The ROK rocks

You might not have noticed that we have a great variety of rocks to check out right here on Osan Air Base. There are big ones, like the ones right out in front of Hallasan Tower, all the way down to small ones used for landscaping at Turumi, at the swimming pool, and in the little stone pagodas scattered around base. Almost all kids love rocks!

To start with, right in front of Hallasan, there are some nice big gneiss (pronounced 'nice'), which is a common metamorphic rock. You can see the mineral bands that have been curved as a result of tremendous heat and pressure inside the earth.

Also in front of Hallasan Tower are some nice chunks of igneous rocks, probably diorite. They are located around the mailbox. The benches in the entryway and the ones on the playground are made entirely of two different types of highly polished igneous rocks, probably diorite (the darker ends) and granite (the lighter bench portion).

And, don't ignore the little rocks! Pumice can be found in many places around base, like around the base of the electronic sign at Turumi. Many of these will float, at least for a little while, until the air holes fill with water. Nice smooth white Quartzite can also be found at Turumi: look near the bike racks as you come out of Rickenbackers. The smooth gray rocks in the pagodas are also probably a variety of quartzite. The small rocks are great for learning about rocks, but they also make awesome math manipulatives. Just put them back when you're done!

If you want to learn more about rocks, minerals or geology, check out these sites:

Kids OLR

Kidsgeo.com

Kidinfo.com