I've already posted some images from the VCCS Science Peer Conference a week and a half ago. Outside the offices of the Wintergreen Nature Foundation, they've arranged a series of large charismatic rock samples from the region. Some of them are from the Blue Ridge (where Wintergreen is located) and some are from adjacent physiographic provinces. These samples are from the Valley and Ridge province, showing some cool features sometimes found in sedimentary rocks.

First, some articulate brachiopod fossils in quartz sandstone (internal/external molds). This wasn't labelled as to its source formation, but it looks a lot like the Oriskany Sandstone, a major ridge-former in the Valley and Ridge. Quarter for scale.


Second, a breccia in limestone. (FYI, Andrew's Oakland Geology blog has another nice image of breccia today.) Perhaps a collapse breccia? Again, the sample wasn't labelled, so I have no idea which formation it was derived from. The white in-filling is calcite. Quarter for scale.

Labels: conferences, fossils, sediment, valley and ridge