Next to you there are a block of Dolomia and one of Sandstone. They are two very different rocks, of which we spoke in the previous stop. They both come from the Bletterbach gorge, an extraordinary place precisely because it allows to see and study rocks as old as 260 million years old.
Can you feel the difference to the touch? The Dolomia, the rock Corno Bianco, has got a fairly smooth surface, with few sharp edges. The Sandstone is much rougher instead, because it is sand transformed into rock.
The whitish colour of the Dolomia is due to the calcareous algae from which it was formed.
The colour of the Sandstone depends on that of the different grains of sand. The colour red tells that the grains are rich in iron oxide, which oxidized when some ferrous sediments repeatedly got wet and dried; like when rust forms. If there are greyish parts instead, stratification has been quicker, and it has happened under the water level, for example within a riverbed.
Along the path
If you follow the path that leads to the scenic site, you will enjoy a magnificent view on the Bletterbach Gorge. It's a 30 minutes walk, on a rather steep way.
To do: museums
To find out other details like these, visit the museums in this area.
Waiting for you in Aldino there is a Visitor Centre that gives access to the Bletterbach gorge: you will need comfortable boots and a couple of hours time. Here you can find the accessibility details for the exhibition at the Geoparc Visitor Centre:
https://www.hotel.bz.it/de/poi/geoparc_bletterbach-besucherzentrum
At the Redagno GEOMuseum a virtual reality experience is available that allows you to see and understand the Bletterbach gorge from different points of view that would be inaccessible otherwise.The link is: https://www.hotel.bz.it/de/poi/geomuseum_radein