Coal cobble
Today's my final field trip of the spring semester. My environmental geology students and I are going to see some acid mine drainage, some coastal erosion, and a coal-burning power plant.
The coal bit reminded me to share with you this cobble I found the other day in a deposit of cobbles along the Potomac River:
It's a well-rounded prolate cobble of bituminous coal! Of course, it makes sense that there would be coal cobbles in the Potomac's bedload, since the Potomac drains those portions of the Valley & Ridge province where such layers outcrop. But it's also reasonably fragile stuff, and I've never noticed in out here before. Usually those cobble beds are full of quartzite, flint, and the like.
The coal bit reminded me to share with you this cobble I found the other day in a deposit of cobbles along the Potomac River:
It's a well-rounded prolate cobble of bituminous coal! Of course, it makes sense that there would be coal cobbles in the Potomac's bedload, since the Potomac drains those portions of the Valley & Ridge province where such layers outcrop. But it's also reasonably fragile stuff, and I've never noticed in out here before. Usually those cobble beds are full of quartzite, flint, and the like.
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