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Brown Quartzite Pebbles ("KWARTZ-ite")

Brown quartzite pebbles		These pebbles are made of grains of quartz welded together to form a really hard rock. They were rounded smooth as they were battered and ground against each other in moving water, in a river or on a beach. To learn more about these quartzite pebbles, scroll farther down this page.

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

How to recognize brown quartzite

	This rock is mostly brown or tan in color, although some pieces may also be reddish, yellowish, or gray.
	Its grains are usually sand-sized bits of quartz -- but you usually can't see the grains, because they are welded together.
	The sand grains are so tightly welded with that the rock breaks through the grains more. (Sandstone breaks around the grains.)
	You cannot scratch quartzite with a nail or knife. (See more about the scratch test.)
	Quartzite made almost entirely of the mineral quartz.

Other rocks that look like brown quartzite

Brown quartzite is the only rock in our neighborhood
that is this smooth and hard.

Where brown quartzite came from

Brown quartzite is sold under the trade name, "Alabama
Sunset," so we're pretty sure it comes from the state of
Alabama in the southern United States.

How brown quartzite formed

Brown quartzite was originally a sandstone, made of grains
of quartz sand cemented into rock. This rock was later
altered by heat and pressure, which sealed the grains even
more tightly together, changing it into much tougher quartzite
rock.

Other names for brown quartzite

We use the scientific name "quartzite" for this rock,
but it is also known by other names:

We've seen 50-pound bags of brown quartzite pebbles gravel sold as "Alabama Sunset."

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

	Quartzite is a metamorphic rock, because it was changed by heat and pressure from one rock type into another.
	Quartzite is sometimes classified as a meta-sedimentary rock, because it was originally a sedimentary rock.

Links to Web sites about quartzite

The Volcano World Web site has a short page about quartzite.
< http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/vwlessons/lessons/Slideshow/Merocks/Merock6.html >

The Stone Age Reference Collection Web site discusses
quartzite as a raw material for making stone tools.
< http://www.hf.uio.no/iakk/roger/lithic/quartzite.html >

The Quartzite Rock Association advocates for the use of
quartzite in road and building construction. (Their home
page shows a picture of a quartzite quarry.)
< http://www.quartzite.com/index.htm >

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This page was created on May 2, 2001, and it was last updated on July 27, 2002.