Nature
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Wisconsin's official state rock is an intrusive igneous red granite known as Wisconsin Ruby Red, quarried near Wausau and crystallized from magma about 1750 million years ago. Its red color comes from potassium feldspar (microcline) colored by finely divided hematite, while quartz gives it a glassy material and other minerals include oligoclase and biolite. Granite occurs in many textures and colors, including gray, green, black, pink, and red, and is used for monuments, building stone, floors, highway surfacing, and counter tops; in this case it was intended for use as riprap and in breakwaters. In 2004, the U.S. Corps of Engineers contracted with a Wausau quarry firm to deliver 800 granite blocks weighing from four to seven tons each to the west side of this canal for use at many Corps project sites.
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Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin · United States
