Why is it called a pudding stone?

The Puddingstone got its name from the British settlers that were stationed at area Forts like that found on Drummond. It is so named because the English believed it looked like boiled suet pudding with berries. The one you see above is an example of a Jasper Conglomerate.

How do you identify a Puddingstone?

Puddingstone, also known as either pudding stone or plum-pudding stone, is a popular name applied to a conglomerate that consists of distinctly rounded pebbles whose colours contrast sharply with the colour of the finer-grained, often sandy, matrix or cement surrounding them.

Do pudding stones have gold in them?

A Puddingstone is a conglomerate of pebbles and stones that vary in color, surrounded by white quartz that took millions – some say billions – of years to cement itself around these pebbles. On rare occasions, diamonds, gold, platinum, sapphire, and zircon have been found in Puddingstones.

How old are pudding stones?

All puddingstones have things in common (such as mineral composition), but they can look very different. The age has never been proved, but it is thought to be about 50 million years old. Puddingstones are a natural rock called conglomerate with an unusual history – a story of extremes.

Where is the best place to find pudding stones?

In North America, pudding stones are most commonly found across Michigan, around the Ontario peninsula, and less commonly on the surrounding coastlines of the Great Lakes.

Where are pudding stones found in Michigan?

Pudding stone They’re composed of a white quartzite matrix with sharply contrasting red and brown jasper pebbles. Pudding stones can be found on any of the Lake Michigan or Lake Huron shorelines, Knightstep said.

What does Puddingstone look like?

Michigan’s pudding stones are usually white quartzite full of jasper, which tends to have a reddish color, said Sarah Brownlee, a geology professor at Wayne State University. The stones started out as rocky riverbeds and got pressed together into formations the size of a house or as large as Comerica Park.

How is a Puddingstone formed?

Smaller sands or silts surround larger pebbles and harden deep beneath the Earth’s surface. In the case of pudding stones, they are first formed from a sand that is then metamorphosed to quartzite under heat and pressure.

How old are Michigan pudding stones?

around 2.3 billion years ago
Current theories speculate that these rocks originally formed in what is now Canada around 2.3 billion years ago and were carried to Michigan in the till of the Laurentide glacier which covered the state approximately 24,000 years ago.

What Stone are diamonds found in?

The diamond is the hardest natural substance known. It is found in a type of igneous rock known as kimberlite. The diamond itself is essentially a chain of carbon atoms that have crystallized.

Where can I buy pudding rocks in Michigan?

You’ll find pudding stones on Drummond Island and along Michigan’s eastern shore (you can find small ones in Lake Michigan, but they’re very rare). Large pudding stone boulders have been found near Clare.

Can you take rocks from Lake Superior?

Yes, it’s free to go on the beach and collect the most incredible rocks! Yes, you can walk along Lake Superior shoreline, it’s covered with rocks.