Geo-pic of the week: Amber

Pictured above are several polished samples of the fossil amber; the sample in the top left is unpolished. 

Amber is the fossilized resin of a tree.  As you can see, some of the wood of the trees got preserved with the resin, which gives this amber a wood-grain appearance .  These pieces were collected near Malvern, Arkansas, where amber is found in beds of lignite: a soft, low-grade coal.

People have prized amber since pre-historic times for its beauty and its scent.  It continues to be popular today in the production of jewelry and perfume. 

Geo-pic of the week: Freshly exposed anticline

This is an anticline exposed on Mc Leod Street, southwest of Hot Springs, Garland County, Arkansas.   It’s not unique as, anticlines are common in the Ouachita’s and other mountain ranges throughout the world.  Most often though, these structures are large scale and cover expanses of land that can’t be viewed from a human vantage point.  When they do form on a scale that’s small enough for human observation, we typically don’t have the benefit of a freshly blasted exposure like this one. 

In fact, many times geologists must infer that folds like this exist in places deep underground that no one has or will ever see.  That’s why, if you see a geologist on the side of the road, taking something like this in, as in the picture above, just let him have his little moment.  The exposure is of deep marine sedimentary deposits of the Stanley Formation.