On second thought, I took a step backward.
While walking the road down to the lakefront, I had stepped
over an oddly colored rock in the graveled rut. After stepping back up the
hill, I scooped up the rock and found it astoundingly weighty. Moreover, the
rock had the look of iron.
When I showed the rock to some folks gathered at the lake
to celebrate Independence Day, several people wondered if it might be a
meteorite. A later experiment proved the rock highly attracted to a magnet.
Once home again, I scoured the internet for information
about the rock. Two possibilities emerged: meteorite or limonite.
While a meteorite is space stuff, limonite is a common,
earthy iron ore made up mostly of hydrated iron oxides and other iron-bearing
minerals. It forms in a variety of low-temperature, near-surface environments
as part of the weathering and oxidation of iron-bearing minerals. Limonite is
often found in river and lake sediments (especially oxidized gravels), which
exactly fits the bill for the virtual pile of rocks upon which my road
traverses.
I’m leaning toward limonite on this one.
—Mitchell Hegman
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