Ellsworth schist & basalt, 18" high x 11" wide

 

Ellsworth schist is the oldest exposed rock formation on Mount Desert Island. This sculpture is an actual specimen of Ellsworth schist, with a polished surface that shows the folds in this metamorphic rock.

 

Obadiah Bourne Buell lives in Sullivan, Maine, where he runs the Granite Garden Gallery and produces his unique sculptures.  Born and raised on the family quarry, Buell is a self-taught artist with a refined eye and precise attention to detail.  He works with stone, metal and wood.  Ranging from large site-specific installations to unique stone jewelry, Buell's work embodies a life lived in beautiful, rural Downeast Maine.

 

From The Geology of Mount Desert Island:

The complicated appearance of the Ellsworth Schist records its complex geologic history. The rocks originated over 500 million years ago as deposits of mud on a sea floor. Volcanic activity in the area at this time is indicated by the composition of certain layers within the schist that resemble modern day volcanic rocks. These sediments were subsequently buried several miles below the earth's surface where higher temperatures and pressures brought about the changes of metamorphism including recrystallization and folding. We assume that the sedimentary layers were at one time more or less horizontal, so the complicated folds indicate that the rock was deformed by forces acting within the earth. As a result, when erosion finally exposed the rock at the earth's surface millions of years later, it bore little resemblance to the original ocean-bottom sediments. But the rock contains clues that geologists learn to recognize and interpret in order to unravel the events that make up its history. Part of this history involves the startling idea that the Ellsworth Schist was not originally part of North America at all, but rather part of a small "continent" called Avalonia that became attached to North America during a time of continental collision between 350 and 400 million years ago.