Boulder Sunday - Boulder In The Himekawa River, Japan Boulder
A few weeks ago I took a trip to the West Coast of Japan, Itoigawa. Along the way you have to travel through the Japanese Alps into some very narrow valleys cut by the Himekawa River. The river is full of gigantic boulders like this one, which is about the size of a van. It was just sitting down in the middle of the river daring the water to move it.
I love geology and wonder where this rock originated. How many thousands of years it's been moving? If some Japanese person from long ago pondered about it like I did? How long will it take to make it to the beach many miles downstream, etc.?
The river is also known for it's incredible jadeite stones which are fed from a tributary just passed where these photos were taken. I'll blog about it and my trip there for Mineral Mondays.
Thanks for reading!
Beautiful boulders @rt395! They look so different than
the other stones. A big lahar would get that boulder to
the beach in rock and roll record time! :-)
What are the best geological sites to find Jadeite?
And how is it created?
Thank you for sharing these wonderful boulders!
The best localities for Jadeite are Myanmar & Japan. Japan has blue and lavender which are amazing. Cali has green & white jadeite.
It's often formed by hydrothermal events, heated fluids under immense pressure forced up through cracks. If i remember correctly jadeite is low temperature, high pressure. It's formation is unique too. Crystals overlap each other in random patterns making it super tough.