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Looking Glass Rock

This bald-sided peak is visible from the Blue Ridge Parkway, near Asheville North Carolina. The peak’s name, “Looking Glass Rock”, supposedly originates from the way the light reflects off the slopes, particularly when snowy or wet.

Although much of the Appalachians is composed of folded and metamorphosed sedimentary rocks, this rock stands out due to it being igneous. This is a pluton, a batch of magma formed about 380 million years ago. As the Appalachians were being built, a number of small magma batches formed, resulting from piling up and heating of rocks at the bottom of the mountain range. This rock is one of a couple that date to the Acadian Orogeny, which occurred when an island arc accreted to North America; the rocks of that island arc can be found in Maine today.

-JBB

Image credit: https://flic.kr/p/HAAjf