Tuesday, October 10, 2017

#Neatrock Entry For Earth Science Week

SciFri Science Club is hosting a #Neatrock challenge as part of Earth Science Week.

Here are my two entries:

Megascopic #neatrock:


This is a migmatitic gneiss from the Greater Himalayan Sequence, Darma Valley, Kumaon Himalaya. Migmatite means a mixed rock made up of a metamorphic host and a newly formed igneous rock. During continental collision, metamorphic rocks buried to great depths and subject to high temperatures may partially melt to form granite magma. The granitic melt segregates into layers. The resultant rock is composed of the original metamorphic host rock such as a gneiss (dark bands)  and granitic igneous layers (lighter bands). This migmatite formed during the Miocene.

Microscopic #neatrock:


This photomicrograph of a Late Ordovician limestone (Fernvale Limestone) from Georgia, U.S.A.  is close to my heart. It formed an important part of my PhD work.  I have stained the thin section with a Potassium Ferricyanide dye. Calcite containing minor amounts of iron (Ferroan calcite Fe+2) is stained blue. Non Ferroan calcite is unstained.  In the center of the photomicrograph is a non ferroan 'dog tooth' spar. It is a calcite crystal with a shape resembling a canine tooth of a dog.

This calcite has a pendant habit. It is hanging from the underside of a particle, in this case a piece of an echinoid shell. Such pendant crystals precipitate in a vadose zone i.e. above the water table.  In this environment, pore spaces are not completely filled with water. Rather, films of water coat grains and form drips. These drips become saturated with calcium carbonate and calcite precipitates from them.  Just like a larger and more familiar stalactite in a cave! Except that this micro-stalactite in tiny..tiny.

Development of a vadose environment indicates that sedimentation was interrupted by a large sea level fall. The sea bed got exposed to rain and a fresh water aquifer developed in the sedimentary deposits.  A tiny 'dog tooth' spar can tell us a fair bit about sedimentary basin evolution and sea level history.

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