GMS Field Trip

GMS Field Trip
Metagranite in Georgia
Saturday, February 20, 2016

As always, this location was a fantastic place to collect! The quarry personnel welcomed us and explained all of the safety rules. Then everyone donned their hard hats and safety glasses, double checked the laces on their steel-toed boots, and we were ready to go. Quarry employees led a caravan into the quarry and showed us where they just blasted some fresh rock a few days earlier!

The rocks there are in the Corbin Gneiss Complex, part of the Blue Ridge region of Georgia. What we collect is the porphyroblastic metagranite, which means it is a granite that has metamorphosed with large crystals (porphyroblasts) in it. It has a lot of feldspar and the quartz in it gets its deep blue color from titanium. I saw some specimens with pyrite and garnet too. There were so many pretty rocks that everyone got what they wanted. I heard plans from making cabs and bookends to getting a few yard rocks and specimens, and even making a waterfall garden that will really show off that beautiful blue quartz!

The ground was a little wet, so it was exceedingly easy to find small pieces for grab bags. So many people contributed to the grab bag effort that we ended up with a 5 gallon bucket full! Though we were originally going to collect until noon, collecting was so easy and the quarry people had another event that afternoon, so we finished at 11:00.

Many thanks to the quarry employees who gave their time to escort us in and out of the quarry and made sure all of us were safe. They even got me a bag of sand!

Lori Carter
On behalf of Charles Carter, GMS Field Trip Chair
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