M A G I C OF

MINERALS

A N D ROCKS

DIRK

J. W I E R S M A

MAGIC
OF
MINERALS

A N D ROCKS

DirkJ.Wiersma

Title of original version: Exposure of Mineral and Rock

published by Inmerc bv,Wormer,The Netherlands
2002 D i r k W i e r s m a / l n m e r c bv

ISBN 978-3-642-62251-9

ISBN 978-3-642-18695-0 (eBook)

DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-18695-0

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The world shown by Dirk Wiersma in his photographs is a

ern and ever so rational society there is still widespread

world of rocks, rocks varying in scale from spectacular

belief that stone amulets and talismans will guarantee the

mountains and fantastic rock formations to the mysterious

bearer health and a long life, bring prosperity, avert or

micro-world of stones and minerals. Wiersma observes this

attract misfortune, protect against evil, heal diseases or

world with the perspective of the professional geologist, but

bring them about, or work as an aphrodisiac.

with a high sensitivity for visual sensations. In his pictures he

expresses his emotional perceptions and by doing so he

But rocks, besides arousing feelings of spirituality, magic or

presents us with images that have an air of fairy-tales and

aesthetics, also playa crucial role in all material aspects of

enigmas. He reveals the intrinsic beauty of the realm of

life. The erosion products of minerals and rocks allow for

rocks, that in everyday life, moulds our physical surround-

plant growth and thus for life on Earth, including that of

ings.

mankind. In the geological sciences rocks form the archive

in which the 4.5 billion years old history of Earth is stored -

Rocks are everywhere around us, but the 'lifeless world' of

much like data stored in the silicon archives of our chip era.

the realm of rocks is the antipode of emotions, of thought

The geologist reads this rock archive by means of various

and life. Stones are not alive, neither are they threatened by

scientific methods. Our distant ancestors used caves,

death. From times far past stones are the symbols of eterni-

formed in rocks by geologic processes, as places to live in or

ty: they are affected by nothing, except by geologic process-

to perform cults. Using colorants derived from finely ground

es in the course of millions of years. Rocks will still be there

minerals of different color, they made intriguing wail-paint-

when, a few billion years ahead, the phenomenon Life will

ings in the caves, probably with magic objectives. To prehis-

have disappeared on Earth, while our planet keeps turning

toric man stones were the only durable material there was

around an extinguished sun as a dark and cold globe of

to make tools of and weaponry. The first hom in ids that

stone. But although rocks are far remote from emotions,

worked stones into primitive tools appeared already 2.4

sensations and other whims of the human mind, they still

million years ago. In the course of time stone working devel-

have always aroused feelings and even passions in man.

oped into an increasingly advanced technology, providing

Already in the distant past the natural beauty of precious

better and more refined tools. Until man at the end of the

stones, be it crude or worked on, tempted people's vanity

Stone Age, about 6000 years ago, started making weapons

and were used as symbols of wealth and power. The geome-

and tools out of metals - metals that are, incidentally, also

try and mathematical symmetry of crystals, as well as the

derived from mineral raw materials. But there is no doubt

shape and architecture of rocks and mountains, are a source

that the hominids who first made stone weapons and tools,

of inspiration for artistic achievements. From the earliest

according to a well conceived plan, stood at the very roots

beginnings man has attributed magic and mysterious powers

of the whole technological and cultural development of

to minerals and rocks. Crude rocks formed by nature were

mankind.

worshipped as dwelling places of gods or ghosts. Stone

sculptures shaped by nature were regarded as sacred places,

In addition to his artistic photographs of landscapes, rock

where holy rituals were performed. Large unprocessed

formations and details of rocks and minerals, Dirk Wiersma

stones were used to set up menhirs, dolmens and other

also strikes us with fascinating images of thin rock sections,

monuments for the death or as cults of the sun. Medieval

using various optical and microscopical techniques. In these

alchemists searching for the secret of matter, were con-

pictures, that are reminiscent of abstract compositions, we

vinced that it lay concealed in the mythical Lapis

recognize the professional geologist. However, as opposed

Philosophicus (Philosophers' Stone).And the forever holiest

to abstract art that renounces a realistic rendering of the

shrine of the Islam faith, to which every pious Muslim hopes

world around us and seeks for a new order in form and

to make his pilgrimage, is the large black stone of Mecca, the

color, we here look at creations of nature herself, rather

Ka'aba (most probably a meteorite). And even in our mod-

than fancies of the human mind. Natura Artis Magistra or, as

said by Shakespeare in The Winter's Tale:Art itself is Naturewith his photographs Dirk Wiersma confirms in this book
again the veracity of this adage, also for those not initiated in
the science of geology.

Harry N.A. Priem

Emeritus Professor at the University of Utrecht and
Curator at the Artis Geological Museum in Amsterdam

p OLOGUE

Minerals and rocks are the foundation of everything, the first

Adri Verhoeven, a Dutch sculptor, thinks of rock as a deeply

solid substance to have materialized from the gases and liquids

spiritual and timeless material: 'When you look at rocks you

in space. And life, in a way we still do not entirely understand,

only see the eroded outside. When you split a rock you see a

sprang from minerals and rocks. Right up to the 17th century,

new outside; by polishing it you create yet another outside.You

rocks and minerals were still being referred to scientifically as a

still never uncover the real inside'.

form of'livestock',sprouted from seeds or from a kind of inter-

The artist's experience is not unlike that of the scientist. Every

course between primary substances.

discovery, each deepening of knowledge leads to new mysteries.

Geologically speaking minerals are natural, homogeneous solids

My fascination with rocks and minerals as presented in this

made up of two or more elements. They are usually inorganic

work comes from two converging paths in my life: geology and

and crystalline and over 3500 types have been defined. They are

photography. One could also say: science and imagination or

the basic building material of the earth's crust, the moon and

impression and expression.

other celestial bodies.The word mineral is derived from minare,

the Latin term for mining. The word implies 'usefulness', and

The images presented in this book range over a broad scale,

indeed minerals are the raw materials from which we derive

from the field perspective to the microscopic. 'Zooming in' like

many things that are essential for our survival.

this means venturing into new spaces time and again, full of sur-

Rocks are composed of one or more minerals. Rocks exist in

gradually overtake all notions of scale and realism.

prising new forms and abstractions. Fantasy and imagination

countless types and varieties, coarsely textured or fine, hard or
soft, dark, light or polychrome. Hot lava, volcanic ash, mud or

In the field, rocks are perceived in their natural setting; in moun-

sand, but also plants, bones and tissue, all come from rock and

tains and outcrops, in the riverbed, along a rough coast, in quar-

will become rock again.

ries. This may be massive granite and basalt or orderly sedi-

Although we think of rocks as the basic stuff of which the earth

ments, parallel bedded or graciously folded. Well rounded peb-

is made, they actually only form the outer crust of our planet.

bles and smoothly polished rocks in one place: erosion, rubble

Rocks float - literally - on what geologists call the earth's man-

and chaos elsewhere.

tle, a hot and viscous substratum, underneath that solid crust.

Closer up, on the macro-scale, the images become more elusive, the viewers imagination is challenged. Grotesque mock-

Apart from the geologist's outlook, there are many other ways

landscapes and other miraculous scenes arise in the form of

to view minerals and rocks. From an archaeologist's viewpoint,

crystals or capricious mineral growth. Illusions and mirages

rocks and minerals are at the roots of civilization, the oldest

materialize on the polished surface of an agate or inside the tiny

tokens of human culture, including tools, amulets, tombstones

cavities and cracks in a rock.

and dolmens, monuments and ornaments. Others treasure min-

Closer up again, on the microscopic scale, yet another universe

erals and rocks for their preciousness or for their healing

opens up. There is increasing abstraction, finer detail and deli-

power; as objects of singular beauty or strength, sublimated

cate texture, but also more plan and order. Most of the pictures

from complex geologic processes in the deeps beneath us.

on the microscopic scale are made of thin sections, wafer-thin

slices of rock observed in transmitted light. Polarization of the

Whom do rocks and mountains not awe, who is not fascinated

light brings out the wondrous, spectral colors that result from

by crystals and gems or intrigued by fossils that speak of life in a

birefringence in crystal sections. If we allow our mind to drift

distant past? Strolling along a beach or a riverbed, looking down,

away, we see dendritic crystals of manganese-oxide forming

we pick up pebbles and marvel at their smoothness and shape.

shrubs and forests; we see how radial crystals of prehnite mimic

Which child has not taken home flints and pebbles for display

bird feathers, how pinpoint stars of tourmaline adorn stamp-

on a shelf in his bedroom, or for a collection in a shoe box or

size firmaments, and how garnets are helicoidally deformed into

jam bottle?

milky ways!

These images are an affirmation of the authenticity and time-

spectives. and the same is true for the pictures in this book.

lessness of abstraction. long before man reinvented it in modern

There is the impressionist viewpoint. that of science and theme.

art.

