geologictimepics

Granite

That’s actually the moon at the end of the crack in this rock…

A typical exposure of granite --coarse grained with an interlocking, random assortment of crystals. Click here to search for geology pictures by keyword.

And the rock is a pretty typical example of granodiorite… which is a lot like granite, except it has a little less silica.  See yesterday’s post about igneous rocks if you’re interested.

It turns out that most of the Sierra Nevada Range in California, including Mt. Whitney (the conterminous US’s highest peak) is made out of granodiorite.  And if you consider that most of the magma cooled and crystallized at a depth of 10km, and now resides about 4km ABOVE sea level, we’re looking at millions of years to accomplish this uplift.

Here’s Mt. Whitney at sunrise… It’s the peak just left-of center.  From this view, you can see that the rock of this part of the Sierra Nevada Range is all pretty much the same: granodiorite.

Mt. Whitney and Sierra Nevada, California at sunrise. Mt. Whitney's elevation is 14, 505' above sea level, the highest spot in the conterminous US. The rock in this photograph is almost entirely granodiorite.