Geology walking tour of downtown Charlottesville, VA

• Basic Geology
• Types of Rocks
  • Igneous
  • Sedimentary
  • Metamorphic
• Weathering & Erosion
• The Rock Cycle
• Tour of Downtown area to note the geology of the building stones

• A rock contains a combination of different minerals.
• A mineral is a naturally-occurring inorganic substances with a definite and predictable chemical composition and physical properties.
• There are 3 general types of rocks.

• Igneous rock is created by the cooling of magma.Intrusive rocks cool within the earth and the grain side is generally larger due to slow cooling
  Extrusive rocks form from lava that flowed out of volcanoes or from the volcanic ash that spewed out, and the grain size is generally smaller due to fast cooling

• Sedimentary rock is sand, gravel, clay, shells that have fallen to the bottoms of lakes, riverbeds, ponds, oceans.
  
  Under pressure these rocks show layering or bedding of the particles.
  
  Sediments are a consequence of erosion and weathering.

• Metamorphic rock has been changed or altered by heat and pressure after formation.

• Weathering is the break down of rocks (minerals and soil) through contact with the earth’s atmosphere, water and organisms . Weathering happens to the rocks.
  Mechanical or physical weathering is the break down through direct contact with atmospheric conditions, such as heat, water, ice and pressure.

• Marble Urns
• Marble Keystone

• Built in 1936 as a US Post Office
• Louis A Simon – Supervising Architect
  
• Columns, door and window frames are marble from Sylacoga, GA
• Steps are granite from South Carolina.
• Sides are granite and flagstone-slate walkway

• Built in 1899, 1911 Victorian Style.
• White Marble Keystone in grey pressed brick construction
• Tax records show a building added 1909 – property owned by John M. white as security for $25,000 in bond loan. Alterations in 1911 after Isaac Hughes bought it at auction for debts due.

• Built in 1985 as a Radisson Hotel
• Floors are brick pavers -baked clay with polyurethane for a high gloss finish for their brick tiling.
• Top of walls around fountain are green

• Built in 1975
• Designed by Lawrence Halprin
• Carved Pink Granite
• With White Granite boarder pavers

• Built in 1950s? as P.H. Rose Department Store.
• Renovated in 1994 by Jerry Dixon at JD Architects. Martin Horn were the builders.
• Rock Pavers are porcelain tile with Idaho Quartzite paver in center
• Rocks on the side are from Shadwell’s Luck Stone Quarry – Names denote York and Lewis and Clark’s trip

• Front is Pink Granite panels

• Built in 1919-1920
• Marsh & Peter, Architects
• Pink Granite Base
• Sandstone block front- Notice the weathering from old to new wing

• Opened 1931 with restoration in 1992
• Created by C.W. and George Rapp
• Green Serpentinite base with Granite wall panels on entrance
• Serpentinite base and flooring for Box Office

• Built in 1993
• Built by City, Jefferson National Bank, Charlottesville Parking Center
• Soapstone on front panels is from Alberene Quarry, it is a metamorphic stone from Talc. Notice the iron pyrite

• Built in 1915-1916 as the People’s National Bank
• Designed by Eugene Bradbury- Architect
• Fossiliferous Sandstone columns and walls – notice the shells and worm tracks
• Base is white granite

• Built in 1959
• Built by R. E. Lee Construction, Co.
• Designed by Stainback & Scribner
• Greenstone in the entry way and panels under windows are serpentinite.

• Built in 1976
• Construction is brick and concrete
• Notice the cover overhangs are weathered and iron stain on concrete
• Notice copper overhangs are weathered brown

• Built in 1940’s? as Army Navy Store (A&N Store)
• Redesigned in 2011
• Notice the bright orangey color of the copper – that has not been weathered.

• Building began in June 1967. Moved in March 15-16, 1969
  
• Built by R. E. Lee & Son, Inc.
• Designed by Grigg, Wood & Brown, Charlottesville
• Floors are marble terazza
• Columns are sandstone.
• Panels are slate from Buckingham, VA.
• Statues are L-R: James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe

• Built in 1905
• Built by C&O Railway (Chesapeake & Ohio)

• Designed by Wilson, Harris & Richards, Architects
• Sills are cement
• Red brick neoclassical design-Ionic Portico on Water Street
• 1st Railway depot opened here in 1848, burned in 1865 by Gen. Philip H. Sheridan’s Union Army, rebuilt in 1883, and replaced in 1905.“

• Built in 2006
• Built by Empire Granite of Richmond

• Designed by Peter O’Shea & Robert Winstead (won competition by Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression)
• Made of Slate panels and is 42 feet long from Buckingham Virginia Slate Corporation that can be written on using chalk.

• These rocks are from the Shadwell Quarry
• Catoctin Greenstone (metamorphosed basalt), epidote, blue quartz, smoky quartz, feldspar – pink & white, mica,
• Blocks are formed concrete

• Built in 1965
• Built by General Services Administration, US Government

• Built as the Health, Education and Welfare Building, then FSTC, NGIC
• This building is painted and carved concrete with red brick

• Built in 1933.

• Brick construction with carved panels.

• Erected in 2009

• Donated by Heritage Memorials, Charlottesville
• Jet Black Granite (Diabase) quarried in Belfast, South Africa.