And the other perspective is that of expressionism. of form and

beauty. I am a geologist by education and without that back-

Often we discern, on all these different scales. a repetitive order

ground it would not have been possible to render this theme in

of forms and structures. The anticlines. synclines. faults and

all its depth and richness. But it is the expressionist perspective.

overthrusts that are seen in mountain ranges are repeated in

that of the 'art' in minerals and rocks, that primarily inspired me

microfolds and tiny fractures in rock samples the size of a fist,

to make these exposures.

and smaller. The five and six-sided pillars of basalt and trachyte.
as seen in quarries or in the field, bear a deceptive similarity to

Art? Whose art... ?Our habitual concept of art is one of objects

the tiny, columnar crystals of tourmaline and other minerals.

created by our fellow men and rendered with a pen, a brush, a

These repetitive structures and dynamic forms reflect the fasci-

chisel or a camera. But surely. some- where far outside our field

nating concept of fractal ism, the theorem conceived and

of view, an anonymous artist of peerless supremacy has been at

worked out by the mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot. and ever

work, a master of unlimited means and boundless inspiration.

so attractively presented in his book The Fractal Geometry of

who created things of beauty in the space and matter around us

Nature (1983). He demonstrates that not only rhythms but also

long before we existed, long before we came with our human

many forms and other phenomena in nature or technology can

concept of art.

be broken up in fragments (fractals) of similar form or can

repeat themselves on many scales and in totally different materials or processes.
Numerous are the descriptions, notably in older but also in
recent writing. of the mysterious and evocative images rendered
in stone, in eroded rock as well as on freshly broken or polished
surfaces. And such images were often not regarded as purely
accidental, or as just a whim of nature.There had to be more to
it, something spiritual and yet beyond human understanding.
An outstandingly passionate view of stones in this respect was
that expounded by the French anthropologist and writer Roger
Caillois (1913-1978). He writes about the inimitable forms and
images in stone in several essays that form a culmination of mystical lyricism in his diverse literary work. In the introduction to
I'Ecriture des Pierres (1970) he writes of stones: 'that are
sought after and revered not for their rarity or expensiveness,
but rather for some peculiarity in form. a pattern or color that
is as bizarre as it is consequential. Nearly always the fascination
is aroused by an unexpected resemblance. which is improbable
and yet so natural. Stones anyway have something grave, something unyielding and extreme, like being imperishable or already
having perished long ago'.
It is evident that stones can be looked at from different per-

Dirk J.Wiersma

OV RVIEW OF CH

PTE

The plates in this book are distributed over nine chapters. This

PICTURE FACING TITLE PAGE: COLD FIRE

arrangement has not been made according to a scientific or

As outlined on page 60, the interior filling of geodes can be,

other strict order. Rather, my intent has been to start at some

partly or fully, a precipitate of chalcedony from aqueous solu-

distance, with the more familiar, external aspects of mineral and

tions that flow into cavities in volcanic rock.The solution often

rock and proceed from there to the deeper interiors of the

percolates into

subject.

the cavity through one little duct. That event is here illustrated

Each chapter begins with a short introduction, followed by

in graceful curves. Actual size 40 x 50 mm.

brief explanatory texts for all the plates in that chapter. Page
number and title identify each plate. Please note that the

PICTURE

explanatory text is a few pages back from the actual plate.

WOLFRAMITE (PAGE 56), CALCITE ON FLUORITE (PAGE

The size of the smaller objects is usually specified in the text,

59), GEODINO (PAGE 76), BOTSWANA AGATE (PAGE 90),

either by referring to something familiar, like a golf ball, or else

MALACHITE (PAGE 108/109)

by giving the actual size in millimeters.

ON

FRONT

COVER: PYRITE

(PAGE

53),

This first chapter shows rocks on the large scale, how they

U.S.A. The flat-topped mountain in the background, Factory

adorn the earth's surface in mountains, cliffs, plains and valleys.

Butte, is an exemplary butte, also referred to as a mesa. The

They look as if they are timeless and everlasting, but they are, in

ridges showing an escarpment on one side and a gentler slope

fact, transient, as ephemeral as everything in life. Mountains and

on the other side are called cuestas. The crude and edgy geo-

valleys come about by action and movement, tectonic uplift and

morphology exhibited here is indicative of the recent, tectonic

persistent erosion. Today's mountain chains arose from yester-

movements that are still going on in this area.

day's oceans and plains. Over tens of millions of years these

mountains will wear down, to become plains or to be swept

Pounded upon relentlessly by mam-

over by oceans once again. Earth has always been and will

moth Atlantic waves, the Cliffs of Moher, in western Ireland,

always remain a dynamic system, moving to and fro between

remain unperturbed in their dark and menacing steepness, thin-

creation and destruction, order and chaos.

ly veiled by a diaphanous haze of seawater spray.

The geomorphology seen here, from a

Awe-inspiring is the natural scenery of the

well-known viewpoint in Death Valley, California, is called 'bad-

Vesteralen, an island group off the coast of northern Norway.

land erosion' and is a typical erosive pattern for deposits of

The mountains here may stand out in crystal-clear light one

shale, rhyolite or other soft sediments in arid regions, where

moment, to become dark and looming within the briefest spell

rain only comes in occasional downpours.

of time, shrouded in clouds.

Iceland is where one becomes

Black tuff or tuffstone, formed by the

aware of the making of new land, of new mountains, rocks and

accumulation of ashes and coarser particles from volcanic out-

minerals; as close to creation as can be. Landmannalaugar, in the

bursts, characterizes much of the landscape in South Eastern

southern interior of Iceland, is an area of active volcanism. The

Iceland. The narrow, winding Fjardara Canyon has been cut in

striking landscape of elongated, sharply crested hills and V-

these sediments by a small river. In summertime the crystal

shaped valleys, is formed by rapid erosion of the soft, rhyolitic

clear stream, fringed by colorful vegetation, vies with the steep

lava's that were recently deposited here. Rhyolite is a character-

black canyon walls and strange pinnacles to make this place the

istic type of extrusive rock, formed from shallow magma

setting of an uncanny fairy tale.

(molten crust) and rich in silica, aluminum, potash and feldspar. It

has subdued, earthy colors, fluctuating from green to yellow-

This unique desert of glistening

beige and brick red. A recent outpouring of obsidian, a glassy

gypsum sand, surrounded by dark mountain ranges, is located in

and fluid variety of lava, can be seen meandering across the rhy-

southern New Mexico, USA. Wandering into this blinding

olite hills like a black snake.A brief classification of rock types is

expanse of rolling dunes is a mesmerizing experience. There is

no more than a lone yucca stalk or other lean shrub to remind

presented in the next chapter.

one of being on planet Earth.

Nowhere the phenomenon called erosion
Shiprock is a striking landmark in northwestern

is more spectacularly typified than by the bizarre, pinkish brown

New Mexico, USA, protruding 500 meters up out of the sur-

pinnacles and spires of Bryce Canyon National Park, USA.

rounding flat plains. Shiprock is a volcanic neck, the central

Frost and thaw impart striking

basaltic cone that remained after the softer slopes and sedi-

features to the bedded limestone that makes up the southern

ments surrounding the ancient volcano disappeared by erosion.

face of Der Hohe Dachstein, the godfather of the Dachstein

Several dykes of the same basaltic rock, one of which is seen in

Massif in the northern Alps of Austria.

the picture, fan out from the central cone into the surrounding
plains. That form has inspired the native inhabitants of this
region, the Navajo Indians, to give this rock the much more

This would-be lunar landscape is

telling name Tse Bidahi, meaning 'Winged Rock'.

the North Cainesville Mesa, east of Capitol Reef Park in Utah,

10

The last patches of snow cling for dear

life to this mountain slope of black tuff, near the Vatnajokull glacier in eastern Iceland.
Nature slowly resumes
its role in this abandoned basalt quarry near Kasbach, in the
German Eiffel region. Basalt is an extrusive, igneous rock, which
.means a rock solidified from lava that has ascended, by volcanism, to the earth's surface. Upon cooling the basaltic lava-body
shrinks, and then often sets in a pattern of elongated, five or sixsided columns. This geometrical form makes these basalts of
perfect use for cladding of dykes and other waterfront constructions and in the Eiffel region columnar basalt has been
exploited for this purpose since centuries, nearly to the point of
depletion. The next chapter also shows some striking examples
of such columnar basalts.
Dolerite is an 'intrusive' rock, meaning an igneous
rock that solidifies underneath the earth's surface. It is akin to
basalt, which however is an 'extrusive' rock, a rock that flows
out over the surface.The dolerites of the Pilbara region in West
Australia, as seen in this picture, form protrusions and elongate
dykes that jut out from the flat plains over large distances, their
deep-red crests tufted by softly green tussocks of spinifex grass.

II

ZABRISKI POINT

LANDMANNALAUGAR

BRYCE CANYON

DER HOHE DACHSTEIN>

12

CLIFFS OF MOHER

FJARDARA CANYON>

KRA KRA

16

--~

< WHITE SANDS DESERT

19

SHIPROCK

"0

ABANDONED BASALT QUARRY

DOLERITE>

22

ROCK

Here we see rocks in the field, in natural outcrops, in man-made

COLUM

quarries or the stonemason's yard. Rocks are infinitely diverse,

smoothly rounded boulders create a deceptive air of stillness

becoming even more so the closer one looks. Geologists have

and kindliness near Framnes, on the North Icelandic coast.

