EGU Blogs

Geology Photo of the Week #47

Matt Herod September 22, 2015 Photo of the Week 2 Comments

This week’s photo is another mineralogy themed one. This photo shows beautiful, yet also flattened crystals of the mineral natrolite that has grown in an acicular habit from a central point making them look sort of like little snowflakes. Natrolite is a relatively common hydrated sodium, aluminum silicate mineral (Na₂Al₂Si₃O₁₀ · 2H₂O) that often forms within the void spaces of igneous rocks such as amygdular basalt. In this instance it looks like natrolite has formed along a fracture plane due to its flattened appearance suggesting the only room it had to grow was outward as opposed to up, which is why it has made these “snowflake” shapes.

Crystals of natrolite along a vein in urtite (foidolite) by Dmitry Zhirov

Mineralolgy

By Matt Herod

Matt Herod is a Ph.D Candidate in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada. His research focuses on the geochemistry of iodine and the radioactive isotope iodine-129. His work involves characterizing the cycle and sources of 129I in the Canadian Arctic and applying this to long term radioactive waste disposal and the effect of Fukushima fallout. His project includes field work and lab work at the André E. Lalonde 3MV AMS Laboratory. Matt blogs about any topic in geology that interests him, and attempts to make these topics understandable to everyone. Tweets as @GeoHerod.

2 Comments

Lockwood September 23, 2015, 11:48 pm

There’s also some calcite in there, and the square outlines *may* be apophyllite, but I can’t see enough detail to be confident.
- Matt Herod October 1, 2015, 10:48 pm
  
  Good eye Lockwood!!

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The term geosphere is an all-encompassing word that incorporates just about every aspect of the earth sciences. This means that topics ranging from geophysics to geochemistry to geobiology are part of the geosphere. The blog Geosphere honours its namesake by covering any and every topic in the geosciences. The principal goal of Geosphere and its author, Matt Herod, is to make science clear for anyone that should stumble in and enhance awareness of the geosphere for all. With this in mind I encourage any who have questions to post, comment or email me.