While to me it looks more like stone, to me it seems like it's definitely man made some how. Whether it's a form of slag something else I'm not sure.
Lock's Bridge
- Thread starter BEHR655
- Start date
I wasn't sure what else to call it. It's got a ton of sand in it. What would you consider it?
It is definitely beyond my knowledge.
It is definitely beyond my knowledge.
That is indeed fluted ironstone. The grooves and ridges were formed during past ice ages when the rock was sandblasted by heavy winds. Er, I think I got that right. Help me out here, Spung-Man. In any case, these features are commonly found in upland ironstone
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pinelandpaddler,
I have my two cent as we wait for spung-man, this is interesting, it's just a form of south Jersey brown stone. Found a lot in bank run gravel. That may have been truck in from a bank run gravel pit. Maybe by the state or by cart and donkey in the old days to repair the banks of the Mullica as require in the settlement between William Richards of Batsto and the Atsion Co. about 1799 +/-. Most likely the state. There may be a natural bank of this gravel back there, but not likely. Has nothing to do with the iron industry. Like all brown stone in New Jersey It has some iron in it, but not much. There are some hills of it along Atsion Road, in the old days it was mined and sold for foundations. I can't say for sure but you may find that some of the foundations at Friendship have this stone in them. I know that some of the foundations at Friendship were made of similar stone, but darker.
Thanks for all the input. It did seem more like stone than true slag. But the straight line seems more man made. Also the line seems to be coming down at a 90 degree angle, again not natural, to me at least. And if you look there is another line starting but is broken off. It only travels an inch or so. If this was complete I feel we would see another parallel line. I also broke another piece when we were there and the color runs through.
Don,
The ironstone in this particular location was used to build up the walls of the raceway. Where is the bank run gravel pit?
You might be surprised at the natural patterns and symmetry that characterize geologic features. Think of ripple marks and dunes, for instance. A similar process results in the features that look to you to be man-made.
You're right. Nature always surprises me. A straight line that comes down at a 90 degree angle to me screams man made and if that second line was intact a few inches more it would all but confirm it to me. But either way my 9 year old daughter has been googling slag and agrees it's not slag but wants to get to the bottom of it. She's been looking at it since we came home the other night and wants to go explore other locations. It makes me proud
Was it close enough to the bridge to have been dumped by the state? Sorry I ask so many question, but you guy see thing in person and know more about it than I.
The state used bank run gravel from around Chatsworth to repair some of the roads in Penn Forest this summer. I know one of the truck drivers, I think he was driving the Forest Fire's new dump truck. All those cut outs in the woods along Atsion Road were bank run gravel. They are over grown with woods today. Bank run gravel is just gravel taken from a pit and used as is with no mixing or washing. A bank run pit could be anywhere the gravel is good enough to use straight from the bank.
No I this was found downstream on the other side of the pond. Basically where the trail race seems to start. The picture I took looking upstream at the bridge is basically where we found it and there was much more there.
You're right. Nature always surprises me. A straight line that comes down at a 90 degree angle to me screams man made and if that second line was intact a few inches more it would all but confirm it to me. But either way my 9 year old daughter has been googling slag and agrees it's not slag but wants to get to the bottom of it. She's been looking at it since we came home the other night and wants to go explore other locations. It makes me proud
It is brownstone/ironstone/sandstone all are correct. Most of the brownstone buildings in New York came from north and central New Jersey. I knew a guy that had a collection of shapes from this south Jersey brown stone, some were unbelievable. A friend of mine has a hill of it on his farm. He fenced it in and raised goat there at one time.
Well. I think we all agree that this is stone and has nothing to do with the iron making process. The lines in this particular piece is what was throwing me off. I still feel like the lines were created by people some how. It doesn't look like the were cut in. Could it possibly be the location it was sitting. With the lines being darker could it be almost like stelagtights for lack of a better term. Like if it was sitting on a couple boards and the only place I could drop off would be I between them. I could be just over thinking the whole thing.
This is a hill of brownstone/ironstone. Not many large stones here but we never dug into it. Years ago it could have been mined. I stone hill like this would increase the value of the land.
Don
Don
I'm thinking I'm getting closer to the origin of this stone. The straight line still doesn't seem natural.
I placed the straight edge on it just as a reference. I also pointed to the other line that if continued on would be parallel. The other stones I found there were relitvely brittle. My original thought of it being slag was based on the fact that it was just dumped there and used as fill. If it was useful in any way they wouldn't have wasted energy to dispose of it. Could this possibly be the byproduct of a stone cutting operation. I know there can't be many around here but this kind of makes sense. When cutting tiles on my wet saw I wind up with a layer of sludge that if I let dry would look just like the tile just more brittle. Could this be the byproduct of cutting brownstone? Stone dust as opposed to saw dust?
I placed the straight edge on it just as a reference. I also pointed to the other line that if continued on would be parallel. The other stones I found there were relitvely brittle. My original thought of it being slag was based on the fact that it was just dumped there and used as fill. If it was useful in any way they wouldn't have wasted energy to dispose of it. Could this possibly be the byproduct of a stone cutting operation. I know there can't be many around here but this kind of makes sense. When cutting tiles on my wet saw I wind up with a layer of sludge that if I let dry would look just like the tile just more brittle. Could this be the byproduct of cutting brownstone? Stone dust as opposed to saw dust?
I think I'd stop short of referring to South Jersey sandstone as brownstone. While it is a brown stone it isn't brownstone. Sort of the way blueberries are blue berries but not all blue berries are blueberries (don't read that after drinking a bit or smoking something medicinal, lest you end up staring into space, mumbling "Whooooooa" ). Sandstone from the brownstone quarries in North Jersey that supplied the well-known urban building stone, especially in NYC, had a significant feldspar content which is usually lacking in South Jersey sandstone or ironstone. There are many different sandstone formations around the world, each with different mineral content. It may mean little to us but gets geologists very excited. 
). Sandstone from the brownstone quarries in North Jersey that supplied the well-known urban building stone, especially in NYC, had a significant feldspar content which is usually lacking in South Jersey sandstone or ironstone. There are many different sandstone formations around the world, each with different mineral content. It may mean little to us but gets geologists very excited.
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