TSoftly curved basalt columns and

brought as much order in this diversity as possible, starting with

Like an indestructible totem pole, hewn from granite,

a subdivision in three major categories: igneous, sedimentary

and metamorphic rocks.

this rock stands watch on the stormy ocean coast ofTorndirrup,

'Igneous rocks' could be considered as the primary rocks on

near Albany in southern Australia.

earth, formed by the solidification of magma in the deeper

reaches of the earth's crust or of lava that has ascended to the

PARTITION The drama of erosion is well exhibited in this

surface. Examples of igneous rock are granite, dolerite, basalt

scene in the Petrified Forest Park, Arizona, USA. Long ago, a

and rhyolite.

huge chunk of sandstone parted from its massive, maternal for-

'Sedimentary rocks' are those deposited in oceans, lakes,

mation to start a life of it's own. After being worn and rounded

deserts, or other parts of the earth's surface by the activities of

by wind and water, that very chunk falls apart by the same forces

water, wind, ice, or chemical precipitation. Sedimentary rocks

and weaknesses by which it originally came loose.

are usually bedded, layer-by-Iayer, and capable of reaching mas-

BEEFY BE CH This assembly of pebbles, interspersed on a

sive thickness. A few examples are shale, sandstone, limestone

and rock-salt.

bedrock of beefy-red jasper, along the seashore of Point Samson,

'Metamorphic rocks' are igneous or sedimentary rocks that

West Australia, is derived from some of the oldest dateable for-

have been altered into a totally different rock by high pressure

mations on earth.Their age is in the range of 3 billion years!

and temperature, as well as by chemical processes. This happens

after such rocks have been buried at appreciable depth below

Granite and gneiss make up large

the earth's surface. Limestone, for example, is altered into mar-

stretches of the southwestern coast of Australia, like here at

ble, sandstone into quartzite, claystone and shale into slate or

Cape Leeuwin on the very southwestern tip of the continent.

schist, etc.

These rocks are gorgeously sculpted and molded by the pound-

All these rock types can be further subdivided into a highly dif-

ing waves of the Indian Ocean. Standing here, staring out, one

ferentiated array, each with their own characteristics, each

may see a ship or the occasional whale, but beyond that there is

telling their own story of times long past. Geology is ever so

nothing, nothing but ocean for thousands of miles, until the

creative!

chaste and chilly whiteness ofAntarctica dooms up.

THE GIA

S CAUSEWAY These columnar basalts along

T E R 0 SOURCE Iron gives an arresting red tint to a

the Antrim coast of Northern Ireland are part of a large series

travertine deposit precipitated from a small spring in Kirkjufell, a

of extrusive rocks, straddling the Northern Channel and reap-

volcanic region in southern Iceland. The snow has just barely

pearing along the western Scottish coast, where a renowned

melted, as can be told from the bleached green of the grass

outcrop is Fingal's Cave on the Isle of Staffa. Legend has it that

fringing the spring.

the Irish giant, Finn Mac Cool, created the Causeway as a suite of

I U

steppingstones for an invasion of Scotland.The Causeway is only

Granite is usually thought of as a

rather forbidding rock, massive and grey. But that is not always

one of many examples that exist all over the world, of a striking
outcrop or rock being the subject of superstition and ancient

true. Here, in Ploumanach, in northern Brittany, France, the sea

myths.

and other elements have played about with this crude and austere rock, sculpting it into gracious, if not lascivious forms.

TA

Late afternoon sunlight falls on the

majestic basalt columns in a quarry in the German Eiffel region,

hese menacing jaws only seemingly disrupt the serene

where such columns are still actively exploited for various appli-

harmony of the famed, bone-white travertine deposits of

cations in construction.

Pamukkale,Turkey.

24

S Like tombstones in a deserted

formed the surface into endless stretches of highly fragmented

graveyard, these karstified limestone remains emerge from the

DESERT TO B TO

and fissured pavement. In spite of its stony crudeness, this

barren, yellow dunes of Nambung,West Australia. See also next

realm - since primeval times - has attracted people who have

plate.

managed to scrape a living from the inhospitable soil.The people of the Burren had a strange affinity with these rocks. They

THE PINNACLES These are not megaliths, erected by an

used them not only for building their houses, but also heaped

ancient tribe to honor their gods, but natural limestone pinna-

them up in endless dry stonewalls and other constructions of

cles in the yellow sand dunes of Nambung,West Australia. They

dubious functionality. Of no rock or heap of stones in the

are the remains of limestone beds that were karstified, which

Burren one can be sure whether it is in its natural position or

means they were leached out by water and further eroded. But

moved about by people, somewhere back in time. The same is

surely these pinnacles were, to the aboriginal people of

true for the upended chunk of karstified limestone seen in this

Australia, as sacred and significant as megaliths. Every striking

plate.

rock or rock formation in their homeland is considered a holy

and essential object, marking the songlines and dream paths

SVARTIFOSS Svartifoss is a legendary waterfall in Skaftafell

devised by their ancestors. Unlike ancient tribes in other parts

Park, southeastern Iceland. Svartifoss means 'Black Falls'.

of the world, the Australian aboriginals felt no need to upend

Indeed, this damp setting, with its menacing black basalt

or move rocks around in order to corroborate their beliefs.

columns, always shrouded in a thin spray, with water trickling

all over, is strangely disquieting, as if it is not meant to be visit-

CARRARA MARBLE Wandering among the marble quar-

ed by ordinary mortals, let alone noisy tourists.

ries, in the Apuanian hills above Carrara. Italy, feels like walking
in a labyrinth of gigantic fridges. On Sundays, when no work is
done, an uncanny silence reigns, until a dog barks or a stone
falls. These sounds reverberate from all sides. for a long time.
The softly white marbles quarried here have provided for the
needs of builders and sculptors alike since classical times.
THE EMBRACE Those who cannot afford the works of

sculpture that they fancy, or who are unimpressed by what

artists make these days. can go to Harleville or several other
quarries in the area south of Paris. At the interface of certain
sedimentary beds one can find strange looking. rounded concretions of fine-grained. white sand. tightly cemented by past
diagenetic processes. To local quarrymen and geologists these
nodules are known as gogottes or poupees, names that are suggestive of the bulbous, if not lascivious forms that these natural
works of art can adopt. Actual height 350 mm.
A BURREN

ONUMENT The Burren, on the Irish west

coast. is a remarkable land of bare limestone, scarcely overgrown, as rocky as can be. Ice Age glaciers first levelled this terrain out into large flat stretches and smoothly rounded hills.
The downpours and general wetness that are ageless in this
coastal region next made the limestone prey to intense leaching and karstification. These and other erosive forces trans-

25

< THE GIANTS CAUSEWAY

COLUMNAR BASALT

27

<TOTEM

PARTITION

)I

BEEFY BEACH

BREAKING THE WAVES>

)2

GRANITE GRACIOUSLY

36

JAWS

37

< DESERT TOMBSTONES

39

THE PINNACLES

< CARRARA MARBLE

THE EMBRACE

41

< A BURREN MONUMENT

SVARTIFOSS

43

CRYSTAL

Crystals are the most lucid testimony to the strict order that

Crystals grow by the layer-upon-Iayer precipita-

exists in the domain of rocks and minerals. The form of a crys-

tion of sheets of atoms, from a surrounding smelt or solution,

tal, that is the arrangement of its faces and angles, is rigorously

on crystal planes already formed.The growth of a crystal may be

based on the form and arrangement of the atoms forming that

arrested, for longer or shorter periods, because the supply of

crystal. With that, crystallization handsomely illustrates the the-

new molecules from the surrounding source is interrupted by

orem of fractalism, referred to in the prologue.

changed circumstances. Full-grown crystals often exhibit traces

Many of the minerals and rocks on earth are crystalline.

of intermediate crystal planes resulting from such interruptions.

Crystals are omnipresent, although they do not always manifest

These are appropriately called ghost structures or phantoms, as

themselves by regular, geometric forms and lustrous facets. One

seen here in a group of amethyst crystals. This exposure is of a

might say that, for the lithosphere, crystallization is as essential

thin section (for explanation see page 112), with an actual size

as cell growth is for the biosphere. Perhaps the two are not as

no larger than 15 x 25 mm.

far apart as we often intimate, prejudiced as we are in our strict

EBULLITION Facetted crystalline spheres of pyrite like

separation of the organic and the inorganic, of life and death.

these, up to the size of a golf ball, are found in black slates in the

DO US This group of scalenohedric calcite crystals, illuminat-

area around Millstream, West Australia. Retrieving these fasci-

ed from underneath, might be a mock-up of one of these presti-

nating nodules is only for the real 'rock hounds'. The slates are

gious, all-glass buildings, at night in a deserted city. Actual width

hard to come by, as they occur underwater, in creeks and caves.

140mm.

