Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Geo 365: Dec. 10, Day 344: Disappointing Serpentinite

A few miles south of Gold Beach, Oregon, Route 101 passes by a beach access area with the best outcrop of serpentinite that I know of in Oregon. I was disappointed, though not really surprised, that ODOT decided to armor and obscure this outcrop. The problem is, this stuff is yearning to fall apart and does so with alacrity. Boulders and blocks of serpentinite, however appealing to us geotypes, do not play well with traffic. While it looks as if one might be able to get a peek to the left (north) end, over by the "Do Not Pass" sign, we were cold and tired, and decided to just check out the beach. While there's no equivalent rock exposed there, we did find some loose chunks of it in a ditch, and there was much more of it to be seen at a different location the following day...

Photo unmodified. May 7, 2013. FlashEarth location.

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