River in a Charoite Schist

42 53

Department of Geosciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

Polarized light photomicrograph of a thin section of a charoite-bearing schist.
Charoite is a rare silicate found only at one location in Yakutia, Russia. For its beautiful and uncommon purple color it is used as a semi-precious stone in jewelry. Under the microscope charoite-bearing rocks give an overall feeling of movement, with charoite forming fibrous mats that swirl and fold as a result of deformation during metamorphism.
Due to the variable orientation with respect to the polarized light the charoite may exhibit different interference colors. It may be difficult to conceive, but these microstructures tell us that solid rocks can flow!
Width of view: 5,4 mm.

Featured on GeoLog, the official blog of the European Geosciences Union (opens in a new window)

Report

Location

Europe Southern Europe Italy

Reuse

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

Download

Credit: Bernardo Cesare (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Properties

Type Image Format JPG Size 1.5 MB Aspect 125:84 Width 2500 px Height 1680 px Brand Nikon Model D5500 Exposure 1/320 s ISO 200 Tint Brilliant blue Submitted 8 February 2018 Taken 30 January 2018