 Old Rag Summit |
View toward the southeast from Ridge Trail toward the summit of Old Rag.
Old Rag Mountain is underlain by the 1115 Ma Old Rag granite.
A variety of textures of granite are exposed at this location.
The original type locality for the Old Rag granite (Furcon, 1939)
was behine the Old Rag Post Office, which no longer exists.
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| The precambrian Old Rag granite is Grenvillian in origin. Rocks of Grenville age in the Blue Ridge have been subdivided based upon the grade of metamorphism. The granulitic Pedlar Massif (which contains Old Rag) represents a higher metamorphic grade than the adjecent amphibolitic Lovingston Massif. |  View from Ridge Trail Toward the Crest of the Blue Ridge |
 Diabase Dike Near the summit of Old Rag Mountain |
Mafic dikes, either diabasic or metabasaltic (Catoctin
Formation) are present cutting the Old Rag granite in places. Over 20 diabase dikes,
concentrated near the summit, produce spectacular chimneys (photo at left)
as they weather more rapidly than the host granite. |
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Opferkessels are
solution pans which are rarely found in granitic rocks. It has been proposed
formation of the opferkessels on Old Rag was initiated by interaction of
mafic phases in the rock with organic and other acids produced by conifers near the summit. |
 Lunch Among the Boulders and Opferkessels |
 Photomicrographs |
Select thin sections of several of the textures
exhibited by rocks on Old Rag Mountain. Textures are extremely diverse, ranging
from impingement (a non-equilibrium texture characterized by curved grain
boundaries that meet in triple- and quadruple-grain contacts
with unequal angles, and range in crystal size and shape) to highly deformed
(both mylonitic and cataclastic).
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Blue quartz present in the groundmass and as pods
(up to 4 feet in length), is common in
many of the Grenville-age rocks of the central Virginia Blue Ridge.
The origin of the blue color has been attributed to radioactivity,
Ti in the form of ilmenite or rutile inclusions, or possibly
Rayleigh scattering due to the presence of small inclusions.
More information |
 Pod of Blue Quartz In a moss-covered light-green charnockite |