Photo of the Week #1

Ok, here is the first actual geology related post of the blog.

I took this photo in the Yukon Territory near Red Creek while I was doing field work last spring. Any guesses as to what it is?

I'll give you a hand on this one. Red Creek is very deserving of its name. It is highly saturated with iron from the local shale bedrock and in certain conditions can precipitate as iron oxide. This photo is iron oxide, likely Fe2O3. The weird shapes that cross though it are made by ice crystals that have since melted, but left their impression on the soft iron oxide powder. The iron is at the bottom of a shallow puddle sitting on thicker ice from the winter. Pretty cool eh??

Here is a photo of Red Creek.

Matt