Garnet Schist (OK, Gneiss)

I walked up to a building in upstate New York and found it glittering with garnets. Maybe you'll find it as irresistible as I did, and download a copy of the photo I took at full screen size for your free use as wallpaper. Just look in the Rock Closeups wallpaper gallery.

I was calling it "garnet schist," but actually it's better described as a gneiss than a schist. Both are foliated metamorphic rocks, but schist is easily split due to the thin platy minerals in it (mostly mica). Gneiss has different minerals and is tougher.

_{Geology Guide photo}