• Monday-What'sUP April 22 - 12:37 pm

Melanie Hakala Rossi was out near Betsy, on the south shore of Lake Superior and snapped some great shots of the water swirling around the sandstone there. You can see that there's still ice along the shore, but the open water sure looks nice.

I'm not certain, but it looks to me, like Melanie might be standing right there in the water or maybe not, just an illusion. Either way, I hope she had her waterproof boots on for this Superior adventure in Sandstone.
The designs and washouts in the sandstone are amazing, especially the ones in the last two photos. Nature at its finest here UP North.

WOW! Those are some great shots! You might even say they're "Superior"!!!!!

Nice...otherworldly!

Gosh, there is a several page paper that could be written to describe what is going on there!! Unfortunately, I have to leave in a few minutes minutes for field work. Maybe the good Dr. will chime in at some point today.......

...the last one looks like an egg.

Looking like another big one on the way tonight into Tuesday, 6 to 9 inches of heavy wet snow. It would be nice if it missed us.

Wow! I would love to see that! It looks like chocolate/vanilla marble pudding. Great pictures, Melanie!

That was my thought too, Alex....an 'over-easy' fried egg. Yum!
Water sure does interesting things.
Thanks, Melanie!

Very cool pic's, I know where that is, miss it real bad! Some day....

Where is this located?

That low lake level is still shocking. Those rock formations were normally knee to waste deep for an adult. When we were kids we loved to play here, but the parents wouldn't let us go in without a grownup because stepping into the (what was underwater) low spots would put a child in right over their head, especially with a little help from the currents. I always loved that marbling, and we liked to collect the colored rocks there. Thanks for the beautiful shots, Melanie.

Spent many happy hours on or near that spot. I love the UP and
miss it so much!

What absolutley beautiful photos today!!!

Thanks for the wonderful and educational pics today! Have never seen these kinds of rocks!

The colour of many sandstones is controlled by the mineral cements that hold the little sand grains together. In this case, iron bearing minerals make up the cement. If the iron is reduced, it is white, if it is oxidised, it is red. Fluids flowing through the sandstone affected these redox reactions.

Thanks, Dr. Nat.

Yes, thanks, Dr. Nat....you were true to the Capt's word.;)

Wonderful color contrast/photo's