The slabs retrieved then have to be cleaved in a special way

QUA T2 Quartz is the mineral silica (SiO,) in its crystalline

not.

before one knows whether they contain any such nodules or

form. Quartz is, after feldspar, the most common rock-forming
mineral of the Earth's crust. Quartz is also synonymous with

IDMANNSTETTERSCHE FIGUREN Widmannstetter

brilliance and glitter, if not with magical power. Quartz is the

structures are a distinctive pattern of intertwined crystals in

ultimate embodiment of crystallinity. Nearly all minerals, and

iron-nickel meteorites, made visible by chemical etching of a

many synthetic materials, occur as crystals or form crystals, but

polished surface of such meteorites. They are named after the

none on the scale and with such variety of forms as quartz.

first man to study them, Aloys von Widmannstetter, scientist and

Actual size 50 mm.

director of the Technical Museum of Vienna in the early 19th

Century.The structures seen in this plate are in a piece from the

A DESITE Twinned crystals of feldspar float in a finely crys-

Gibeon, a well-known, large meteorite that fell in the Namibian

talline matrix, like lost spaceships. Andesite is a volcanic rock in

desert in prehistoric times. Because this meteorite hit the

which such a divergence between large crystals (phenocrysts)

earth's surface at a relatively flat angle, it rebounded in many

and a finely crystalline matrix is typical. This texture is called

small pieces that were strewn around over a large area. Since

porphyritic and it results from 'exsolution', a process of separa-

these chunks did not penetrate deeply into the soil and were

tion that takes place during successive phases of crystallization

well preserved, many pieces were and still are retrieved by man.

in the lava. This picture is of a thin section exposure (for expla-

Ancient African tribes used metal of the Gibeon for weaponry

nation see page 112). Actual size 20 x 26 mm.

and other utensils. For them this metal was godsend, since it
would not rust, which, as we now know, is thanks to the nickel

FAYALI E Fayalite is the iron rich member of the olivine min-

content. Actual size 95 x 120 mm.

erai suite, forsterite being the magnesium rich member at the

PYRITE Pyrite is iron-sulphide, a common and widespread

other end of this suite of iron-magnesium silicates. Most natural

olivines are a mixture of the two. This specimen however is

iron-mineral. It belongs in the cubic crystal system, and well-

nearly pure fayalite, in an rare pattern of tabular crystals, cov-

developed crystals of pyrite can be perfect cubes (hexaeders)

ered with symmetrical striations (see page 113) Actual size 50

with smooth metallic surfaces. Romantics and dreamers are

x 65 mm.

known to mistake glossy grains in freshly broken rock for gold

44

and pyrite's nickname is therefore 'fool's gold'. Actual size 70 x

corals, limestone and marble are also calcium carbonate. The

Il0mm.

globules seen here are formed by radial, crystalline growth in a

void inside lava and they are a rarity. Actual size 40 x 60 mm.
The hexagonal crystals of aquamarine have a

neat, columnar arrangement in this group. Aquamarine is a vari-

CALCITE 0

FLUORITE Like a stranded space vehicle,

ety of beryl and is often found in pegmatites, complex rock

this double-ended crystal of calcite has nested itself on an earli-

suites formed at great depth, often the source of ores and semi

er formed group of fluorite crystals. Quartz was just character-

precious stones. The micaceous mineral surrounding the crys-

ized as the 'ultimate embodiment' of crystallinity, but calcite

tals is muscovite, also typical for pegmatite. The color of aqua-

comes a close second, as seen in other examples in this chapter.

marine varies from green to blue, like the waters of the sea,

Actual size 80 x 90 mm.

hence its name. Actual size 50 x 65 mm.

REFLECTIO S FRO

OUTE

SPACE A set of parallel

crystal planes, in a group of rhombic calcite crystals, reflects the

light of a sparsely clouded, blue sky.Actual size 50 x 70 mm.
IMICRY What looks like butterfly wings or the feathers of an

exotic bird is actually a thin section exposure of prehnite.

Prehnite is an inconspicuous, soft-green mineral, forming radial
crystals inside voids in igneous and metamorphic rocks. In thin
section with transmitted polarized light, the radial crystals of
this mineral take on high order refractive colors. Actual size 18
x 22 mm.
TUR All EHarpoon-like, this large turmaline crystal punc-

tures a matrix of chlorite, which is deposited in the form of

small, rosette-shaped aggregates. Thin section, transmitted
polarized light. Actual size 15 x 20 mm.
OLF

IT Wolframite is the principal ore for tungsten, a

metal used for the manufacture of lamp filaments and other

industrial products. The gleam of spectral colors results from a
wafer-thin veneer of chalcopyrite, which covers the tubular
crystals of the wolframite. Actual size 20 x 25 mm.
AUGITEThis is a thin section exposure, in polarized light, of a
cluster of augite crystals. Augite is a mineral from the pyroxene
group and the individual crystals typically show parallel bands of
internal zoning. Clusters of crystals like these grow out of a central nucleation point and they usually occur in potash rich lava's.
The actual size of this crystal is no more than 8 mm.
CALCIT

GLOBULES Calcite is the crystalline variety of

calcium carbonate, a mineral that occurs in many forms. Shells,

4S

QUARTZ>

DOMUS

46

< ANDESITE

FAYALITE

PHANTOMS

49

< WIDMANNSTETTERSCHE FIGUREN

S3

PYRITE

< AQUAMARIN

REFLECTIONS FROM OUTER SPACE

ss

MIMICRY

AUGITE>

TURMALINE

WOLFRAMITE

56

< CALCITE GLOBULES

CALCITE ON FLUORITE

59

GEODE

Geodes are more or less spherical nodules of chalcedony with

theory for the origin of these Iythophyses, very complex and

an interior that may be hollow or (partially) filled with quartz.

difficult to comprehend for the outsider. Fortunately, as with

Quartz and chalcedony are, respectively, the crystalline and

many other things of beauty in this country, these precious lit-

amorphous (non-crystalline) variety of silica (Si02). The chal-

tle gems can be more than adequately enjoyed without compli-

cedony in geodes may also be referred to as agate, but that

cated explanations.

term is meant to indicate a chalcedony of semi-precious qualiALY

ty, discussed in the next chapter. Flintstone, chert and silex are

The portentous scenery inside this rhyolitic

other denominations for chalcedony.

geode is no bigger than a thumbnail. See above for a more

The origin of geodes is explained by the precipitation of silica

detailed description.

(or more rarely some other mineral) from circulating subsurU

face waters, inside hollow spaces in volcanic rocks. These hol-

00

This rooster, in a rhyolitic

low spaces are usually the congealed voids that have remained

geode (see above) from Australia, stands face to face with his

from gas bubbles that originally occurred in the hot lava. The

alter ego, from France. Is this coincidental? Or is it a conspiracy,

precipitation of silica from percolating water or vapor is a slow

something beyond the understanding of plain mortals? Actual

process, responding differentially to various circumstances, like

width 35 mm.

concentration and temperature. By these processes imaginative and colorful scenery emerges, with combinations of band-

LThis proud rooster stands in a small,

ed chalcedony, crystalline quartz, the occasional rosettes of

rhyolitic geode (see above) from the Esterel region in southern

hematite (iron OXide) and dendrites of pyrolusite (manganese

France. For some inscrutable reason the precipitation of chal-

oxide). Sawing geodes in halves or in slices, and polishing the

cedony, inside rhyolitic geodes, often takes on the outlines of

cut surfaces, brings out all this imagery.

poultry. Like the crowing rooster on the facing page, flown in all

A place known - already since ancient times - for its geodes,

the way from Australia.Actual diameter 40 mm.

agates and other beautiful minerals is Idar-Oberstein in West

Germany. Famous makers of jewelry and objects in stone, for

LThis tasteful agate, the size of a plum, is also from

example Faberge, came here to find their materials. Although

the Esterel Mountains on the French Mediterrannee. The sur-

most of the indigenous resources have now been depleted,

rounding green rock is rhyolitic lava. The void inside has been

Idar-Oberstein has carried on its fame as the worlds 'epicenter'

filled up with clear chalcedony, which is full of little red rosettes

for precious and semi-precious stones. Numerous workshops

of hematite, an iron oxide. If this were a dinner course pre-

where stones are fashioned into jewelry and trinkets as well as

pared by Bocuse, it would be called Escargots a I'hematite dans

many shops and several museums make it a lively business cen-

une croute de rhyolite.

ter and a collector's paradise.

Aslice of agate, from a Brazilian geode not
Waferthin laminae of intensely red

larger than a peach, is depicted here in transmitted light. The

hematite surround a mysterious, black hole of quartz crystals.

German craftsman who cut and polished this slice saw nothing

On the polished face of an Esterel geode the size of a golf ball,

less in it than the Urknall.

cut in half. Geodes of this type, of which we see a few more in

thin section, photographed

the next plates, come from the Esterel region on the French
Mediterranean coast and they are quite characteristic.The sur-

with transmitted, polarized light (see page 112), shows the

rounding greenish-grey host rock is rhyolite, a volcanic rock. It

complex details of precipitation and crystallization inside a

encloses a core of chalcedony, stained by the vivid reds of

geode, with banded rings of chalcedony on the periphery and a

hematite. To the French geologists who studied these geodes

core of crystalline quartz.Actual size 15 x 24 mm.

they are also very special. So special that they did not simply
call them geodes but rather assigned them a more dignified

You have to see it to

believe it. In western New Mexico, in the inaccessible terrain of

name,'Lithophyses'.Also, these scientists worked out a deviant

60

black, rugged lava called Malpais (Spanish for 'bad land') there

of a geode, barely the size of a fist, calls to mind the setting of

are caves, just under the surface, containing eternal ice, even in

an ancient Germanic saga. Actual size 60 x 90 mm.

midsummer, when surface temperatures rise over 40C. The

scene in this tiny slice of agate, fiery red chalcedony on the out

S P

side and small quartz crystals on the inside, is an allegory to

lar to geodes. They are round claystone concretions with an

this whim of nature. Actual size 45 x 60 mm.

interior structure that is star shaped or formed by haphazardly

NSeptarian nodules are more or less simi-

radiating cracks filled with another mineral, often crystalline

This polished slice of a geode nicely

calcite. The cracked structure comes about by the drying up

shows the gradational change from amorphous silica (chal-

and shrinkage of the clay concretion and the cracks and voids

cedony) precipitated in the outer rings, to crystalline silica

are later filled up with calcite. Cut in half and polished, these

(quartz) filling the interior. Actual width 55 mm.

nodules display intriguing configurations, like the chap valiantly

marching ahead in this specimen. Actual diameter 120 mm.

