(photo by Lee St. John)
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This is a glacial erratic near Lebanon in southwestern Ohio. Glacial erratics are isolated boulders left behind by melting glaciers. The rock originates from a Precambrian outcrop in Canada and was transported to Ohio during the Pleistocene Ice Age. It is heavily stained by weathering, but foliation is still visible, as are alternating bands of light and dark minerals. These are the physical characteristics of gneiss, a common, high-grade metamorphic rock.
Interestingly, this rock has been misidentified as a meteorite at times in the past. A 1958 highway map of Warren County, Ohio actually labels it as a "Large Meteor"!! I acquired a digital image of that old map (see the previous picture in this photo album or photostream).
Locality: large boulder behind Rock School House, western side of Route 123, just north of Interstate 71, southeast of the town of Lebanon, central Warren County, southwestern Ohio, USA (39° 24' 58.86" North latitude, 84° 09' 26.27" West longitude)
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