The rock in my yard went from gray to bright orange in two days

I have this big piece of granite by my back door in Phoenix. It was always a plain gray color. Then after a heavy rain last week, I walked outside and it was completely orange. I looked it up and it's called desert varnish, and the water must have brought up iron in the rock. Has anyone else had a rock change color that fast?

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the_robert5mo ago

Are you sure it wasn't just some weird runoff? I had a neighbor spray paint an old curb marker orange and the rain washed some of it onto nearby stones. Could be anything from fertilizer to something a kid spilled. Desert varnish takes years, not a weekend. Maybe you just never noticed the color before and the rain made it stand out?

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jake_hall885mo ago

That curb paint theory is solid. My cousin's dog got into some orange sidewalk chalk last year, looked just like rust stains. Could be anything.

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rileyjones4mo ago

@jake_hall88 orange chalk stains from dogs, huh? That's new to me but weird enough to be true.

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