Neighborhood Rocks: Red Granite

		Granite is one of the most common igneous rocks. In our area, we find it along railroad tracks, in parking lots, in river gravels -- and in graveyards. (Many headstones are made of red granite.) To learn more about red granite, scroll farther down this page.
Red granite

	From a distance, it looks reddish or pink. Up close, you will also see dark gray and purplish spots.
	You can't scratch granite with a nail or knife. (See more about the scratch test.)
	Some broken surfaces have flat surfaces that shine in sunlight.
	Granite is made mostly of the minerals feldspar and quartz. (Reddish feldspars give this granite its color and break to form flat surfaces. The quartz crystals may be a semi-clear grayish or purplish color.)
	Many granites also contain small crystals of mica or darker minerals.

Pink quartzite:

	Pink quartzite is also reddish in color and hard to scratch.
	But, quartzite is made of just one mineral (quartz).

Pegmatite:

	Pegmatite is often pinkish in color, and most pieces are hard to scratch.
	Like granite, pegmatite is also made mostly of pinkish feldspar and whitish quartz.
	However, pegmatite crystals are much larger than granite crystals (often bigger than your fingernail!)

Saprolite:

	Saprolite is also reddish in color, and freshly broken surfaces may be hard to scratch.
	Saprolite is weathered granite. Fragments are often stained rusty red or coated with a dark reddish crust.

Where red granite came from

We know that somebody blasted this rock out of a
quarry and then crushed it into gravel-sized bits.
However, we haven't yet discovered exactly where
our red granite was quarried. (Similar rocks are
quarried in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma,
but we're not sure if our granite came from one of
those states or somewhere else.)

If you want to learn more about how granite is quarried,
you can take an online "tour" of a granite quarry in
Scotland at this link:
< http://www.cloburn.co.uk/thequarryprocess.htm >

We've seen 50-pound bags of red granite gravel labeled "crimson red."

Here are some ways to classify granite (by grouping it with similar types of rocks):

	Granite is an igneous rock, because it formed as melted rock cooled and hardened.
	Granite is sometimes classified as an intrusive igneous rock, because the melted rock cooled slowly, deep inside the Earth.

Links to Web sites about red granite

Geobop's Geosymbols: Granite. Granite is the state rock for six
states. This page tells lists all six, and tells you lots more about
granite.
< http://www.geobop.com/Symbols/Geo/1/Granite/ >

Willis Granite Products in Oklahoma, USA, uses red granite to
make historical monuments, veterans memorials, and bases
for sculptures and birdbaths:
< http://www.willisgranite.com/ >

Cloburn Quarry in Scotland uses crushed red granite gravel
as landscape stone and to make reddish concrete and asphalt:
< http://www.cloburn.co.uk/redgranite.htm >
You can see an online tour of their quarry at:
< http://www.cloburn.co.uk/thequarryprocess.htm >

Search for "red granite" on the Web -- you'll find many
other commercial sources for red granite. (We found
Websites for granite quarries in India, Finland, Australia,
and South Africa.)

	How to recognize red granite
	Other rocks that look like red granite
	Where red granite came from
	How granite formed
	Other names for red granite
	Links to Web sites about red granite

Neighborhood Rocks Search this Site

Red Granite ("GRAN-it")

How to recognize red granite

Other rocks that look like red granite

Where red granite came from

How red granite formed

Other names for red granite

Links to Web sites about red granite