Komatiite #2

There was a penetration of the light into solid substance so that I seemed to see into things, deep in....... more

by - MicROCKScopica -

Title

Komatiite #2

Artist

- MicROCKScopica -

Medium

Photograph - Polarized Light Photomicrograph

Description

"There was a penetration of the light into solid substance so that I seemed to see into things, deep in...".
John Steinbeck was not thinking of rocks when he wrote this sentence in "Travels with Charley - In search of America". However, his feeling exactly reflects what people should think when looking at rock photomicrographs such as in this reportage on rocks from ths micROCKScopica project.
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This rock correspond to a set of samples of komatiites from Gorgona Island, Colombia. This kind of rocks are very well known for being the most younger komatiites on earth (Cretaceous), an exceptional occurence since most of them have an Archean age. The photo is from a basaltic komatiite, it is composed by chains of olivine defining the so-called "spinifex" texture which characterize this lithology.
More info at www.microckscopica.org
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All images are transmitted, polarized light photomicrographs of 30-micron-thick rock slices (geological "thin sections"), with width of view ranging from 1 to 5 mm.

Rock cut, sliced and thinned down to a regular thin section (30-micron thickness)
Technique: Photomicrograph under polarized light, crossed polars plus red tint plate.

Uploaded

March 17th, 2015