A Resource for Information on the Commonwealth's Geology
Many of the highest peaks in Shenandoah National Park (including Hawksbill, Stony Man, and Hightop Mountain, just to name a few) are underlain by distinctive bluish-green rocks that were once ancient lava flows (Virginia is for Lavas!), and are part of a geologic unit known as the Catoctin Formation. From the presidential retreat at Camp David to Jefferson’s […]
Photomicrograph of fault breccia in the Cambrian Antietam Formation, Blue Ridge province. Breccias form when rocks are extensively fractured in fault zones and are cemented together when minerals precipitate in the cracks and fractures. Note the angular fragments (fr) of quartz sandstone in a matrix of fine-grained iron oxide cement (ic). Field of view 4 […]
On July 1, 2016, Governor Terry McCauliffe signed a bill into law that made nelsonite the first official state rock of Virginia. The initiative for this project was led by students from Piedmont Virginia Community College. Michelle Stanislaus and her classmates from their Historical Geology class and Government class ran the petition for this law starting […]