• Old Rock Wall with Concrete/Cement Post

• Local field stone and meta-basalt from Shadwell Quarry

• Built in 1934 as a parking garage for the Monticello Hotel.
  
• The soapstone is from the Alberene quarry and was installed when Virginia Broadcasting Corp remodeled the building for use as a TV station in 1984
• Entry way is Alberene Soapstone with brass inlay of “29”
• Quartzite Boulder outside of building

• Built in 1956
• Designed by Stainback & Scribner
• Green stone is carved marble

• Rock wall of local field stone
• River Rock from Rose River, Madison, VA
• Cactoctin Greenstone
• Quartzite, Feldspar, Epidote, Jasper, Iron Pyrite, Meta-basalt, porphoblasts

• Built in 1926
• Designed by Stanhope Johnson
• Base is white granite
• Blocks are sandy cement

• Courtroom built in 1803. 1859 Front two story with portico

• Built by John Jordon of Lexington in 1803, and George Spooner in 1859
• Designed by Committee of George Divers, Wm. D. Meriwether, and Isaac Miller in 1803 and William A. Pratt at UVA in 1859.
• Steps are white granite –notice iron pyrite
• DAR Tablet is made of marble placed in 1938.
• Sandstone Window Sill – see brachiopod
• Memorial Rock is Catoctin Greenstone

• 
• Dedicated May 5, 1909 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy
• Built by Kyle Granite Co. Washington, DC. 2nd Contractor after Walsh’s death and cockade would not produce.
• Designed by Charles R. Walsh of Cockade Marble Works of Petersburg, VA in 1907
• Base is white granite
• Statute is bronze made by American Bronze Co. Chicago, IL

• Built in 1902-03.
• 1905 was built by J.E. Early as Elks Lodge 389.
• Remodeled 1940’s.
• Latest remodel in 2006-7
• Built by
• Designed by Floyd Johnson in 1940’s.
• Flooring and steps are Gabbro
• The statue was erected in 1981 and carved by David Breeden using Alberene Soapstone

• Built in 2004-2007
• Built by Kenbridge
• Designed by Wallace, Roberts, and Todd, LLC
• Man made stone for Walkway and Steps
• Sandstone Lintel

	Pyrite Inclusions are as large as a US Quarter

• Built in 1876/1880
• The stone used came from the older jail that was in Court Square
• Built and designed by G. W. Spooner
• J. Samuel McCue was
• hung on Feb. 10, 1905, the last person to be hung publically in VA.
• Block Stone of Catoctin Green Stone (metamorphosed basalt) most likely from Moores Creek, Charlottesville Quarry.

• Erected in 1921
• Built by Jackson & Little Sorrell. Cast by Roman Bronze Works of NY. Pedestal produced by Lloyd Brothers Memorials, Washington, DC
• Designed by Charles Keck
• Pedestal is pink granite
• Green staining on mortar due to weathering of the bronze
• Gift of Paul Goodloe McIntire
• Statue Restoration Ceremony held September 26, 1999.

• Built in 1919-22
• Designed by Walter Dabney Blair
• Marble Balustrades
• Marble Arches, Columns, flooring, base of statue

Marble Arches, Columns
Large Sandstone Boulder

• Man-made Stone seen on the Tour
• Concrete is a composite construction material composed primarily of aggregate, cement and water.
• Cement is a binder of burnt lime, volcanic ash and other products.
• Terrazzo is a composite material poured in place or precast, which is used for floor and wall treatments. It consists of marble, quartz, granite, glass or other suitable chips, sprinkled or unsprinkled, and poured with a binder that is cementitious, chemical or a combination of both
• Tile is a manufactured piece of hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, or even glass. Tiles are generally used for covering roofs, floors, walls, showers, or other objects such as tabletops.
• Natural Stone seen on the Tour
• Granite is an igneous rock that is composed of four minerals. These minerals are quartz, feldspar, mica, and usually hornblende.
• Diabase is a dark-gray to black, fine-textured igneous rock composed mainly of feldspar and pyroxene and used for monuments and as crushed stone.
• Soapstone is an impure massive variety of talcoseis
• Marble is limestone metamorphosed) by heat and pressure
• Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains
• Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from shale.
• Gabbro is coarse-grained intrusive igneous rock, made of calcium-rich plagioclase, with amphibole and/or pyroxene
• Diorite is n intrusive igneous rock made of plagioclase feldspar and amphibole and/or pyroxene
• Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite.
• Copper is a ductile metal
• Iron Pyrite is an iron sulfide with metallic luster
• Catoctin Greenstone is metamorphosed basalt
• Unakite is an altered granite composed of pink orthoclase feldspar, pistachio green epidote, and colorless quartz
• (Unofficial Gemstone of the Commonwealth of Virginia)
• Quartzite is a hard, non-foliated metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone.
• Feldspar is a tectosilicate mineral that makes up as much as 60% of the Earth crust. Feldspars crystallize from magma in both intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks, as veins, and are also present in many types of metamorphic rock.
• Epidote is a calcium aluminum iron sorosilicate mineral found in metamorphic rock
• Jasper is igneous, a form of chalcedony, cryptocrystalline form of silica