Scintillating Beauty

02/06/2026

𝐑𝐎𝐀𝐃𝐂𝐔𝐓: 𝐃𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐌𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐀 ❤🗻😍⚒️

𝐃𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐚, 𝐇𝐏, 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚 🇮🇳

𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:
This is a roadcut situated in the west side of Khanyara village in the Dharamshala, HP.

The diverse colors of lithology is owing to structural deformities and vivid rock types characteristics of Himalayas.

Here, the greenish color is due to presence of greenschist minerals and the reddish appearance is due to iron leaching.

Open to your suggestions 🙌🗻

24/05/2026

𝘾𝙤𝙇𝙪𝙢𝙉𝙖𝙍 𝘽𝙖𝙎𝙖𝙇𝙏 😍⚒️💝

𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝘆 𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗺, 𝗡𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗜𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱, 𝗨𝗞 🇮🇪🇬🇧
55° 14′ 24.4″ N, 6° 30′ 38″ W

𝘿𝙀𝙎𝘾𝙍𝙄𝙋𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉:
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘁'𝘀 𝗖𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘄𝗮𝘆 is 𝗼𝗻𝗲 of the 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 of 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝘂𝗺𝗻𝗮𝗿 𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗮𝗹𝘁 in the 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱. The Giant’s 𝗖𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘄𝗮𝘆 is made up of 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝟰𝟬,𝟬𝟬𝟬 columns of 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲𝗶𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗮𝗹𝘁 that extend out into the 𝗔𝘁𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗢𝗰𝗲𝗮𝗻 like a pavement. The basalt columns at the Giant’s Causeway provided the 𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 to 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 the “𝗩𝘂𝗹𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁” 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗼𝗿𝘆 for the 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻 of 𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗸𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 the "𝗡𝗲𝗽𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘀" 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗼𝗿𝘆 that argued that 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗮𝗹𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿.

𝙂𝙀𝙊𝙇𝙊𝙂𝙔:
The 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝘂𝗺𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱 due to 𝘀𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 of 𝗹𝗮𝘃𝗮 that had 𝗽𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 in a 𝗽𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗼 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘆. The 𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗺 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗮𝗹𝘁𝘀 extend through much of 𝗻𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵-𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗜𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 and are the western extent of the 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗵 and 𝗜𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗜𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 formed 𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 the 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 of the 𝗡𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝘁𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗢𝗰𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘅𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝟱𝟬 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗴𝗼. 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗱 within the basalts is a 𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗹𝗮𝗴𝗲 of 𝘇𝗲𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝘀 that 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 a 𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 during their 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

𝗚𝗲𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗱: Paleogene

𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗚𝗲𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁: History of Geoscience & Volcanology

𝗔𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝟱𝟬 to 𝟲𝟬 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗴𝗼, during the 𝗣𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗼𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗲 𝗘𝗽𝗼𝗰𝗵, Antrim was subject to 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝘃𝗼𝗹𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆, when highly fluid 𝗺𝗼𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗮𝗹𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗱 through 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝗯𝗲𝗱𝘀 to form an 𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘃𝗼𝗹𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗮𝘂. As the lava 𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗹𝗲𝗱, 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 occurred. 𝗛𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱 in a similar way to 𝗱𝗿𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝘂𝗱, with the cracks propagating down as the mass cooled, leaving 𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗿-𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀.

𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 that 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀 the 𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 of 𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗮𝗹𝘁 𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀 yields 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 of "𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴". The cooling causes uniform 𝘀𝗵𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗮𝗴𝗲 and contraction expressed in columnar jointing of 𝗵𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗴𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿.

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 is one 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 of the 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 of 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝘂𝗺𝗻𝗮𝗿 basalt at 𝗚𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘁'𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘄𝗮𝘆.

𝗜𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝗲𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆/𝗴𝗲𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗦𝗖𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚? 😍🤩

𝙀𝙭𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙨:

1. Devils Postpile National Monument (California, USA) 🇺🇸
2. Devils Tower National Monument (Wyoming, USA)
3. Fort Davis National Historic Site (Texas, USA)
4. Grand Canyon National Park (Colorado River, USA)
5. John Day Fossil Beds National Monument (Oregon, USA)
6. Shenandoah National Park (Virginia, USA)
7. Coconut Island (Karnataka, INDIA 🇮🇳)
8. Garni Gorge (ARMENIA 🇦🇲)

📷:© geolman http://www.geodiversite.net/auteur5

Arpit Sahu Scintillating Beauty

21/05/2026

⚒️❤🙌

𝐏𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐓 😍❤⚒️

𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢, 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐚, 𝐊𝐍, 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚 🇮🇳

𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍: ⬇️
The picture showing a pillow basalt from maradihalli village. It is around ~2600 ma and formed in the marine environment as evidenced by spilitization at some places. Even after million ages, the pillows are undeformed and intact hence this site is recognized as the National Geological Heritage.

Here you can appreciate the chilled margin, v/y junctions, piped vesicles, rind and radial cracks etc.

A pillow basalt forms when basaltic magma get erupted into aqueous environment, thus they cooled as pillowed, bulbous shaped bodies.

