stones embedded in sandstone boulders

Mother Nature is the supreme artist and her creations can be seen everywhere... sky, clouds, mountains, valleys, rocks, water, seas, sand, rivers, lakes, flora, fauna.. it goes on and on. Even the angry side of Nature has its beauty such as lava flowing out from a volcano or a tornado. One of the most stable objects on our planet are stones. Perhaps it won't be an overstatement to call them the most stable?

Stones have been man's best friend since the time man existed. Rocks gave shelter to human beings. Rocks became man's tools and weapons. Then with imagination humans started building shelters using stone. Humans also made graves using stones. In the present day we get to see countless creations of  ancient humans, some simple, some sophisticated. Whatever the creations are they are beautiful. One of the aspects of the beauty is the natural or the raw texture of stone. It doesn't matter what type of stone. It could be marble, granite, sandstone, basalt, slate, limestone, laterite, etc. Each of them have their own characteristics, some my be preferred over the other for  certain physical qualities but when it comes to visual appeal, all are equal - that's the way I see them.

Apart from regular stones i.e. the ones which are homogenous, there are heterogenous types as well. I'm not sure if the terminologies are right but I think they convey the meaning. I've come across the heterogenous types mostly in the sandstone hills of Bagalkot district.

Quoting a couple of lines describing sandstone from a stone manufacturer in Rajasthan:

Sandstones are defined as sand particles cemented together into a rock. These stones are a type of rock made of sediments, and that is why they are called the sedimentary rocks. Sedimentary rock is a name provided to a stone if the cluster arrangement of that stone includes clasts, pieces of minerals, and rocks’ fragments.

Sandstones are formed in a very interesting and two-way process. The first consists of a layer of sand accumulating as the result of sedimentation either from water or air. And secondly, when the sand is accumulated, the sand turns into a sandstone when compacted by the pressure of overlying deposits and cemented minerals filling the pore spaces between sand grains.

Here are a few examples of a different type of stone embedded in sandstone. Geology specialists would know what these examples are called. Laymen can only admire their beauty.

One possible explanation for these embedded stones is that they were caught up during the formation of sandstone which means these are several millions of years old. These stones are the hard types.

A colorful stone... yellow, pink, blue, green, white.

Here we have a red and black pebbles set tightly. This looks like stones set in cement.

Here we have a circular hole in a boulder. The pit's floor & wall are covered with a thick layer of dark matter which looks like iron. This particular formation was seen at Badami and Aihole.

The last picture is about the natural texture of a sandstone boulder. They have interesting textures which looks like animal fur patterns or geometric diagrams. 

The sandstone boulders at Sidlapadi have unique formations which appear like little walls. Read the blog post Sights from Sidlaphadi to see those formations. Also check out the sandstone hill of Kutkankeri as well. Before I end this post I would like readers to see the open air museum of geological samples at Syntheri Rocks.

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