G As outlined in the introduction to this chapter, the

interior filling of geodes can be, partly or fully, a precipitate of

AUS

chalcedony from aqueous solutions that flow into cavities in

colors of the chalcedony filling it are distinctive of the land

volcanic rock. The solution often percolates into the cavity

scape and rocks of the Australian outback. No wonder that the

through one little duct. That event is here illustrated in graceful

aboriginal people of Australia picked these colors for their

curves. Actual size 30 x 48 mm.

national flag. Actual diameter 120 mm.

A Two thin slices of agate, cut from differ-

ent geodes and placed on top of each other, create this illusory
water hole. Actual size 40 x 50 mm.

Opposite halves of an Australian geode,

the size of a small melon, are suggestively portrayed against a

marine background, evoking a scene that can often be seen in
the seas around that continent. This geode is formed in a void
inside a volcanic rock called rhyolite, the same way as described
for the first few pictures in this chapter.
UI: The forms taken on by chalcedony inside geo-

des are wondrous and so are the colors, but... , not always. If
I,he colors fall short, well, there are worse things that can hap
pen.After all, by immersing geode slabs in color baths, they can
be given the fanciest colors you wish. Which is what accounts
for the wondrous blue in this specimen. Actual diameter 70
mm.
G

Geodino is the term used in South America for

small geodes, which often show fine detail, with small and very
clear quartz crystals in the hollow core. This one is about the
size of a walnut.

A CRYSTAL WAlHAll I-l The split and polished surface

61

lIAThis type of geode is called a 'thunderegg'. The

< LE ROUGE ET LE NOIR

APOCALYPSE

63

THE AUSTRALIAN ROOSTER

64

LE COQ D'ESTEREL

65

ESCAREL

THE BIG BANG>

66

LITTLE ICE CAVE PHANTASY

70

GRADES OF SILICA

71

FATA MORGANA>

BUDDING

72

PHONY BLUE

< THE DOLPHINS

75

GEODINO

A CRYSTAL WALHALLAH >

76

SEPTARIAN MAN

AUSTRALIA>

78

AGA E

Agate is a hybrid term, widely used in the world of semi pre-

translucent chalcedony bend upwards in the same way that

cious stones. The name goes back to Roman times and is first

huge strata curve up on the slope of a volcano. The title of this

mentioned by Pliny the Elder, who refers to a then existing

exposure was inspired by Malcolm Lowry's superb novel, in

river Achate in Sicily, in which this type of stone was found. In a

which such an ominous suspense burns under the surface of

broader sense agate designates a type of stone, composed of

the narrative. Actual size 50 x 70 mm.

'chalcedony' (SiD,), which is deposited, from aqueous solu-

SU

tions, inside a vein or hollow space in a rock, as described in

The intricate finesses of dendritic miner-

the previous chapter.

ai growth, in this landscape agate, are a challenge to anybody's

Agates are known in many places around the world, most com-

imagination. Actual size 13 x 22 mm.

monly in regions of volcanic rock. Very hard and resistant to

weathering, pebbles of agate can be found far from their place

0<.

A garland of white chalcedony decorously girdles

of origin, in downstream river deposits or on pebbly beaches.

the periphery of this slice of agate that comes from the

The circumstances under which agates grow can vary from one

renowned area around Idar-Dberstein. referred to in the intro-

place to the other, leading to great diversity in form, banding

duction of the previous chapter. Actual size 45 x 60 mm.

and color. Associated minerals, like manganese or iron oxide,

RGATO Y Through fire and torments the heavenly portal

often crystallize in 'dendritic' (branch-shaped) or rosetteshaped patterns inside the chalcedony. Veteran collectors can

beckons'. Somehow a notion of the purgatory radiates from

recognize the region, sometimes even the exact place of origin

this thin slice of agate. Actual size 50 x 70 mm.

of an agate. Agate has been used for decoration and as a semi

precious stone by many cultures for thousands of years. Large

L1TT

SHI ROCK Shiprock is a conspicuous, pointed

pieces may be worked into such objects as bowls or vases,

mountain of dark basalt, protruding 500 meters out of the

smaller ones into animal figures or other trinkets. Very fine

desert plane in New Mexico, USA (see page 19). The precipita-

qualities are used for jewelry. Most striking are cameos and

tion of manganese-oxide, in this nail-sized landscape agate, has

intaglios, those delicate gems for brooches or necklaces that

an allusive resemblance to the real Shiprock, including the

are carved in such a manner that differently colored layers in

crested dykes that fan out from the central mount into the

the agate accentuate the renderings. The plates in this chapter

desert.

show polished surfaces in reflected light, as well as translucent

slices photographed in transmitted light. The fantastic images

TO

SPUMOSO This and several other pictures in

that materialize in agates defy the imagination.

this chapter are made of agates from a location called

Espumoso, in Brazil. These sophisticated 'landscape agates',

SU

A E This fine detail of a polished 'moss-agate', not

speckled with refined deposits of manganese- and iron-oxide,

much larger than a thumbnail, looks like sea-grass, gently mov-

are much sought after by collectors. They are cut and polished

ing with the heaving of the waves. But actually these are den-

into thin little slices, an art mastered by the best professionals

dritic crystals of manganese oxide, not really organic at all.

of the trade only. Actual size 18 x 25 mm.

Here again, one feels that the separation between these two
domains, the organic and the inorganic, does not have to be

1M RIESE

taken as absolute as is always implied.

gorical painting by Caspar David Friedrich, depicting a crucifix

Morgen im Riesengebirge is an alle-

planted on a ridge of jagged rocks in the Riesengebirge of eastESC

ganese oxide adorn a milky white agate, in a way suggestive of a

ern Germany. This image was created millions of years earlier,

Delicate dendrites and rosettes of a man-

by the whims of nature, in a small slice of Brazilian landscape

sub-aquatic scene in a coral reef. This thin, polished slice mea-

agate. It might well have astounded the artist. Actual size 20 x

sures 16 x 30 mm. and is photographed with transient light.

25 mm.

UNDER THE VOLCAN

BOTSWANA AGArE Botswana agates are very special,

Thin bands of iron oxide inside

80

characterized as they are by their reddish and blue hues and

striking parallel banding. Small and delicate as they can be, they
are often applied as cabochons or other trinkets in jewelry.
Actual size 30 x 40 mm.
The slender profile of a Hindu dancer
could be perceived in the elegantly curved bands of light and
dark chalcedony in this agate from India. Actual size 40 x 50
mm.
The images created by the precipitation
of chalcedony and quartz inside geodes are infinitely imaginative.ln this slice, about the size of a prayer card, one might see
a rendering of the adoration of the HolyVirgin.

Dendrite crystals look like trees or branches.

They are usually iron or manganese oxide that has precipitated

from aqueous solutions inside narrow fractures in a rock, in
this case inside chalcedony. The 'trees' in this winter landscape
are about 7 mm. tall.
Jules Verne's infamous hero
and his ill-fated crew may well have perceived scenes like this
when their submarine, the 'Nautilus', ascended to the surface
by way of a secretive cave, in between one of those prolonged
journeys in the deeps of the ocean. The picture is taken with
transmitted light through a slice of agate, cut from a geode with
an actual width of about 120 mm.
P

Could that disputed Mesozoic creature, half-

dinosaur, half-bird, have looked somewhat like this effigy, diving

headlong for it's prey? This is a sliver of manganese oxide inside
a matrix of chalcedony. Actual size 45 x 60 mm.
This strange and alien figure was created inside
milky white chalcedony by theprecipitation of manganese
oxide. Actual size 40 x SO mm.

81

SUB MARE

ESCARPMENT

82

UNDER THE VOLCANO

INDIAN SUMMER

83

PURGATORY

< BAROeK

85

LITTLE SHIPROCK

TORRES DE ESPOMOSO >

86

BLACK BEAUTY

< BOTSWANA AGATE

91

CAPTAIN NEMO'S RETURN

93

PTEROSAUR

GENESIS>

94

GEM

Gem is a rather indeterminate description for a wide range of

ed sediment of finely alternating, calcareous silts and clays.

precious or semiprecious stones and minerals that are cut and

Subsequent deformation and diagenetic processes introduced

polished for use in jewelry or as ornaments and trinkets. I this

little cracks and displacements in the rock as well as dendritic

chapter the term is used, somewhat arbitrarily, to designate

precipitation of manganese. Even electro-chemical processes

various minerals and stone types that are cut and polished pri-

have been proposed in an attempt to explain the complex

marily to bring out the beauty and imagery of the stone as

structures in this amazing rock. Certainly, the forces that acted

such; these are not all gems that are worked into jewelry. They

must have been as subtle and original as the refined artistry

include jasper, a rock type much akin to agate, as well as mala-

found in this stone. Other plates in this chapter show some

chite and opal. Of particular interest in this series is 'Pietra

more examples of Paesina Stone. Actual width 120 mm.

