GMS Field Trip February 2024
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Geology Hike in Georgia
Saturday, February 3, 2024
The trip began at 10am on a cool, sunny Saturday morning at the Davidson-Arabia Mountain Ranger station with over twenty GMS members and their families gathering to hear about the park geology and the trip route before starting out on a nearby dirt trail to the first quarry outcrop of bare rock and catchpools of rainwater and the thin gravel that supports plant and animal life on the mountain. We looked at quarrying methods of breaking out huge blocks of stone with drills and hand tools. As we progressed southwards to other open stone areas we saw more of the petrographic features of the migmatite [rock composed of two intermingled but distinguishable rocks -- webmaster] that defined the park and bands of garnet and tourmaline in dikes and pegmatites. Some of the shallow pools in the park were already springing to life, with the sound of peeper frogs in the background and tadpoles and algae clouds in the deeper pools. Borders of red Diamorpha [an endangered plant that occurs mostly in Georgia and is found in seasonal, shallow basins and rocky outcrops -- webmaster] and green quillwort and pool sprite were coming out, precursors of the carpets of color in later spring.
We hiked nearly down to the old quarry office and turned towards Arabia Lake, where more minerals and some large scale spalling features cracked and raised the slabs of rock like playing cards about to be shuffled. One area had several fresh surfaces of the migmatite exposed by spalling and were marked for study by university researchers. While resting by the lake, several large tourmaline crystals were found, and the ranger pointed out sparkleberry bushes with edible, mildly sweet berries. The return to the ranger station was through the woods on a gently rising trail. Back at the ranger station, several small garden ponds had clusters of large frog eggs in several masses. Ending the walk in early afternoon, it was warm enough for some families to enjoy picnics on the tables adjacent to the ranger station.
Tom Faller, Trip Lead
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NOTE: Many thanks to Tom Faller, Jason Leatherwood, and Aaron Leatherwood for putting together this trip, teaching us about the geology there, and for answering everyone's questions. Also, thank you to Rachael, the park ranger and naturalist who accompanied us on this trip and taught us about the native flora.
Photos by Lori Carter
Tom and Jason gave us a quick geology lesson about the mountain
Photos by Lori Carter
Jason showed us examples of migmatite in a rock and in situ
Photos by Lori Carter
We saw a lot of garnets and veins of garnet in the rocks
Photo by Lori Carter
It was a beautiful day for a geology hike!
Image via Wikimedia Commons
Feather and wedge technique used to split rock
(Anna Frodesiakderivative work: Snubcube, Public domain, via Wikimedia)
Photos by Lori Carter
The feather and wedge technique was used when the rock here was quarried.
Some of the splitting artifacts are still in the rocks.
Photos by Lori Carter
We saw remnants of quarrying activity in several places
Photo by Lori Carter
Park personnel built trail markers for visitors to follow
Photos by Lori Carter
Tom and Jason showed us many features and explained what were were seeing,
and Aaron was always on hand to answer questions
Photos by Lori Carter
A small trail led to a manmade dam with a small waterfall.
The creek below the waterfall did not have to go far to expose the bedrock.
Photo by Lori Carter
Reflections of trees camouflage remnants of a structure that was once used to test quarry explosives
Photos by Lori Carter
Migmatite was everywhere. A little bit of water helped make the migmatite more visible
Photos by Lori Carter
Large spalling features exposed more migmatite
Photos by Lori Carter
Tourmaline crystals!
Photos by Lori Carter
Rachael, a park naturalist, showed us Diamorpha plants growing in shallow pools amid rocky outcrops.
They even found their way into drill holes left by quarrying activity!
We were very careful not to walk on the plants because they are endangered.
Photo by Lori Carter
We saw this dead tree with an unusual ring pattern that included a smaller set of rings within
Photos by Lori Carter
Rachael showed us sparkleberries and some members tasted a few!
Photos by Lori Carter
Tom spotted these frog eggs back at the ranger station
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