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 minerals as I do for structures, I donated it to the mineralogy teaching collection at GMU…

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!