I have always like walking or biking on ground that is half-mouldering leaves. I don't know why. Perhaps it is because so many years in western states has turned leaves into exotic, hard-to-find miracles of nature.
But what about the opposite: when dirt becomes leaves? You could almost think of crypto-biotic soil as an example of that. But I was thinking of the paper-thin lamellas of sedimentary rock that are found where I am currently camping in central Utah. Here is one that is living dangerously:
Let's look at one without the dog:
At times you see thin layers somewhat earlier in their natural history. (Not really. But it is fun to think so.)
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| Look for the diving board in the right-center of the photo. |
Maybe this sort of things seems interesting because it stimulates a human being to imagine the inorganic as organic, the static as the moving, the lifeless as the living. After all, how much looking at stuff does a human being need? At some point they must "see" something for it to remain interesting.
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