Wow! That sounds an interesting study. What is it for?

Llanite is very interesting. It does not weather very well, but polished, it makes a nice rock. They still do not know for sure why the quarts is blue. There are several theories.

The Llano has some of the most interesting geology in the country. Geologist come there from all over to study the place.

If you come into the Hill Country near Austin, go explore this area near Georgetown. We parked near one of the bridges and walked down to the river. I found a large chunk of blue Celestite, some shell fossils and saw a dinosaur track. I took some notes at the time (It was 12 year ago) of were I found the stuff. I’ll hunt down those notes.

This Roadside Geology of Texas book explains the geological history much better than I can. I covers the creation of the Ouachita Mountain range.

Very few people know that a mighty mountain range, the Ouachita’s, stretched from West Texas (Marathon) across Texas, through Arkansas and over to the Appalachians. This ancient mountain range was formed from the forces that formed Pangea when South America slamed into North America.

I have very nice pieces of Valley Spring Gneiss and Packsaddle Schist. I got the Gneiss near Inks Lake State Park I got it right outside the park near the lake’s dam (In Texas, you are not supposed to take rock or plant sample from any state parks)

What is interesting about these two metamorphic rocks is that they were original sedimentary rocks. Their sediments came from an even older Mountain range! The creation of the Ouachita Mountains metamorphosed these into Precambrian rocks.

When I hold those rocks I am fascinated at hold old they are and where the atoms in those rocks had been. They came from an ancient mountain range, were eroded, transported and deposited in the Llano Uplift area. They were uplifted and metamorphosed by the creation of the Ouachita Mountains when South America and North America collided during the formation of Pangaea. They were not too far below the surface when a sea covered the area during the Dinosaur realm. And eventually erosion brought them up to the surface where I found them.

I find this stuff fascinating.