland and part of Caithness.
The geology of the Highlands is complex. Along the western coastal margin it is characterised by Lewisian gneiss, the oldest rock in Scotland. Liathach, Beinn Alligin, Suilven, Cùl Mòr, Cùl Beag, and Quinag are just some of the impressive rock islands of the significantly younger rich brown-coloured Torridonian sandstone which rests on the gneiss. Some of the peaks, such as Beinn Eighe and Canisp, are topped with later light grey or white Cambrian quartzite. Cambro-Ordovician limestone is also to be found in a narrow outcrop between Durness and Skye. The larger part of the region is formed from rocks of the Moine succession much of which is metamorphosed sandstones (psammites) and schist. These have over-ridden the gneiss and the Cambrian and Ordovician rocks of the northwest margin along the Moine Thrust Belt.
The region has steep, glacier-carved mountains, glens and interspersed plains. Elevations of around 750 metres (2500 ft) or over are common, as are mountains exceeding 3000 feet or 914 m (Munros).
The Northwest Highlands are typically not quite as cold as the Cairngorms. Considering its terrain and its latitude of about 57 to 58 degrees North, the area is surprisingly warm: this is due to the mild influence of the Gulf Stream. The aurora borealis is sometimes visible on winter nights, especially at the climax of the 11-year cycle. Bordering the region to the north east is the lowland area of Caithness. There are relatively few roads, and many are single lane (with passing places). The region has a very low population density. Significant settlements are Kyle of Lochalsh, Mallaig, Dingwall, Dornoch, and Ullapool.
For More Info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Highlands
Quartzite in the Precambrian of South Dakota, USA.
Extensive outcrops of pinkish, Paleoproterozoic-aged quartzites are present at Falls Park along the Big Sioux River in the city of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The quartzites here have nicely water-worn, sculpted surfaces. These rocks are part of the Sioux Quartzite, which consists of 1.65 to 1.70 billion year old metamorphosed sandstones. Despite the metamorphism, original sedimentary features such as horizontal stratification, cross-bedding, and ripple marks are still preserved.
The Sioux Quartzite is an erosion-resistant unit in America’s midcontinent. It has formed a long-lived paleotopographic high since Precambrian times - the Sioux tectonic core. This high is part of a northeast-to-southwest trending series of paleotopographic highs & depressions known as the Transcontinental Arch, which extends from Arizona to Minnesota (see Carlson, 1999).
Quarries of Sioux Quartzite occur in southeastern South Dakota and southwestern Minnesota. The rocks are used as building stone, road gravel, sidewalk and paving gravel, and erosion control material.
Stratigraphy: Sioux Quartzite, upper Paleoproterozoic, 1.65-1.70 Ga
Locality: Falls Park, near Sioux Falls along the Big Sioux River in the town of Sioux Falls, southeastern South Dakota, USA
------------------
Reference cited:
Carlson (1999) - Transcontinental Arch - a pattern formed by rejuvenation of local features across central North America. Tectonophysics 305: 225-233.
The colossal quartzite statue of Amenhotep III is an ancient Egyptian sculpture dating from the 18th Dynasty (c.1350 BC). It was found in the massive mortuary temple of the pharaoh Amenhotep III on the West Bank of the River Nile at Thebes (Luxor) in Egypt. Only the head of the broken colossal statue survives. It is part of the British Museum's Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan collection.
This brown quartzite statue was one of a series of near-identical statues that flanked the west side of a colonnaded courtyard. When complete, it would have measured more than 8 metres (26 feet) high without its base, and the body would have stood in the classic pose of the deity Osiris with legs together and arms crossed, holding the crook and the flail, which were symbols of Egyptian kingship. The statue would have worn a short royal kilt and the red crown of Lower Egypt. The discovery in 1964 of the head of one other statue and numerous body-fragments of yet more has allowed the reconstruction of the statue's pose. The statues on the other side of the courtyard were similar, but were made of red granite and wore the white crown of Upper Egypt
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossal_quartzite_statue_of_Amenho...
Quartzite from the Precambrian of Wyoming, USA. (3.2 cm across)
Quartzite is a coarsely crystalline-textured, quartzose metamorphic rock. It forms by intermediate to high grade metamorphism of sandstone. The greenish coloration is from the presence of fuchsite (= chromian muscovite mica).
Stratigraphy: undetermined (transported float), but possibly from the Medicine Peak Quartzite or the Lookout Formation, Paleoproterozoic
Locality: loose piece from roadcut on the northern side of Rt. 130 (Snowy Range Road), immediately west of the intersection with Brooklyn Lake Road, eastern flanks of the Medicine Bow Mountains, southeastern Wyoming, USA (41° 21’ 25.95” North latitude, 106° 14’ 09.11” West longitude)
Rippled sandstone in the Precambrian of South Australia.
Seen here are structurally tilted sandstones in the uppermost Precambrian of the South Australian Outback. This is the Rawnsley Quartzite - the beds are steeply dipping eastward - they are almost vertical. This site is on the western flank of a large syncline.