18/05/2026

😍⚒️❤

𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐆𝐄: 𝐀𝐍𝐇𝐘𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 😍⚒️💓

𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐞𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐭 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐆𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 🇩🇪

𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍:⬇️
A layer of anhydrite in a background of rock salt (z3AM). The anhydrite layer (z3AMah), being stiffer, has been boudinaged, the necks of the boudins are filled with secondary halite. The bed was then folded, the necks acting as points where the fold axis formed. Taken in the Morsleben salt mine and depository.

📸:© David Tanner (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

16/05/2026

⚒️

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐚𝐕𝐄 𝐑𝐨𝐂𝐊 😍❤⚒

𝐇𝐲𝐝𝐞𝐧, 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐡, 𝐖𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐀𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚 🇦🇺

𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:
Granite domes or bornhardts are abundantly developed inthat area of south-western Western Australia popularlyknown as the Wheat Belt.

Wave Rock near Hyden Western Australia
Formed more than 2700 million years ago, Wave Rock is 14 metres high, and 110 metres long. The granite cliff resembling a wave about to break is on the northern face of a large erosional remnant called Hyden Rock. This curved cliff face has been rounded by weathering and water erosion, undercutting its base and leaving a rounded overhang. It was formed by water dissolving and re-depositing chemicals in the granite as it runs down the cliff face.

Granite domes or bornhardts are abundantly developed inthat area of southwestern Western Australia popularlyknown as the Wheat Belt. The Wheat Belt region is well known for one superb example of a flared slope, in Wave Rock (Figure lla), on Hyden Rock, though many other fine examples are exposed elsewhere on Hyden Rock and and other residuals. Flared slopes are well developedon similar granitic bornhardts on northwestern EyrePeninsula. Though their development is more complex thanwas at first thought, there is no doubt that they were initiated beneath the land surface as a result of subsurfaceweathering in the scarp-foot zone, and that the uppershoulder of the concavity marks a former hill-plain junction. Such flared slopes and associated caverns, or tafoni, and breaks of slope occur not only around the bases of the hills but also in various zones onthe hill slopes. The result is inselbergs that are stepped,with platforms or treads alternating with flared slopes or
steps. They imply exposure of the residuals not in a single phase of erosion of the surrounding plains, but rather episodically, with several alternations of weathering and erosion in evidence."

For more info: https://doi.org/10.1080/08120099808728444

📷-© Visintini

11/05/2026

𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐔𝐌𝐍𝐀𝐑 𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐓 😍❤⚒️

𝐆𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢 𝐆𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞, 𝐀𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐚 🇦🇲

𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍: ⬇️
The geology of Armenia was shaped by geological upheaval pushed up the Earth's crust to form the Armenian Plateau 25 million years ago. This created the complex topography of Armenia.

The Garni Gorge is situated 23 km east of Yerevan, Armenia, just below the village of the same name. On a promontory above the gorge the first-century AD Temple of Garni may be seen. Along the sides of the gorge are cliff walls of well-preserved basalt columns, carved out by the Goght River. This portion of the Garni Gorge is typically referred to as the "Symphony of the Stones".

The origin of columnar jointing is still uncertain, although it is usually explained by analogy with mud-cracks resulting from shrinkage at the surface of dried-up mud. The polygonal cracks in basalts are presumed to be due to contraction during cooling. It is assumed that the contraction acts towards a series of equally spaced cooling centres. A tension crack is supposed to form between two centres and since each centre is surroundedby many others, this leads to a multi-sided polygonal crack system that splits the rock intoroughly uniform polygonal blocks. As cooling proceeds to the interior, cracks are supposedto propagate inward at right angles to the cooling surface resulting in columnar structure."

📷:© Dav Sargsyan

07/05/2026

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐳𝐢𝐭𝐞: 𝐑𝐎𝐀𝐃𝐂𝐔𝐓 😍💓⚒️

𝐑𝐉, 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚 🇮🇳

06/05/2026

𝐅𝐋𝐘𝐒𝐂𝐇 😍❤⚒️

𝐈𝐭𝐳𝐮𝐫𝐮𝐧 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡, 𝐙𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐚, 𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 🇪🇸

𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍: ⬇️
Part of the 𝗘𝗼𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗲 𝗳𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗰𝗵 sequence cropping out at Playa de Itzurun near Zumaia, 𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗾𝘂𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗿𝘆. The sequence, called Jaizkibel Formation, consists of an alternation of 𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗲 and 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗲 layers and forms the youngest part of the alpidic 𝗟𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿-𝗖𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗼𝘂𝘀 to 𝗣𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗼𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲 𝗳𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗰𝗵 sequence between Deba amd 𝗭𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗮.

𝐅𝐋𝐘𝐒𝐂𝐒𝐇 𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐈𝐓: ⬇️
Flysch is a sedimentary rock formation that consists of alternating layers of shale, mudstone, sandstone, calcarenite, or conglomerate. It is formed in deep water environments, often in tectonically active orogenic belts.

📷:© Unukorno

04/05/2026

𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐔𝐌𝐍𝐀𝐑 𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐓 😍 💝⚒️

𝐏𝐢𝐜𝐨 𝐀𝐧𝐚 𝐅𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐚, 𝐏𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐈𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐏𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐠𝐚𝐥 🇵🇹

📷:© Nmnogueira

Scintillating Beauty Arpit Sahu