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Is there a geologist in the house?

M

Mz Chaos

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Up here in the mountains of NE Washington there is a rocky formation that is named Corkscrew Mountain.
On my travels, I have had the pleasure of visiting Devil's Tower. Now, this thing puts me in mind of that but is different in the fact that it has spiraled crevices which look almost like a "staircase" of sorts.
I am including a picture of it. Unfortunately from the angle the picture was taken, the spiral effect is not as prominently shown. I wish I could have gotten a shot from the "good" side.
My question is... Why does it have and how did it get the spirall effect?
 
Most likely reason

Mz Chaos said:
Up here in the mountains of NE Washington there is a rocky formation that is named Corkscrew Mountain.
On my travels, I have had the pleasure of visiting Devil's Tower. Now, this thing puts me in mind of that but is different in the fact that it has spiraled crevices which look almost like a "staircase" of sorts.
I am including a picture of it. Unfortunately from the angle the picture was taken, the spiral effect is not as prominently shown. I wish I could have gotten a shot from the "good" side.
My question is... Why does it have and how did it get the spirall effect?
Click to expand...
The mountain itself, like the Devil's Tower, was formed when the soft hardened ash slopes of a volcano eroded away from the core of harder rock which filled up and plugged what used to be the throat when it was actively erupting. Depending on exact composition and local conditions, this harder rock can crystallize in any number of different regular geometric shapes. Erosion causes some of the shapes to fall away from the main mass, and the adjacent shape to one that has fallen often goes next. This would explain the stairway effect.
In other places, I don't recall precisely where, the effect has caused a formation resembling an array of vertical tubes of different lengths and diameters called the Pipe Organ, and off the coast of Ireland an apparent pavement of hexagonal blocks called the Giant's Causeway.
I'm pretty sure that answers the question. :wiseowl: :wiseowl: :wiseowl: :wiseowl: :wiseowl:
Mastertank1

We who play and dance are thought mad by they who hear no music.
 
Limestone is a 'chemical sedimentary rock' composed primarily of calcite (CaCO3) precipitated from water. It may form inorganically by precipitation of calcite from saturated water, biochemically in the formation of animal hard-parts, or as a combination of the two processes. Examples of inorganically formed limestones are stalactites and stalagmites, found in caves. Calcium carbonate dissolved in the water that drips in caves may precipitate out as icicle like formations. Examples of biochemically produced limestones are coral reefs and chalk. Coral reefs are formed of the skeletons of coral invertebrate animals. Chalk is a soft rock made up of the skeletal parts of microscopic marine organisms that settle to the bottom of warm shallow seas.

A combination of inorganic and biochemical processes forms coquina. Coquina is the name given to limestone in the form of loosely compressed and cemented shell fragments. This is sometimes called detrital limestone if it contains large shell fragments or complete shells. Oftentimes, the limestone is softer or less acid-resistant than the shell fragments. This results in the fragments presenting on the surface of the limestone, as the surrounding material dissolves and/or erodes away. This phenomenon is analogous, in miniature, to the formation of volcanic chimneys (such as Devil's Tower) or intrusive dikes (such as the Palisades).

or aka: Aliens
 
I'm a geology buff, and I'm curious about the mountain you've described. I tried to Google it, but I couldn't find anything specifically called "Corkscrew Mountain." Would you mind giving a bit more information as to its location? :smilestar
 
I'm not even sure if that is it's proper name, but that is what the locals call it. It is in the Republc / Curlew / Wauconda area in Ferry County. I really wish I had gotten a picture of the one side if it... the spirals are quite impressive. It almost looks as if you could walk one around it from the bottom to the top. Unfortunately I was riding with a control freak of a friend and it was more or less I ain't stopping so take what pics you can get from here (we were in a moving car).
I understand the volcanic and erosion aspect but the patterns on it are just so bizarre and so well spaced that it just grabs your attention. I would have loved to have seen a time lapse of the erosion and the forces that caused it to spiral so severly.
 
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isabeau said:
um are you sure?

isabeau
Click to expand...
Maybe he meant cave men 10,000 years ago. Just got the decimal point wrong.
Maybe it was done by a giant grizzly long gone extinct.
 
Settlers 1000 years ago...

would have had to be Vikings. Guess they carved the mountain with their battle axes?
I knew they penetrated as far inland as Minnesota, but I never heard they made it to Washington State! :wiseowl:

Mastertank1

We who play and dance are thought mad by they who hear no music.
 
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Oh No... it is no where near Curlew State Park. It's on Kettle River Road going west out of Curlew. Curlew State Park is more towards Republic on Hwy 21.

I'm looking for it now... even though I'm pretty good with topographical maps... yours doesn't show the roads... so I was having trouble orienting myself.
So I'm checking elsewhere. cross your fingers.
 
Last edited:
Okay... Obviously I either suck at seeing this thing from the air or I didn't have the patience to go far enough.
Follow the west road... about 10 miles up this road is another that goes west and south. I hate to sound vague... but it is on one of these two to the passenger side (right) of the road. I hardly ever travel this way and have only been this way 4 times in 13 years so I apologize that I didn't pay attention to the miles I drove to pass it going between Curlew and Wauconda.
But... at least you have this much to go on.
Good luck!

http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=10&Z=11&X=1912&Y=27076&W=1&qs=|curlew||
 
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