“Life On A Gneiss Rock” — Image by kenne
When you spend time in Sabino Canyon, you will see a lot of gneiss rock. Twenty-five million years ago two ancient rock types, 1.4-billion-year-old Oracle granite and 50-million-year-old wilderness granite combined to form a type of striped and banded rock called gneiss — pronounced “nice.” Today these striped rocks are seen in canyon cliffs and some streambeds. On the more shaded cliffsides, it is common to find different types of mosses and ferns growing on the nice rocks, especially during rainy seasons.
— kenne
Very gneiss, kenne!