Sandstone for Dummies (eHow Week)

Sandstone outcrop in Namibia

A lot of Americans think our country suffers from widespread scientific illiteracy. If so, maybe it's because the public gets their science facts from sites like eHow, where John London (a Brit, by the way) plies his trade. London's MA in journalism apparently did not include the typical "rocks for jocks" course, or perhaps he just forgot everything he'd learned when he "researched" and wrote "What Type of Rock Is Sandstone?"¹ In the interests of full disclosure, we have on staff at the Antisocial Network someone with a Masters degree as well – an MS in geology. This, folks, is going to be fun...

An old cartoon shows a guy at the repair shop talking to a mechanic, who suggests that, "If I were you I'd keep the oil and change the car." London's article is so full of misinformation that it would be easier to rewrite it in its entirety than to point out the mistakes, but we're not going to do that (because another freelancer from eHow would probably scrape it and use it), So we'll just point out enough of the mistakes to make it obvious London's an idiot:

"The fine particles of sand are fused together and cemented with other minerals, such as granite..."  No, dummy, granite is an igneous rock, not a mineral "There are three main types of sandstone -- quartz, arkose and lithic..." No, dummy, the three types of sandstone are quartzite, arkose and greywacke. They are classified on the basis of the distribution of three types of grains: quartz, feldspar, and lithic fragments. "Sandstone that has been in the depositing sedimentary basin for very long periods is usually quartz sandstone." We can't even comprehend WTF this is supposed to mean, you dummy "Arkose sandstone indicates a much shorter time in the depositional basin and is usually found in basins caused by tectonic activity..." More of this duration bull. And are there basins that aren't "caused by tectonic activity"? "The third type is lithic -- found in areas of rapid erosion and arid or temperate climates and is also known as greywacke." Well, the "rapid erosion" bit is sort of on the right track, but climate has little to do with it. Dumb. Ass. "Sandstone... is almost soft in texture and is medium grained." Huh? almost soft in texture? How is that possible, John? "...a variety of valuable mineral deposits can be found within sandstone deposits such as uranium, gold and diamonds..." Uranium, yes - gold, occasionally - but diamonds? Gimme a friggin' break, you ignorant dummy.

Another article full of misinformation and another fifteen bucks for a bull-spreading freelancer (plus maybe five for a "content editor"): eHow produces yet another Dumbass of the Day.

¹ The original has been deleted by Leaf Group, but can still be accessed using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was    ehow.com/info_8762648_type-rock-sandstone.html

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