The ridges on the exposed bedding plane are ripple marks - they are evenly-shaped and so are identified as symmetrical ripples. Such ripples form in a two-directional, back-and-forth current in very shallow water by wave action.
Stratigraphy: Rawnsley Quartzite, upper Ediacaran (just below the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary, which is a cryptic disconformity here), uppermost Neoproterozoic
Locality: Mernmerna section - dry creek cut south of Merna Mora & north-northwest of Hawker, eastern side of the Three Sisters Range, South Australia (vicinity of 31° 34' 22.69" South latitude, 138° 24' 39.64" East longitude)
Seen here are structurally tilted sandstones across the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary in the South Australian Outback. The beds are steeply dipping eastward (to the left of the viewer) - they are almost vertical. This site is on the western flank of a large syncline.
A prominent bedding plane near the left margin of the lower part of the photo is the top of the Rawnsley Quartzite, an upper Ediacaran shallow-water sandstone. The overlying beds (further to the left) are the basal Parachilna Formation, a burrowed sandstone-siltstone succession and the basal-preserved Cambrian unit in the area. This section was once considered for the Precambrian-Cambrian GSSP (global stratotype section and point). Parachilna burrows mark the first appearance of complex trace fossils in the section. The underlying Precambrian sandstones lack burrows. It turns out that the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary in this section is a cryptic disconformity (missing time). At other sites, another unit called the Uratanna Formation occurs between the Rawnsley and the Parachilna.
Stratigraphy: Parachilna Formation (upper Nemakit-Daldynian Stage to lower Tommotian Stage, lower Lower Cambrian) over Rawnsley Quartzite (upper Ediacaran, uppermost Neoproterozoic)
Locality: Mernmerna section - dry creek cut south of Merna Mora & north-northwest of Hawker, eastern side of the Three Sisters Range, South Australia (vicinity of 31° 34' 22.69" South latitude, 138° 24' 39.64" East longitude)
Percussion marks in quartzite in the Precambrian of South Dakota, USA.
Extensive outcrops of pinkish, Paleoproterozoic-aged quartzites are present at Falls Park along the Big Sioux River in the city of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The quartzites here have nicely water-worn, sculpted surfaces with good, fluvially abraded polish in places. These rocks are part of the Sioux Quartzite, which consists of 1.65 to 1.70 billion year old metamorphosed sandstones. Despite the metamorphism, original sedimentary features such as horizontal stratification, cross-bedding, and ripple marks are still preserved.
The Sioux Quartzite is an erosion-resistant unit in America’s midcontinent. It has formed a long-lived paleotopographic high since Precambrian times - the Sioux tectonic core. This high is part of a northeast-to-southwest trending series of paleotopographic highs & depressions known as the Transcontinental Arch, which extends from Arizona to Minnesota (see Carlson, 1999).
Quarries of Sioux Quartzite occur in southeastern South Dakota and southwestern Minnesota. The rocks are used as building stone, road gravel, sidewalk and paving gravel, and erosion control material.
The arcuate cracks in the rock seen here are percussion marks (percussion cracks; percussion cones). These features formed as a result of clast impacts during energetic flow in the Big Sioux River.
Stratigraphy: Sioux Quartzite, upper Paleoproterozoic, 1.65-1.70 Ga
Locality: Falls Park, near Sioux Falls along the Big Sioux River in the town of Sioux Falls, southeastern South Dakota, USA
------------------
Reference cited:
Carlson (1999) - Transcontinental Arch - a pattern formed by rejuvenation of local features across central North America. Tectonophysics 305: 225-233.
Seen here are structurally tilted sandstones across the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary in the South Australian Outback. The beds are steeply dipping eastward (toward the viewer) - they are almost vertical. This site is on the western flank of a large syncline.
The darkened bedding plane upon which the head of the geology hammer rests is the top of the Rawnsley Quartzite, an upper Ediacaran shallow-water sandstone. The overlying beds (= preserved at left) are the basal Parachilna Formation, a burrowed sandstone-siltstone succession and the basal-preserved Cambrian unit in the area. This section was once considered for the Precambrian-Cambrian GSSP (global stratotype section and point). Parachilna burrows mark the first appearance of complex trace fossils in the section. The underlying Precambrian sandstones lack burrows. It turns out that the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary in this section is a cryptic disconformity (missing time). At other sites, another unit called the Uratanna Formation occurs between the Rawnsley and the Parachilna.
Stratigraphy: Parachilna Formation (upper Nemakit-Daldynian Stage to lower Tommotian Stage, lower Lower Cambrian) over Rawnsley Quartzite (upper Ediacaran, uppermost Neoproterozoic)
Locality: Mernmerna section - dry creek cut south of Merna Mora & north-northwest of Hawker, eastern side of the Three Sisters Range, South Australia (vicinity of 31° 34' 22.69" South latitude, 138° 24' 39.64" East longitude)