• Tuesday-What'sUP September 15 - 04:47 pm

The eastern end of the U.P. borders on Lake Huron in the DeTour and Drummond Island areas, where Lynn Virtanen was recently exploring with her camera. The flowers she found along Huron's shore are beauties in themselves, still strong and colorful, but check out the difference in the type of rock found around this Great Lake. I'm no rock expert, but I think that's limestone and it seems to have quite neat characteristics, like the "pocking" on the big rock in the third photo. I wonder if that's just an erosion effect or if something else formed those holes?

Thanks to all who turned out along the US-41 route of the Special Olympics Torch Run yesterday. Law enforcement folks from across the state created a chain of support that begins in Copper Harbor with our own Sheriff Ron Lahti, along with his Posse. (That's me with the Copper Harbor hat.) We got to enjoy 5 miles along the beautiful Lake Superior shoreline, and boy am I feeing it this morning!

Don't forget to cast your vote of support today for Copper Harbor in the current Pepsi Challenge, which could help build a new home for an ambulance in the Harbor.

Nice photos and those men look like a healthy bunch.

Vote cast...reminder helps.

Enroute home last night, there were a couple runners on the south side of Chassell, heading south on US-41....running in the dark!

Go Harbor! The POWER OF THE PASTY is gonna shine again!

I think we need Capt. Paul or Dr. Nat for the answers to Mary's question. I just bought some Astors on clearance to put in my perennial garden. They're so pretty. Mine don't look like that, though, and one's putple and one's pink. Pretty.

Have a geat day!!

It's limestone (CaCO3)which reacts in mild acidic or polar solutions (water or slightly acidic water like acid rain from sulfur inclusions in burnt coal at the neighboring limestone quarry) to create a pocking in the less dense regions of the rock mass according to:2CaCO3 + 2H2SO4 = 2CaSO4 + 2CO2 + O2 or: limestone plus mild sulfuric acid reacts to form calcium sulfate which forms a scum on the rocks and beach plus carbon dioxide gas and oxygen gas which bubble up and are gone in the atmosphere.

And Asteraceae is a family of flora subdivided into 1620 genera and 22750 species such as the common chrysanthemum and daisy. No they dont all look alike, some herbaceous, some woody. They do all contain inflorescences of tightly packed individual flowers that we think of as petals. On closer inspection one can see that each has a complete sexual apparatus rendering it a flower as opposed to a petal.

How do you know it's not dolomite?? ;-)

I'm sure there's some Hydrogen Carbonate or some such thing from that reaction too. They all mix up and remarry.

Beautiful flowers! Autumn flowers are my favorites...asters, mums, goldenrod, etc.;) Congratulations, Charlie, on your run....get the Sportscreme!

Charlie, thanks so much for taking over my daily reminder about the Copper Harbor ambulance barn. We are moving steadily up in the rankings, and I'm sure one reason is the generosity of all PastyCammers in taking the time to support us.

Just a little note - if you have more than one email address, you can vote more than once a day, once for each email address you register.

Beautiful flower pictures, Lynn. That area is great for it and when we are that way visiting family I end up with a bunch of flower pictures. That limestone is good for the kids to climb all over too.

Dolomite is limestone with a magnesium (sparkly stuff in fireworks)chunked in there. CaMg(CO3)2, nicer crystals, pank it all good under a mountain for a zillion years and you can get marble and if your lucky some fools gold inclusions. IF, the rock is right! Trot on over to the Seaman Mineral Museum at Tech for a wild extravaganza in the rock business. Seriously! Do it! I do have a stack of wallpaper, but you don't need college degrees to appreciate a perfectly good rock!

Again I would not have remembered to vote without the reminder! I have such good intentions but the mind is elsewhere! There must be other folks with the same affliction! Thanks, Charlie.

Even in rocks that are not limestone or dolomite, you can get pits like that. It's called alveolar weathering. I've seen it in sandstones on the Colorado Plateau and other places.

Sorry I can't say more right now. I have to get back to class and after that a faculty meeting. I hate when work interferes with PastyCam!

Beautiful pictures. Thanks 4 sharing.

If you think about it...cameras open up many more worlds for us to enjoy! Thanks for the pictures...beautiful!

And thank you for the compliments, you fabulous visual humans!

I finally got out of the world’s worst meeting, so I can write a wee bit more about the rocks.

The rocks in Michigan (and all over the world) are fascinating. The part of Michigan shown in the photo is the edge of the Michigan Basin. The rocks in that area are a mix of limestone and dolomite, which cannot be visually distinguished from each another. There is, however, and easy test to tell them apart. A drop of HCl will effervesce on limestone, but not dolomite. The two rock types are also fascinating because the process of dolomitisation is a “hot topic” in the science of geology. Experts in those sorts of rocks are still trying to understand exactly how dolomite forms.

Both limestone and dolomite can be metamorphosed into marble under the right conditions. My students (at least the ones who stay awake in my lectures) find it interesting that fairly plain grey rocks can be metamorphosed into very beautiful marble.

Limestone (and dolomite) are very easily weathered in a climate like Michigan’s, where there is plenty of rain. Water in nature (including rain and groundwater) is usually very slightly acidic due to the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. A tiny bit of that carbon dioxide dissolves in water forming carbonic acid. Limestone and dolomite are easily dissolved in this very slightly acidic water. This is why caves are often found in areas with limestone and dolomite bedrock. Caves are formed by that slightly acidic water dissolving bedrock.

The Ancient Artifact Preservation Society is having their annual conference in Marquette soon:
6th Annual
International Conference
on Ancient America
Sept. 17-10, 2010
Holiday Inn, Marquette Michigan

Link to detailed schedule- http://www.aaapf.org/scripts/prodview.asp?idProduct=58


They are the group that moved the 40 ton slab of copper to MQT...
http://www.uppermichiganssource.com/news/story.aspx?id=506453

It is quite interesting stuff!

Geez you guys! Lynn, Capt Paul & Dr Nat sure know their rocks!! Thanks for trying to make those of us who just really enjoy the pictures understand, too. Well, I'll admit that a lot of it is over my head, but thanks for trying, lol!! At any rate, great pictures today!! Thanks for sharing!