Rise Againes at Red Rock Seu
The State Rock of Oklahoma
Rose Rock
Few mineral specimens are as distinctly recognizable and traceable to source as the barite roses from Oklahoma. These are also known as "rose rocks" and "barite-sand rosettes." Other than minor occurrences in Kansas, Kingdom of morocco, and Australia, the barite roses are unique to this country.
The barite rose became the official country rock of Oklahoma when Oklahoma Firm Beak 1277 was signed into law in 1968. Noble, Oklahoma, was fabricated the official rose stone capital (of Oklahoma, and past default, the world) via an "emergency" deed of the Oklahoma Firm of Representatives in 1983.
A myth attributed to the Cherokees holds that the barite roses formed from the tears of their women and the blood of their men who were removed to Oklahoma from Georgia, 1838-39. Representatives of the Cherokee Nation disavow this legend, noting that barite roses do not occur on any of the lands granted to the Cherokees.
The barite roses consist of radial and rosette sprays of disc-shaped barite crystals (BaS04} that contain angular medium quartz sand (Si02) derived from the geologic formation chosen the Garber Sandstone. A pocket-size quantity of hematite (Fe203) imparts a reddish color to the roses.
Rose Stone Electron Micrograph
The barite roses consist of radial and rosette sprays of disc-shaped barite crystals (BaS04} that contain angular medium quartz sand (Si02) derived from the geologic formation chosen the Garber Sandstone. A pocket-sized quantity of hematite (Fe203) imparts a cerise color to the roses.
An electron micrograph (shown on left) shows the boundary between a barite rose and the enclosing Garber Sandstone.
The roses formed when barite crystals precipitated from groundwater in the pore spaces between quartz sand grains within the Garber Sandstone. The roses reflect the shapes of the barite crystals, and hence they are cataloged every bit minerals.
Largest Rose Rock
Most barite roses range from 1 to 10 cm in diameter, though these coalesce into clusters weighing hundreds of kg.
The largest known single rose measures 51x56x53 cm and weighs 135 kg.
The barite roses were deposited in fractures and forth porous horizons within the Garber Sandstone some fourth dimension after information technology was lithified (turned to stone). The exact age is not known, and roses could still be growing today.
Cherry Permian sandstones like the Garber (-250 million years sometime) are common throughout the world, still barite roses are extremely rare. The origin of the roses, therefore, does non upshot from the depositional surroundings of the sandstone, just stems from some other uncommon feature of Oklahoma's geology.
How Exercise They Get Their Shape?
Each "petal" of a rose is a unmarried crystal of barite, and what makes these barite crystals unusual is their round, disc-similar shape. The best explanation to date is that the barite grew in the presence of organic compounds that stunted growth at the corners of crystals, leading to the rounded shape.
At present, the all-time explanation for the roses is that deep basinal groundwater containing barium and reduced sulfur species (sulfide) migrated upward along fractures and porous layers into the Garber Sandstone. Upon reaching an aerated region, the sulfur in the basiswater was then oxidized from sulfide to sulfate, leading to the precipitation of barite (which is extremely insoluble in natural waters). Another possibility is that carve up sources of barium- and of sulfate-rich waters mixed during flow through the permeable Garber Sandstone, and hence barite roses were deposited where these two solutions mixed.
OGS Publications on Rose Rocks
London, D., 2009, The Barite Roses of Oklahoma: Oklahoma Geological Survey Information Series xiii, 16 p. (PDF)
OGS Brochure on Rose Rocks (PDF)
Rose rock information and photos provided past Dr. David London.
Barite Rose Rocks and the Planned Oklahoma Turnpike Dominance ACCESS extension
The Oklahoma Geological Survey (OGS) is chartered in the Oklahoma Constitution with investigating the state'south land, water, mineral, and energy resource, and disseminating the results of those investigations to promote the wise use of Oklahoma's natural resources consistent with sound environmental practices. We offer numerous ways to learn virtually the Oklahoma's geology through our web portal, general e-mail and phone lines, and open-house days now offered approximately every month. Because of our status as one of the Secretary of Free energy and Environment'southward agencies, we routinely are consulted about projects and activities throughout the land. We do our best to always respond to these with clear directions toward non-commercial resource, and occasionally commit our own resources – funded by the taxpayers of Oklahoma - to investigating special topics.
Recently, we have had several inquiries from citizens about the Oklahoma Turnpike Potency's Admission extension's possible bear upon on a geological feature, the rose rocks. Rose rocks are flower-shaped collectible pieces of barium-sulfate (the chemical element barium, Ba, bonded with oxidized sulfur, South, and four oxygens, making BaSOfour). The red colour of the rose rock stems from some corporeality of iron in the material. Most ornamental rocks and minerals like rose rocks are nerveless from vugs (holes) in volcanic material or fractures in bedrock. Instead, rose rocks are collected straight from the stone that makes up roadsides, driveways, and the few outcroppings of bedrock in the area betwixt an area just northeast of the town of Lexington, across the eastern edge of Norman, to simply due north of Stanley Draper Lake (come across the attached map, below). University of Oklahoma Professor David London (now retired) spent considerable time studying the rose rocks, every bit published in a journal called the "Mineralogical Record" and reprinted with permission in OGS Information Serial 113 (available at no cost from our website). To our knowledge, no scientist has completely understood what controls the distribution of rose rocks, or how exactly they grade, but we take some sense of their distribution in Oklahoma and worldwide. Indeed, they are relatively uncommon worldwide, and in Oklahoma express to this expanse, consistent with their designation as "the State Rock of Oklahoma", signed into land law in House Pecker 1277 in 1968.
In response to citizen concern, OGS recently visited the area on the east edge of Norman between approximately 72nd and 120th Ave SE, in the vicinity of Maguire Rd. The locations for celebrated rose rock collecting remain closed and on individual property, though city streets and private driveways and yards take yielded recent rose rock collection opportunities. In the figure beneath, we draw the judge location of the planned Admission highway extension in relation to this area, and in relation to the eastern edge of the extent of rose rocks as depicted in David London's 2008 article. The OGS makes no farther cess of the bear upon of the planned road construction on the preservation of rose rocks.
We take also been asked by concerned citizens to comment on the concept of "geoheritage". OGS views this asking equally besides inside our mandate because OGS is engaged in connecting the public to their surround through appreciation of remarkable geological features. Geoheritage is an area of active discussion between many groups, only notably between the United states National Park Service, the US Geological Survey, the American Geological Institute, and the Geological Society of America, the first ii federal agencies and the latter two non-turn a profit, science societies. Also of interest is the Un Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In response to citizen concern, we (the OGS) accept updated our website to provide recommended links (see below) to the appropriate resource to understand how these agencies, non-profit societies, and global classifications and registries serve the public on conservation and educational activity efforts.
Recommended links:
National Park Service
Geological Club of America
American Geosciences Institute
Source: https://www.ou.edu/ogs/generalinterest/rose_rocks
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