Friday Rock Blogging: Granite

PZ Myers was right to call for a more inclusive vision of Friday Cat Blogging, noting that 99% of the species on the planet are non-chordates while the Friday Ark continues to be dominated by a small number of mammalian genera. Sadly, his progressive vision of a non-phylist Friday is still stuck within the dominant lifeist framework. Chris Clarke’s Friday Fossil Blogging is a step in the right direction, however, True Justice demands Friday Rock Blogging! And we are not ones to resist the call of True Justice.

a piece of porphyritic graniteCourtesy the USGS photo library (which is, incidentally, in the public doman, so hoorah!) comes this picture of a chunk of granite from the Precambrian St. Francis Mountains, Missouri. Note the adorable potassium feldspar matrix! Awww.

Comments

  1. Chris Clarke wrote:

    You know, they’re cute when they’re pebbles.

  2. yami wrote:

    Oddly, there was nothing in this photo for scale. So I don’t know if this counts as a pebble, a cobble, or a full-fledged rock.

  3. yami wrote:

    No, wait, on second thought that’s a lie. It was described as “fine” granite, and even allowing for some flexibility that certainly rules out the larger end of the range. I’d go with “cobble”.

  4. ~DS~ wrote:

    Oooh, Granite! One of my favorite rocks. And nice pinkish K-spar. That’s some good rock to climb. I learned to climb at Enchanted Rock State Historcal Area in Central Texas on rock like that. It’s also part of a precambrian intrusion. A big one. I wonder if part of it goes all the way to Missouri?

  5. Romeocat wrote:

    Yami - how original!
    I like your idea a lot, and I also like your sense of humor. I think you ought to consider making rock-blogging a regular feature at the Ark
    I’m going to try to send you a TB ping when I get my next bobcat (and jaguar - oooo! LOL) post up in an hour or so.
    Anyway, keep the stone rolling!

  6. Sabine wrote:

    DS - You climbed on the lovely Town Mountain Granite (TMG), of which the capital building in Austin is built. We also have jetties in the Lydian Ship Channel made from it. Enchanted Rock is one of my favorite places!
    I think Friday Rock Blogging is a wonderful idea!

  7. yami wrote:

    I certainly can’t resist peer pressure, regular Friday Rock Blogging it is Maybe next week I’ll find something from California, where I have half a chance of knowing things like “does it extend to Missouri?”… if only because there isn’t much that stretches that far.
    Romeocat, let me know if you have any trouble with the ping, I haven’t actually tested that part of my new WordPress installation yet. Should be fine but one never knows…

  8. mythago wrote:

    Where, oh where, are the hot gay teen malachite pix?

  9. Sabine wrote:

    Yeah for Friday Rock Blogging! Woohoo!

  10. brina wrote:

    enjoyed this looking forward to next week’s…

  11. Rana wrote:

    Rock on!
    *ducks*

  12. yami wrote:

    Oh, boo! *throws stones*

  13. brainwise wrote:

    I love rocks! I *so* want to jump on this bandwagon. Maybe not this friday, maybe not the next, but sometime soon … Rock Blogging will come to P or M.

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