Jacobsville Sandstone
Jacobsville Sandstone is a red sandstone formation, marked with light-colored streaks and spots, primarily found in northern Upper Michigan, portions of Ontario, and under much of Lake Superior. Desired for its durability and aesthetics, the sandstone was used as an architectural building stone in both Canada and the United States. The stone was extracted by thirty-two quarries throughout the Upper Peninsula of Michigan approximately between 1870 and 1915.
| Jacobsville Sandstone | |
|---|---|
| Stratigraphic range: Mesoproterozoic-Mid Cambrian | |
Sample of Jacobsville Sandstone from Jacobsville, Michigan, in the A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum collection | |
| Type | Formation |
| Underlies | Munising Formation |
| Overlies | Freda Sandstone |
| Lithology | |
| Primary | Sandstone |
| Other | Conglomerate, siltstone |
| Location | |
| Region | Michigan Ontario |
| Country | United States Canada |
| Type section | |
| Named for | Jacobsville, Michigan |
The sandstone has been variously called redstone, brownstone, Lake Superior Sandstone, and Eastern Sandstone. In 1907, the Jacobsville Formation was given its current classification and the name Jacobsville, in honor of Jacobsville, Michigan, a town known for its production of the sandstone. The sandstone was deposited within terrestrial fluvial environments early in the Neoproterozoic Era.