Monday, September 24, 2007

Leaves of Phyllite...

Phyllite -- a low-grade metamorphic rock. The name comes from the Greek word "Fyllo" that means "leaf" (among other things). Phyllite breaks easily into crumbly shapes that, not surprisingly, look a lot like leaves.
These are from the Ayios Nikolas-Chromion Valley.
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Monday, September 17, 2007

Chrysotile with steps...

This chrsotile is found on a surface of serpentine just above the sole of the Vourinos Ophiolite, like 1 m. above.
In addition to being a great mineral specimen, the long splinters are elongate to the NW, with "rough steps" stepping towards the NW.
Movement over this surface hence, is to the NW. Chrysotile forms at cooler temperatures than that of the maximum temperature reached along the sole; this means that movement was still in the same orientation and active along this cooler surface.
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Amphibolite Sole of the Pindos Ophiolite

Yes, Bob, this is from the locality we couldn't get to, and I'm sending you a bit of this sample that has yet another fold in it. The folds seem to have divergent axes, and I originally suspected they were syn-sedimentary folds caught up in the tectonic action. But who knows?

Anyway, they make great book ends.
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A Hard Working Worm Made This Structure...

This structure is the result of a worm back in the Oligocene. It tunneled through muddy sands near the shore of the remnant Tethyan sea. Worms, having not hard bones or bits to leave behind as fossils, are rarely preserved in the fossil record, but their tunnels, tubes, and tracks are encountered in muds as long as there have been worms.
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