On Jun 13, 2011, at 1:34 AM, Thaddeus Kind wrote:
> Lyle:
>
> Can you describe your "granite" in detail with reference to
> comprising minerals, their element sizes and distribution/arrangement?
According to the work of Thomas L. Watson (Mineral Resources of Virginia, 1907:22), the granite in the Richmond area is "feldspar-quartz-biotite rocks, which vary from fine to medium granular in texture, and from ark to light gray in color." This material has weathered to a rich golden tan color in the river bed. He also says that the monumental rock is a fine-grained dark blue-gray and that used for roads is a coarse and lighter gray. Material from the Richmond area quarries was used to construct the State, War and Navy buildings in Washington, D.C.
Lyle
>
> You should
> be able to find systematic petrographic classifications on
> the web with pictures. Certain marketing profiles on commercial dimensional stone sites often provide valuable physical coefficients which may generally predict what actual tests on your specimens may later more precisely aver.
>
> Selecting something from Google Images
> which corresponds to roughly to your rock of--or directly
> to the named locality--might also be a winning approach to abet
> analysis.
>
> Another trove for historical context, though likely to prove a tough slog without indices, would be local newspaper archives.
>
> Regards,
>
> Edward Hennessey
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