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Blue Rocks Roadcut
Counter added
7/25/99
This is a roadcut in Deleware along I-95. The rocks are apparently a solidified magma which is maafic in composition (Iron, olivine, and magnesium rich). Most Likely this was squirted into the Earth's crust during the time of extension and separation of Pangea (the great supercontinent composed of all major landmasses in a series of failed rifts that extended up and down the Eastern United States coast line. Events like this held during the Triassic Period of the Mesozoic Era.
Iron
and other minerals react with water and form a weather-rind
around the rocks, It is a process known as hydrolosis. You can
see the rind of rusty looking crust around the blue interior. It
is the breakdown of minerals weakened by the interaction of water
that forms this rind.
The rocks here are fine grained
Parrallel jointing makes linear cracks throughout the outcrop and
are probably a result of uplift at some point in time.
