Time Capsules You've Stubbed Your Toe On

We have rocks— all kinds of rocks. Rocks that sparkle. Rocks that are misshapen. Rocks that are perfectly round, square, and oblong. Rocks that are just a bit different. So, if you’re missing a few, stop by the library and see if yours might have rolled in. Check out our display for your rock.

Have you ever taken a moment during a hike to admire a uniquely shaped stone or felt fascinated by a jagged cliff looming overhead? If so, you’ve dipped your toes into the world of geology. Rocks are more than just the rigid, passive materials they appear to be; they have a dynamic and exciting story to tell about our planet’s history.

Rocks are truly incredible and fascinating. They’re time capsules, carrying the history of our planet within their layers, and they’re as diverse as the Earth’s many landscapes. Over the centuries, certain rocks have become famous thanks to this fascination. Some are imposing, and a few are so revered that they’ve been stolen, chipped, or broken into pieces in attempts to claim a part of history.

The rock cycle is a continuous process that changes one rock type into another. It shows how, through melting, erosion, sedimentation, and metamorphosis, rocks are continuously created, altered, and destroyed. The Grand Canyon is a treasure trove for geologists, displaying nearly two billion years of Earth’s geological history in its vibrant layers of exposed rock.

One of the rarest stones is painite, named after its discoverer, Arthur C.D. Pain (not because it causes pain). Only around 1,000 have been found, and of those, only a handful are of high quality. Their rarity makes them valuable.

The saying goes, “one can sink like a rock,” but if you were pumice, you would float! Unlike regular rocks, pumice does not sink in water because of its low density. It is an igneous rock formed when lava cools quickly above ground (lava froth), and you can see the little pockets of air that have formed inside it.

Certain types of rocks, like gypsum and other evaporite minerals, can grow over time. This happens when mineral-saturated water evaporates, leaving behind deposits that accumulate and form rock.

One of the most famous rocks is the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps. This majestic mountain is composed of metamorphic rocks—gneiss and schist.

The oldest rocks, called zircons, are about 4.4 billion years old. Discovered in Western Australia, they provide a glimpse into our planet’s early days.

The oldest intact rocks are from the Acasta Gneiss Complex in northwest Canada. These 3.9-billion-year-old Archean rocks, found in the Slave Craton of the Northwest Territories, offer insight into Earth’s early crust formation and recycling processes.

The Blarney Stone is a block of limestone embedded in the walls of Blarney Castle, near Cork, Ireland. According to legend, kissing the stone imparts the gift of eloquence. In earlier days, accomplishing this was a real test of courage, as kissers had to dangle headfirst over a gap to reach the stone. Today, iron railings provide handholds for safety.

Haystack Rock is a large rock formation near Cannon Beach along the Oregon coast. At 235 feet tall, it is the largest of the sea stacks found along the Pacific coast, shaped over millennia by lava, wind, and wave erosion.

Many assume Plymouth Rock is an imposing cliff where the passengers of the Mayflower first set foot on North American soil in 1620. In reality, the rock is quite small. The Mayflower actually first landed in Provincetown, not Plymouth, and Plymouth Rock was identified as significant decades after the pilgrims arrived. Despite this, Plymouth Rock remains a symbol of the birth of the United States. Over the years, it has been chipped away and broken as it moved from place to place as a tourist attraction. Today, it is housed in a monument at Pilgrim Memorial State Park in Plymouth, Massachusetts, with two large broken pieces on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

The Rock of Gibraltar, located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, is the highest point in Gibraltar and overlooks the Strait of Gibraltar. This rocky outcropping is an important resting area for migratory birds and is home to Europe’s only wild monkey species, the Barbary macaque.

The Rosetta Stone is a stone slab inscribed with a royal decree dating back to 196 BCE. While the decree itself is historically important, it’s the three languages on the stone that sparked fascination. The parallel texts in ancient Greek, Demotic Egyptian, and Egyptian hieroglyphs allowed researchers to finally translate ancient Egyptian writing.

Stonehenge, a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England, has been the subject of study for centuries. Its purpose and construction methods remain a mystery, though it’s estimated that it was built around 2500 BCE during the late Neolithic Age. The stones are arranged to align with the summer solstice sunrise.

At 230 feet across, the Great Arch of Getu in south-central China is the largest natural arch in the world. It was carved millions of years ago by an ancient river flowing through the porous limestone of southern China.

The Stone of Scone, a rectangular slab of red sandstone, has been used in the coronation ceremonies of Scottish and English monarchs for centuries. Originally housed in Scone Abbey, Scotland, it was taken by King Edward I of England in 1296. It remained in Westminster Abbey until 1950, when four Scottish students temporarily took it. The stone returned to Westminster, but in 1996, the British government decided it would stay in Scotland when not in use for coronations.

Devils Tower, an 867-foot-tall rock formation in the Black Hills of northeastern Wyoming, is the world’s largest example of columnar jointing. This rare geological process occurs when molten rock cools so quickly that it cracks into hexagonal columns.

We may not have the big stuff, but we have a variety of rocks for some interesting perusing!