I’ve been getting some questions about the types of rocks in Antarctica. This photo shows alternating layers of Beacon Sandstone and Ferrar Dolerite, two types of rock that we see at many of our field sites. The Beacon is Devonian in age (ball park 380 to 400 million years old) and is the lighter stuff in the photo. The Ferrar is Jurassic (150 to 180-ish million years old) and is the darker stuff in the photo that has intruded the Beacon. The Beacon is pretty poorly cemented, so it makes great ventifacts. I put a picture up earlier in this blog of me sitting on a really cool small overhanging ventifact (if you click on the November link under the archives section in the right hand column of this page, that will take you to the overhang photos). That was also the Beacon Sandstone. I took this photo through the window of the helo, and although it is stunning, it doesn't do justice to the actual beauty of the formation. Every exposure out here is like eye candy because there are no plants or soil coverages hiding the rock. Really incredible.