Red Rocks

It's no secret that Delaware County is known for it's bluestone. Maybe that's why I get so excited when I see a red rock.

I am not a geologist, so, if my ignorance in the subject shows in this post, please forgive me, and feel free to correct me in comments.

I have not seen any solid quartz around here, but I keep looking. In the Logan site post there is one photo of a rock I found that I am quite certain has quartz in it, but it appears to be a cobble, not solid quartz. I have found at least 2 other rocks similar to this one, but I can't say for certain that they are quartz cobbles.

However, red rocks have shown up within or on structures here with some degree of regularity.

Also, click here for the link to the Rock Piles Blog for Norman Muller's article on red stones.

There are the 2 red rocks at the top of the tallest cairn at the Logan site:



This rock on boulder - it may be a celt:



Then, notice the red rock to the right of this structure that looks like a niche:



The niche in the above photo is located at the very top of a high bank, above a creek bed. You can follow a line of rocks, that includes this niche, up the creek short distance, to a very distinct stone wall which has that 'slanted' look to it.

Going down the creek bed and near that niche is this nice barrel shaped cairn. Notice the red rock and also the upright rock to the right of the barrel cairn:



The barrel shaped cairn is a gorgeous structure. It is small, solid, and, on the side where the upright rock is, it allows access to the interior of the cairn which is somewhat hollow. I stuck my hand and camera in there to get a picture:



There is one rock in that cairn which stands out as having a white stripe on it. The overall color is tan/white. I noticed a similarity between this rock and others I have found around here that are under other rocks. So, this is where my ignorance of geology may really be showing, because I don't know if these are all the same rocks, but some look this tan/white color because they are not exposed to the elements, or if they are really a different type of rock. Here are some more pictures:

This one I had posted previously:



This is one I just found at a small cairn site along a State owned road that is due to be widened soon, which will destroy the line of small cairns (subject of another post):



Here is a picture of one of those small cairns, just so you can have an idea of the size. There is an old foundation nearby. I will post more of these another time:



One more thing about quartz. I googled 'quartz in Delaware County, NY' and the only thing I found so far that has any significance is this link from Wikipedia. Scroll down to the geology section. I'm not sure what this all means, but I found it interesting that there is a dearth of explanations as to why there are quartz pebbles at the top of Slide Mountain.