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Some of the oldest rocks in the world include the
gneiss found in the Minnesota River Valley. The Morton Gneiss, which is
3.6 billion years old, is a coarsely crystalline, foliated metamorphic rock.
The texture and mineral assemblage of the Morton Gneiss give clues as to
how the rock formed. The fact that it is a crystalline rock with large visible
grains indicates that it originated as a granitic igneous rock that cooled
slowly beneath the Earth’s surface. The foliation, or alignment of the mineral
grains, indicates that the original rock was subjected to great heat and
pressure deep below the Earth’s surface. Gneiss is quarried for use as building
stone and monuments. You can find outcrops of gneiss near Morton (the famous
“Rainbow Gneiss”), Redwood Falls, Sacred Heart and Ortonville. |
