• Wednesday-What'sUP June 3 - 08:13 pm

Judy Byykkonen joined her sons doing some Upper Peninsula exploring and she was busy snapping away with her camera. They spent some time exploring the shores of Lake Superior in the Ontonagon area and found some interesting rock formations. It never ceases to amaze me, how different the shores of the Big Lake can be. Some places small rocks, some large rocks, some beach sand, some gray stamp sand and then like in the shots today, slate, sandstone and maybe even some limestone.

I love all the ledges in Judy's first three photos, with the water running over them. What peaceful scenes, if you could hear the water trickling they would be just about perfect.

I'm just guessing on the rock in the last three pictures, thinking slate, sandstone and limestone. What do you think? It's pretty neat when whatever rock it is, makes designs beneath the water like this.

Nice pix...the last one looks like a boat launch.

So remember stubbing my toes on such ledges while swimming in the big lake as a kid. LOL

I always love pictures like this, thanks!!!

Sandstone most definitely but I can not say if it is Jacobsville or not. As for the patterns I was told by Ted Bornhorst at tech that the white is due to a bleaching reduction of the iron in the sandstone.
I have one of these unusually patterned ones mounted on my wall as a "prehistoric work of art". Another is just a picture of one from the Gay area I like to call the "boot print of GOD". That is if GOD wears cowboy boots.

Love the pictures of the ledges! Really neat!

Very nice pictures. The inexorable deformation of the Earth's formation.

Love the pictures today. I love how the rock
textures, colors, and patterns are so different in
various places in the U.P. It must be so much fun to
live there and explore whenever you want. I can't
wait until my next trip in September!

No slate or limestone. That is all sandstone (likely Freda) with some areas of reduction as James mentioned. I'm going to be at work all day, but maybe Nat will come along for a better explanation of how reduction spots work.....

Love the way the water runs off those rocks.

Really fun pictures!!! Wish I'd have been there!

I know this is late... but I've been working all day (teaching in the morning, writing in the afternoon). Anyway, both the Freda Sandstone and Jacobsville Sandstone have reduction spots in them. The reason these two sandstones are red is because they are held together with iron cement. Throughout most of the rock, this iron cement is oxidised. In some places, however, the iron is reduced and thus does not have a reddish colour. The reduction can be caused by another mineral (or sometimes small bit of organic material) in the sandstone that preferentially takes oxygen, preventing it from bonding with the iron. It can also occur where reducing fluids flowed along cracks in the rock.

What fascinating pictures and such interesting and informative
commentary to go along with it. Boot print of God. What a
concept. It certainly does look like a cowboy left his print behind.

Amazing..thank you one and all.

Hi
When I saw the white chunk, with running water, my first thought was that it was a chunk of snow or ice.

I still remember a family camping trip to the Porcupine Mountains State Park. There were similar ledges going far enough out into Lake Superior that the water was deep enough to swim. My brother Doug and I would jump in, swim around frantically for a minute or two and then lay on the sun-warmed rocks like a pair of lizards.

haha LOVE it, James H!!