Circle of Rock Life Michele Laughing-Reeves

Circle of Rock Life

By Michele Laughing Reeves

When we hear the phrase circle of life, we of often imagine the opening scene of The Lion King and Rafiki holding Simba above the peak of Pride Rock. The rock formation of Pride Rock is symbolic of the monarch and of how “solid and sturdy” it is. The circle of life phrases is as old as human history, and that is a very, very long time; especially since today’s teenagers consider the 80s as “so last century.” The human version of the circle of life is puny in comparison to a rock’s version. The slab of Earth that we are now standing on isn’t the original layer from 4.5 billion years ago. Rocks, too, have a life cycle, and from it can yield extraordinary things. Wherever we travel, one of the first things we notice is the landscape, especially rock formations. We have within a short drive Pyramid Rock, El Morro, Monument Valley, and of course, the Grand Canyon. These formations are millions, billions of years in the making, so yes, they are impressive. We are also guilty of pocketing a pebble or two from these places and bring it home to place on the shelf. The appreciation of nature should not be so simple, the rock has a whole lifetime of history. Most rocks in northwestern New Mexico are sedimentary rocks, but many other types can be found among the sandstones and mudstones. Even a short walk out the front door can yield cool-looking rocks. Many visitors and locals take a short drive to hike Pyramid Rock, the Hogbacks, and the Chuska Mountains. These geological formations are impressive backdrops, but they are also impressively remade during the rock cycle.

Rocks around here could be all shades of sandstones or shale, but other types, like volcanic, can be found among them. If you’ve very attentive, you may even find a glistening crystal, a petrified rock, or a strange alien-looking rock. We know that Shiprock is a volcanic rock formed when the cone eroded away,

A peek at my father’s rock collection

leaving the neck of the cooled, hardened magma jutting out of the desert. Mt. Taylor, to the East, is a dormant volcano with a lava field of twisting and curving cooled molten rock. So, finding a piece of basalt usually means it was formed around the Jurassic Era. Similarly, petrified rocks take millions of years to form, and they are easier to spot because of its crystalline appearance. A whole forest of petrified wood means that a sudden disaster, like a volcanic eruption or a mudslide, buried a large, forested area nearly halting the decomposition process of the trees. Over millions of years, the carbon tissues of the trees are replaced by silica and minerals. Petrified rocks can be found throughout the area, which means this place was once under mud or ash.

The rarest type of rock is a meteorite. It is rare because most outer space asteroids or meteors usually burn up as it is entering Earth’s upper atmosphere. Finding a meteorite is a modern-day treasure hunt, museums and galleries will pay more than $2000 per pound. It is also helpful to know that meteorites have many different appearances and shapes and can be just as difficult to categorize. Because meteorites originate from space, they become part of the rock cycle here on Earth--the circle of life that takes only several million years to complete. Meanwhile, there is time for you to stumble across one.

The reason why I find rocks so fascinating is because my father has an extensive rock collection. When he retired, he spent most days herding sheep. While the sheep were grazing, he was searching nearby for interesting looking rocks. He picked rocks that were shiny, spiky, odd-colored, holey, petrified, striped, clustered, and had neat designs. His collection takes up a lot of space around the garage, but I always love looking and finding something new or different every time. I even suspect that a few are meteorites, but probably not. Who would’ve thought that it would take a shepherd and his collection to get me to appreciate my surroundings. Rocks tend to be underrated. People don’t take notice until one is polished and set in a pendant or ring or better yet, it makes a picturesque red sandstone formation in Monument Valley. The life of a rock is millions of years long, we have time to take more hikes and to appreciate nature’s beauty—large and pocket-sized.