Walking Downriver in September—3
November 19, 2019
Yes I always look for Leptothrix discophora when I’m at the river (see Sunday’s post), and yes our destination was the waterfall (see Monday’s post). But along the way many other things caught my eye. Here is a sampling. You’ll notice that I have a thing for rocks.
1 I don’t know what made those yellow-ish marks on the riverbed. Maybe it’s where mudstone is showing through algae that was scuffed up by a crayfish. Except that mudstone is grey—at least all the mudstone I’ve seen is.
2 I love seeing plants growing on other plants—even on dead ones. Logs that harbor other growth are called nurse logs. Isn’t that cool?
3 Many cliffs along the Vermilion River show where the earth has been formed or deformed over the eons—layers bent or upended. The white stripes are limestone layers in the shale that hold broken stalks of crinoid fossils.
4 The shale shore fractures in such interesting shapes. You’d think this is poured cement.
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6 We have glacial erratics all over Ohio. They are especially visible in and along river beds.
7 Along one section of the river, rocks were patterned with white lichens. At least I think these are lichens.
8 This plant, bedded down in the moss covering a rock, will have a short life. But what a pretty one.
Romancing Reality 