White Mountains

White Mountains

Mica laden granite, the inspiration behind the "white" in the White Mountains.
mike_lindacher
on Sep 7, 2010 10:25 pm
Image Type(s): Informational
Image ID: 658430

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nartreb

nartreb - Sep 9, 2010 5:06 pm - Hasn't voted

not likely

I don't buy the rock-color theory of the name. There's basically no white rock visible from around the mountains. For example, I think this photo shows the quartzite block at Star Lake, which is not visible at all from below. The rest of the rock in the Whites just isn't shiny enough to inspire a name. It's much more likely that the mountains were named when there was some snow on them.

mike_lindacher

mike_lindacher - Sep 9, 2010 11:53 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: not likely

nartreb,

i think you're right, but i'm just going with the urban myth, or in this case, what i'm reading off wikipedia. this hunk of mica (at least that's what i'm reading via multiple sources) is adjacent to a small pond east and up above the madison hut.

nartreb

nartreb - Sep 10, 2010 7:53 am - Hasn't voted

Re: not likely

Yep, that's the rock I was thinking of. I recall it as much too granular to be mica, which has a sheetlike cleavage, though I'm no geologist. We can just call it a feldspatic megacryst.

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