Paesina' from Tuscany in Italy, of which several remarkable

examples are presented in this chapter. For an explanation see

SO GL

'Pietra Paesina' hereunder.

dance across Australia as traversed and worshipped by the abo-

Songlines are the spiritual routes of travel and

riginal people of that continent. In this fist-sized, polished chunk

P

SOUR The artistry in this polished slab of

of jasper from Roy Hill in Western Australia (see next plate)

Paesina Stone could be mistaken for a detail of a marine paint-

one might see a microcosmic version of the songlines.

ing from the 17th century Dutch school. Actual size 130 x 160
mm.

OY HILL

S This type of jasper is found in

The nature of Paesina Stone is explained in detail under Pietra

the vicinity of Roy Hill, a remote post in the outback of

Paesina, see below.

Western Australia. In the course of geologic time this type of

rock has been partially stained red by iron.

TERRA 0

OThis sweeping landscape is laid out

The remaining, unstained patches often take on enigmatic

in a little slab of Paesina stone from Tuscany. Actual size 80 x

shapes, like the 'dramatis personae' in the polished slabs here

100mm.

juxtaposed. Actual size 100 x 120 mm.

PAESI

PUI Tepuis are the notorious, flat-topped

SPEC

OL

F Spectrolite, also called labradorite, is a vari-

mountains located in the savanna region of southern Venezuela.

ety of the extensive group of rock-forming minerals called

The slopes of these high and isolated mountains are so steep

feldspars. large, tabular crystals often display iridescence, a

and inaccessible that each has a particular fauna and flora, often

changeable and magic emanation of colors resulting from the

including unique species found nowhere else. The tepui here

interference of light reflected by the semi-translucent, lamellar

depicted is an allegory, seen in a small, polished slab of Paesina

crystal planes. Actual size 40 x 50 mm.

stone from the rolling hills ofTuscany. Actual size 90 x 120 mm.
DF

E Cordierite is a characteristic mineral formed

0 Pebbles of this type of rock, which is akin

by alteration in highly metamorphic rocks. It is akin to beryl,

to Paesina Stone, are found in the valley of the Arno River in

and clear crystals of appropriate color are sometimes used in

Tuscany, Italy. Although probably formed by similar processes

jewelry. The crystals are often transected by fissures, along

to those that created the patterns in Pietra Paesina (see

which replacement by other minerals takes place. That feature

below), the structures in Verde d'Arno are more geometric.

is called 'pinitization' and it is well displayed in this thin section.

These could have inspired painters like Lionel Feininger or Paul

OPAL Opal is hydrated, amorphous silica, deposited from sili-

Klee. Actual size of this polished face is 70 x 90 mm.

ca-bearing waters in voids and fissures of certain rock forma-

s Pietra Paesina, also known as 'ruin-marPIET

ble', is an amazing type of stone found in the Tuscan hills around

tions. Water molecules trapped in the silica account for the

Florence. The ancients already considered it a material worthy

a desirable precious stone. Much of the high-quality opal traded

of a craftsman. By origin this rock was a lake- or river-deposit-

these days comes from Australia. A number of years ago this

milky luster and brilliant pastel colors that make opal into such

96

continent officially declared opal to be their national gem. This

a rhyolitic agate from West Australia. Rhyolite is a characteris-

cut and polished Australian specimen is a Yowah Nut, a type in

tic type of extrusive rock (see page 10) that is often the host

which the opal is intercalated in the concentric fissures of a

rock of Australian geodes. Actual size 35 x 45 mm.

limonite concretion. Actual size 30 x 50 mm.

Malachite, a copper carbonate with vivid green
colors and banded, kidney-like structures, is hard to mistake.
This polished slab comes from the Congolese copper-mining
province Shaba. Malachite, although closely associated with the
copper ore, is not an ore in its own right. Often malachite is
worked into trinkets and other small ornaments. More lavish
was its use to adorn the interior of tsarist palaces in Moscow
and St. Petersburg. This extravagance before long led to the
total depletion of the renowned malachite mines in Russia.
Actual size 90 x I 10 mm.
RU

ZOISITE Longida, in Tanzania, is a unique locality

for the occurrence of outsized, elongated crystals of ruby,

embedded in a green matrix of zoisite. This picture is of a thin
slice, craftily sawed off perpendicular to the long axis of the
crystal and polished on both sides. It is photographed with
transmitted light, so that all the intricacies of the ruby's crystal
structure can be well observed, including growth planes, cracks,
and fissures that resulted from stresses during crystal growth.
Actual diameter 100 mm.
U

T L

TI ES Milky blue chalcedony has here been

deposited in the form of small pinnacles and a sugary crust. As

explained for geodes and agates in the previous chapters, most
chalcedony is formed inside rock cavities, often in a rich variety
ofform and color. The pinnacles in this cavity are actually small
stalactites, formed by the drip-drip of water inside a small cavity, just like the formation of the much larger, calcitic stalactites
in caves. Actual size 60 x 80 mm.

THE FLYING DUTCH AN The ragged and ghostly ship of

the legendary Dutchman, who was condemned to an eternal
quest of the world's seas, may have appeared somewhat like
this to the bewildered seamen that ran across him, navigating
their ship across the waves, during faraway, stormy nights.
This scene occurs in a polished slab of Paesina Stone, see
explanation under Pietra Paesina. Actual size 100 x 130 mm.
LUCIFERThe mythological bearer of light materializes inside

97

PAESINA HARBOUR

PAESINA TEPUI >

TERRA DI RIMAGGIO

98

< VERDE D'ARNO

PIETRA PAESINA

101

SONGLINES

ROY HILL ENCOUNTERS>

102

SPECTROLITE

104

CORDIERITE

105

< MALACHITE

RUBY IN ZOISITE

BLUE STALACTITES

109

THE FLYING DUTCHMAN

110

LUCIFER

III

TEXTURE

The word 'texture' refers to the detailed structure and makeup

that often gives the sparkle to granite and gneiss or appears as

of all kinds of materials, such as textile, rocks and many others.

tiny stacks of wafers in other plutonic rocks (see Aquamarin,

The pictures in this chapter illustrate that textures in minerals

page 54). In thin section and polarized light, micas display fading

and rocks are very diverse and may be formed by a variety of

colors of birefringence and a characteristic 'goose-flesh' tex-

processes, like crystallization and sedimentation, but also

ture.

through pressure, deformation or geochemical processes. Many

pictures in this paragraph are of 'thin sections', wafer-thin (10 to

PER DOTITE Peridotite is a 'plutonic' rock. It is formed at

40 micron) slices of rock, which are glued on to glass and pre-

great depth, where the earth's crust changes into the semi-solid

pared with special skill.Thin sections are one of the fundamental

mantle. It is assumed that most of the earth's mass, notably the

means for analyzing rocks and minerals, and geologists routinely

mantle, has a peridotitic composition, but this has never been

examine them with a polarizing microscope. The inspection is

proven (the earth's interior is simply too deep and too hot for

carried out with the help of various optical means and with

sampling, we know less of it than we do of the surface of the

transmitted light that mayor may not be polarized. When the

Moon or Mars). Many meteorites, Le. those of the stony variety

light is polarized, crystals often take on striking colors, due to

(the other variety is metallic), also have the same composition,

birefringence of the light beams.

which suggests that peridotite is a key building material of the

The actual sizes of the thin sections shown in this paragraph and

whole solar system. The colorful olivine that makes up the bulk

the next are in the range 10 to 50 mm. and not mentioned sepa-

of peridotite, has been partly serpentinized, which means that it

rately in the texts.

has been altered, along the grain boundaries, into the water rich

CARNALLITE Carnallite is a rock salt and as such belongs to

old oil painting.

mineral serpentine. This accounts for that craquelee look of an

a group of sediments referred to as evaporites. Evaporites form
EYE Tiger-eye is a fibrous mineral, belonging to the sil-

part of marine sedimentary sequences and are precipitated by

T G

the drying up of isolated parts of continental seas during dry

icate group. It is well known for it's silky, golden gloss and is

and warm climates. A present day example is the Dead Sea of

often cut and polished into cabochons and trinkets. Here, in thin

Israel. In thin section and polarized light, the tightly interlocked

section, its appearance is more that of a sanguineous chunk of

salt crystals take on attractive colors.

meat.

BISCHOFITE Bischofite is a magnesium containing rock salt,

YLONITE MOSAIC

Shown here in thin section is

like the carnallite of the previous plate. These two pictures are

mylonite, a thinly laminated, metamorphic rock. Fine-textured

of salts mined, by slurry pumping, from the deeper subsurface in

seams of mica are intercalated with thin bands of quartz. The

the north of the Netherlands. The thin sections here pho-

quartz grains have undergone recrystallization and have thus

tographed are rather exceptional, since a special technique is

been rearranged into a close-fitting mosaic.

required for their preparation and preservation.

ORNBLENDE Hornblende belongs to a group of minerals
BORDERLINE The fine, darkish material in this thin section is

called the amphiboles, which occur in igneous as well as meta-

basalt, a magma that has solidified at, or near, the earth's surface.

morphic rocks. In this thin section exposure the delicate tex-

When ascending to the surface from the deep underground,

ture inside the crystals is accentuated by the subtle gradations

such magmas may bring along bits and pieces of other rocks.

in the colors of birefringence.

