SHALE – A COLOURFUL ROCK

| gaiainaction

While documenting a procedure at Ian’s boat the other day, I had the opportunity to take a few photos of some of the local rock structures. I found these particular rocks, which had been exposed when the owners of the boatyard wanted to extend their working space, and just had to photograph them.

I believe these rocks are shale, but I am not a geologist. The whole rocky outcrop looked amazing, the colours of the shale quite bright and beautiful. I read that the yellow colours are caused by iron oxide or iron hydroxide which can cause reddish, yellow or brown colouring. The shale came apart in my hands, very poorly compacted material.

Ireland is an excellent place, like so many other places on the earth, to look at and have an interest in rocks and minerals. I have a large rock collection, I only wish that I knew more about it all, something that I always wanted to get absorbed in when I retired. It is a fascinating subject with plenty of examples all around us.

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16 thoughts on “SHALE – A COLOURFUL ROCK”

  2. Rocks and minerals are a big interest of mine, too. One of these days I’ll have to post some photos of the “rock collection” that is the soil here.

    Looks like some of the shale rock is loose. Possibly small pieces could be split apart and maybe there are fossils? Most of the rocks where I live are igneous or metamorphic but we do have fossils of very ancient reefs formed by blue-green algae over a billion years ago. The patterns look like the edges of the old books with the marbled swirls of color.

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    1. Sounds really interesting, it is so fascinating, rocks just do it for me anywhere I go. Around here, apart from shale and slate, the main rock formation is Devonian old red sandstone. I would look forward to see photos of your “rock collection” very much.
      Kind regards
      Agnes

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      1. I was just thinking of how to present the rock collection this morning as I was forking the soil where the onions grew this summer. So many rocks!

        Devonian sandstone might have fossils if the grain is fine. I suspect the shale will, too.

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