GHOST CORE STONES IN GRANITE SAPROLITE NEAR LIBERTY HILL, SOUTH-CAROLINA

Ovid bodies of white to very slightly red-stained saprolite occur in a matrix of more intensely stained saprolite developed on the Liberty Hill Granite, South Carolina. These bodies have the same size and shape as fresh core stones that are also embedded in the saprolite. They are presumably relict or "ghost" core stones that have been altered to saprolite. Their relative lack of iron oxide staining suggests either that core stone alteration or saprolite oxidation is not continuous but occurs in pulses. We postulate that "ghosts" form under anoxic conditions beneath the water table and are subsequently oxidized when the water table falls. If this is true, these features might be useful for inferring the history of water table fluctuations.