Some of these pieces do not melt, such as the chunk of peridotite on the right hand side of the picture, in which the olivine

E Perthite, sometimes incorrectly referred to as a

crystals display their characteristic, lively colors of interference.

feldspar mineral, is actually a texture of fine, interspersedlayers

occurring in alkali feldspars. This lamellar texture results from a

USCO I ES Muscovite is a micaceous mineral occurring

separation of sodium- and potash-feldspars during cooling and

solidification of the mineral.Thin section, polarized light.

frequently in plutonic and metamorphic rocks. It is the mineral

112

OliT

Chiastolite is a unique variety of the mineral

Andalusite, an aluminum silicate. Chiastolites are columnar, prismatic crystals of this mineral, with dark inclusions of carbon or
clay particles, which are arranged in the form of a cross.
Chiasma is Greek for cross. This picture is of a thin section cut
squarely across such an elongated crystal column. Diameter
45mm.
,..ALENt E Much like contour lines on a map, crystal-growth

patterns (see 'Striations', hereunder) accentuate the surface of a

small specimen of galenite, a common lead-ore. Actual size 40 x
50mm.

ACQU

Seen here in cross section are beds of

sand and gravel deposited in a Holocene fluviatile environment

in the Netherlands. Cross bedding, ripple marks and other
structures typical for such river deposits are very distinctly displayed.This section is characteristic for the way geology is practised in the predominantly young and unlithified sediments of
Holland. It is a 'lacquer profile', prepared by immersing a clean
cut, vertical section of such sediments, for example in a sand- or
gravel-pit, with lacquer. After the lacquer has hardened the section is carefully peeled off and fastened to a board. The width of
this section is nearly one meter.

ST I TIO S Striations and other striped patterns sometimes seen on crystal planes are a telling indication of how crystals grow, layer-by-Iayer. See also previous page. This example is
on the face of a pyrite-cube. Actual size 17 x 22 mm.
GR PHIC GR N TE Granite is formed at great depth, by

the solidification of magma. Graphic granite is a particular variety, in which the two essential rock forming minerals, quartz and
feldspar, have solidified eutectically (simultaneously). This results
in an orderly pattern: the quartz takes on the shape of hieroglyphs and is embedded in a matrix of patchy, monocrystalline
feldspar.
T Ie

L This cut and polished slab of lead ore,

typical for certain ancient mining districts in Germany and

Belgium, shows a remarkable skeletal pattern, which results
from the intergrowth of zinc in the lead ore.The Germans refer
to this pattern as 'gestrickt' (knitted), hence the striking name
they give to this type of ore. Actual size 100 x 150 mm.

III

< CARNALLITE

BISCHOFITE

115

BORDERLINE

MUSCOVITES>

116

PERIDOTITE

118

TIGER EYE

119

HORNBLENDE

CHIASTOLITE >

PERTHITE

122

LACQUER PROFILE

< GALENITE

STRIATIONS

125

GRAPHIC GRANITE

126

STRICKBLEIGLANZ

127

DEFOR

A 10

In the geological record, deformation plays a key role: on a

BIF, short for Banded Iron Formation, is a char-

large scale, that of whole mountain ranges, but also in tiny por-

acteristic type of rock composed of thin, alternating beds of

tions of minerals and rocks. The principal drivers are the con-

jasper, hematite and tiger-eye, which may, to greater or lesser

tinuous mobility and flow of the hot and viscous material in the

degrees, be deformed into folds or fragments. This type of rock,

earth's core and mantle, which are conveyed to the 'lithos-

of which polished surfaces are pictured here and in several of

phere', Le. the rock formations of the earth's outer crust.

the following plates, is the main iron-ore in some of the world's

The implications of these phenomena are better known since

largest mining districts, most notably in West Australia. Many

the elaboration, in recent decades, of the notions of sea-floor

BIF's are very ancient sediments, some as old as 3 billion years

spreading and continental drift, which are unified under the

and particularly interesting in that they represent a crucial peri-

concept of plate tectonics. According to this now widely

od of evolution on our globe. They originally were sediments

accepted model, once upon a time there was one large, coher-

deposited in shallow seas, where primitive bacteria brought

ent mass of continental crust, sometimes referred to as

about the oxidation and precipitation of the iron dissolved in

'Pangaea'.This single mass of lithosphere started to break apart

the seawater. This led to the recurring deposition of thin beds,

into several large chunks some 250 million years ago. These

probably under the influence of climatic cycles. This was a new

chunks, now known to us as the individual continents, move

phenomenon on planet earth and an indication of crucial

about on the hotter and more viscous mantle-material

changes in the earth's evolution, notably in the atmosphere.

beneath, much like a film of grease floating on a plate of soup.

Massive sediments were thus accumulated and, after a long his-

No wonder that this leads to strains, stresses, and deformation

tory of deep burial and exposure to tectonic movement, these

in the rocks that form the crust. Most of this mobility occurs

rocks were intensely altered and deformed. This polished slab

along the coastal margins of the continents. These are thought

is a telling example of such deformation on a small scale.

to be the zones where thin, oceanic crust is pushed down

Actual size 180 x 220 mm.

under the thicker, continental crust. But continental plates also

CL

collide with each other, like in some parts of the near East and

Intense tectonic forces, that imparted a

southern Asia. Earthquakes and volcanism, the most telling evi-

cleavage type folding (see last picture) to a schistose rock, have

dence of all this mobility, occur most frequently in these zones,

also buckled up a thin stringer of quartzite transecting it. One

for example in the Circum-Pacific realm, in Turkey and in

might well imagine to be looking at an arctic landscape, with a

Greece.

river of ice meandering across the dunes of a barren desert.

'Panta Rhei' (everything moves) said the old Greeks and with

Thin section.

first hand evidence they knew this to be true not only for the
INKS Kinks are a characteristic type of microstructure, also

sea around them, but also for the ground beneath their feet.

called zigzag folds or knee-folds.They are straight-limbed, anguC OFO

S Originally these were thin, sedimentary lay-

lar folds with narrow hinge zones that may occur in thinly bed-

ers of quartz sand and clay with plant remains, probably

ded rocks or in crystals with a laminated structure, like in the

deposited in a riverbed. But in geology nothing is static, every-

feldspar displayed here. Kinks form in response to intense,

thing is transformed and deformed: minerals, rocks, the face of

compressive forces, with slip movements occurring along the

the earth itself. Slow, but massive, movements dragged these

laminar plane surfaces. Thin section.

sediments to the deep subsurface.The sand and clay beds were

altered into carbon-rich schist and quartzite, and intense com-

MIG RAB

pressive forces warped the thin bands into steep microfolds.

feature, a chunk of the earth's crust that has sunk downwards

Eventually, uplift and erosion brought it all back to the surface.

along two sub-parallel faults. The well-known Rift Valley of East

In geology, a graben denotes a large structural

This example is small-scale (thin section, height 20 mm.), but

Africa marks the site of a graben, as do parts of the Rhine Valley

folding of bedded rocks occurs on all scales, up to that of

and other marked depressions in the globe's surface. In cross

whole mountains.

section a graben would look much like what is seen in this picture.ln fact the miniature graben formed in this polished slab of

128

BIF (see under Folded BIF) is more or less a result of the same

'Cleavage' is an advanced

forces and conditions that are at work in forming the large-

stage of microstructural faulting and deformation in a rock,

scale grabens. Actual size 25 x 40 mm.

whereby the rock in question often takes on a micaceous, finely foliated fabric. Crenulation cleavage, as seen in this thin sec-

MARAMA BA In this polished slab of BIF, the soft greens

tion, results from successive phases of such deformation.

and reds of jasper, the metallic glow of hematite, and the golden
fibers of tiger-eye evoke the likeness of an alien landscape,
remote and otherworldly. Actual size 90 x 120 mm.
APEX In this polished slab of BIF, from Western Australia, a

thin seam of hematite has been deformed and fragmented into

a crested form by the same stresses that generated the fibrous
texture of the surrounding tiger-eye. Actual size 75 x 100 mm.
BIOTI

IN 0

P RO E E A flake of biotite, a

micaceous mineral, has been buckled up, like a pennant in the

wind, by internal stress forces inside a holocrystalline mass of
orthopyroxene. The image is of a thin section of a rock sample
from the Bushveld complex, South Africa. The colors result
from polarization of the transient light used to make the photograph.
SNO

T This thin section demonstrates the

rotational deformation of a rigid object, in this case a large garnet crystal, that is suspended in a fine grained, more readily
deforming rock.Thin section, polarized light.
PRESS R

FRIN E Pressure fringes, also called pressure

shadows, are a type of microstructure formed by intense shear

forces in deep-seated rocks. This example shows a darkish
brown spherule of pyrite in a schistose host-rock. The pyritic
spherule rolled along but remained rigid while the schist was
deformed. Quartz, formed in the 'wake' of the rotating
spherule, was stretched out into a fibrous and curved shape
that looks much like an old-fashioned airplane propeller. This
thin section is prepared from Archaean rock in the Yilgarn
region,Western Australia, which is some 2.5 billion years old!
WAVY CAL ITEThis thin section shows a detail of a calcite

vein precipitated inside a fracture in a rock, from hot fiuids,

deep in the earth. Deformational stress during the precipitation of the calcite brought about the curved, fibrous shape of
the crystals.

