The Geology of Virginia

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Coal Strata in the Appalachian Plateau

August 14, 2016 by Chuck Bailey ·
Layers of sandstone, shale, and coal in the Appalachian Plateau, Wise County.
Filed Under: featured image · Tagged: Appalachian Plateau, coal, Wise County, Wise Formation

Featured Image

HylasZoneMylonite

Hylas Zone Mylonite

This micrograph illustrates a mylonite from the Hylas Zone in the eastern Piedmont ~5 km west of Doswell, Virginia.  The rock is characterized by a well-developed foliation with elongate quartz ribbons (transparent grains) and feldspar porphyroclasts.  The rock originally was a granodiorite that was strongly deformed and sheared, under ductile conditions, into a mylonite. Checkout […]

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What’s New in Virginia Geology

pluton contact

At the Pluton’s Edge

When large quantities of magma intrude and solidify in the Earth’s crust they form bodies of intrusive igneous rock known as plutons. The featured image nicely illustrates the edge (geologic contact) of a granitic pluton in the Blue Ridge Mountains of central Virginia. The granite is part of the 706 ± 4 million year old […]

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