129

FOLDED BIF >

MICROFOLDS

130

CLEAVAGED VEIN

KINKS>

132

MARAMAMBA

APEX>

136

SNOWBALL GARNET

140

PRESSURE FRINGE

141

< WAVY CALCITE

CRENULATION CLEAVAGE

14]

Fossils are the remains of organisms that lived on Earth in the

old geological period that accounts for most of the coal

geologic past.The fossil record ranges from the most primitive,

reserves on earth. This plate shows a fossil imprint of the dia-

unicellular life forms of three billion years ago to the highly

mond shaped pattern that is typical for the bark along the

sophisticated biota of recent times. Such remains are usually

upper section of the trunk. These plants could achieve gigantic

petrified, but some have remained organic, like plant remains in

size, 30 to 40 meters and thus were larger than many trees.

lignite and coal, insects in amber or a frozen mammoth in polar

Descendents of the Lycopsids are still living today, but how

ice. Fossils are the underpinning of our knowledge of past life

heartrending to realize that it is only in the form of dwarflike

and the evolution of species. It is perhaps ironic, but thanks to

mosses. Actual width I 10 mm.

petrifaction, selective weathering, and also to the fact that fossils can be cut, polished, and observed in thin section, certain

PET

attributes of an organism can be more readily

accentuated the wood-texture much more dramatically than

observed than would have been possible in a live specimen!

could have been seen in the live wood. Actual size 120 x 150

The images in this final chapter reflect Earth's life forms, what

mm.

D Petrifaction, and later leaching, has

we call the organic. The previous chapters reflect the nonorganic, or the lifeless forms. But if the reader should feel like

TRI OBIT STriiobites belong to an illustrious class of very

turning back the pages (wondering whether he has not already

old, extinct organisms, that lived from the early Cambrian, over

seen this or that form), he may well question whether this dif-

500 million years ago, well into the Permian period, some 250

ferentiation is really that unambiguous.

million years ago. They were hard shelled, bottom-dwelling sea

organisms, with some 15 000 species known today, ranging in

LIL1

These menacing tentacles are nothing

size from 5 to 500 mm. With their tripartite, segmented bodies

but the fossil remains of crinoids, tranquil sea lilies that gently

they belong to the phylum ofArthropods (same as spiders) and

swayed on the bottom of a Devonian sea, some 400 million

they were the first organisms on Earth outfitted with eyes.

years ago. See also next picture. Actual size 320 x 450 mm.

Fossils of trilobites are abundant and popular with collectors.

The species here shown, measuring 25 mm., is Proetus

B e l Crinoids belong to a group of animals,

Bohemicus from Devonian deposits in Morocco.

the Echinoderms, which also include starfish and sea urchins.

Contrary to their appearance and the nickname 'sea lilies',

crinoids are animals and not plants. Crinoids have lived in shal-

fossilized fish are performing an elegant water dance or a game

OA

Although it looks as if these

low seas since the very ancient geologic past and they still exist

of tag, it is more probable that they were in agony of death,

today. They have a long, thin stem attached to the seafloor,

struck by whatever calamity led to their sudden perishing. The

topped with a flower-shaped body that bears feathery petals.

species on this slab, hardly the size of sardines, are called

The slab of limestone on which these fossil remains stand out

Knightia and come from a well known fossil-hunting site in

so strikingly, comes from Devonian beds in Morocco. Actual

Wyoming, USA.

size 600 x 750 mm.

AM

IT

ON Ammonites are cuttle

N This lively cross section of the stalk of a fossil fern

fish with snail-like shells that lived it up in the Jurassic and

appeared on the face of a small pebble that was picked up on a

Cretaceous seas, some 200 to 100 million years ago. The name

beach in Tasmania and run through a tumbler. Actual width 30

relates to the ancient Sun God 'Ammon Re' and to the holy

mm.

'Ammons Horn' of the ram. Fossil ammonites are found in

abundance in Jurassic and Cretaceous sediments allover the

LE 10

the

world, and have always been associated with fables and super-

Lycopsids, a class of plants that made up a large part of the lush

stition. Actually proof exists that they were already used as tal-

vegetation in the extensive swamps of the Carboniferous era.

isman in the Stone Age. The many types varied in size from a

The Lower Carboniferous is the more than 350 million year

few millimeters across to over one meter.

Lepidodendron

belongs

to

144

The insides of the tiny, fossilized specimen here depicted are

coast of Poland. Fragments or whole specimen of the flora and

filled with crystalline calcite and quartz. The picture is of a thin

fauna of that time, notably insects and spiders, were captured

section, taken with polarized, transmitted light, which explains

that way in resin, some 40 million years ago. Many fossils are in

the lively colors taken on by the crystalline infill. Actual diame-

mint condition and provide valuable material for biologists and

ter 20 mm.

paleontologists who study that epoch and the evolution of

species at large. Larger organisms, such as lizards and frogs, are

AMMON

CO Exposed here is the polished surface of

only rarely found in amber, but they do occur and have tickled
the fantasy of science fiction writers and romanticists alike.

a tiny ammonite, the size of a dollar, ingeniously cut in half. Its

crystal filled chambers, and the gracious curves of the septa

MO QUI

(partitions) in between, would certainly have appealed to the

architects of the art-deco period. Diameter 22 mm.

PID

Immortalized in a

small morsel of amber, a mosquito and a little spider look like

they are engaged in a ritual dance. Or rather a Danse macabre,

IS This fossil of the

IC
SPHE ODISCU L
ammonite Sphenodiscus Lenticularis is a stone-core: an interior

since these insects were cruelly trapped in sticky resin, in an

cast of this shellfish rather than the outer shell. Thanks to this

years ago!

Eocene forest along the Baltic coast, more than 40 million

the suture lines become much better visible. The suture lines
are the edges of the partitions (septa) that divide the interior

of the shell into separate chambers. These are few and far

some 65 million years ago, the fossilized trunk of this tree still

FlED TR

between in some ammonite species and perplexingly contort-

proudly stands upright, on the very place where it grew. It

ed and delicate in others, as in the specimen here seen. Actual

overlooks what is now called the Bisti Wilderness (New

diameter 60 mm.

Mexico, USA), a barren stretch of 'badland' where hardly anything will grow today!

ATHie

IS This thin section of a tiny,

fossilized ammonite has all the distinctions of antiquity. The

creature lived somewhere in what is now the Indonesian
Archipelago, some 150 million years ago, during the lower
Cretaceous era. The specimen belongs to a large collection
compiled, in the 1930's, on the Isle ofTimor by Dutch paleontologists. Actual diameter 25 mm.

CAPTURED I A B R Some 40 million years ago, during

the Eocene, this slender insect was trapped in resin, forever.
Resin that spilled out profusely from pines and oaks in the
forr.sts then covering a region that is now the Bay of Gdansk
and the Baltic coast of Poland.
With time, chemical processes transformed the resin into that
lustrous, yellow to golden-red, semi-precious stone we call
amber. Already in the Stone Age amber was collected and polished into valued jewelry.The ancient Greeks and Romans also
obtained amber for their jewelry from these exceptionally rich
deposits on the Baltic coast.

SP

AR A This diaphanous larva of a spider has been

incarcerated, since Eocene times, in amber from the Baltic

145

TU P Victim of a volcanic outburst,

LILIES OFTHE SEA

CRINOID BRECCIA>

146

FERN

PETRIFIED WOOD>

LEPIDODENDRON

148

LAST DANCE OFTHE FISH

< TRILOBITES

151

AMMONITE IN THIN SECTION

AMMONITE DECO>

152

AGATHICERAS TIMORENSIS

< SPHENODISCUS LENTICULARIS

155

CAPTURED IN AMBER

THE MOSQUITO AND THE SPIDER>

SPIDER LARVA

156

AC

GE

OWL

TS

lowe acknowledgement and thanks to many people, some for

Caillois, Roger (1966) 'Pierres'.

their tips and suggestions, others for their readiness to place at

Gallimard. France. Caillois, Roger (1970) 'I'Ecriture des Pierres'.

my disposal samples from their scientific practice or collection.

Skira SA Geneve. Mandelbrot, Benoit B. (1983) 'The Fractal

I would like to thank the following by name:

Geometry of Nature'. Freeman, San Francisco. Many other

books and publications were consulted.

Charles Arps, Martin Drury, Rob Felius,

Armella Kloppenburg, Cees Mayer, Leo Minnigh, Cees

Most of the photographs were taken with

Passchier, Harry Priem, Rudolf Trouw, Janos Urai, Jan Werner,

a 4 X 5 inch technical camera and a variety of lenses. Most of

Annemarie Wiechowski, Bep van der Wilk and

the field photos were taken with a fixed focus camera (Fuji) on

Kees

format 60 x 90 mm. All on color reversal film, 50, 64 or 100

Woensdrecht.

ASA, most daylight film and some, notably the thin section
LS

recordings, on tungsten film. All photographic recording is by

Karl Kaucher III and his wife

conventional optical means, without digital manipulation or

Lotte,lnge Ni.issgen and Otto Stiekema.

enhancement.
of minerals and (semi)
DESI

precious stones: Richard Abbenhuis, Bert Baasdorp, Dolf Bode,

Hans Gregorius, Jose Hennekam, Roy Masin, Eric Muiderman,
Paris Nicolucci, Alfred Peth and Gerard de Roller.

TEXT CORRECTIO

Madelon Evers.
0

my daughters Dorine and

Caroline, Adriaan Coppens, Susanne Mol and Marianne Wolfs.

And last but foremost my wife Johannette, for sharing it all.

160

NPim Smit,Amsterdam.