Archive List for gemstone

A lava pipe connecting the mantle to the ground. Black Rock, Wyoming, USA

Update Date：2021-09-18
Post Date：2020-07-09

Landscape

Rare lava with its source in the mantle In the southwestern part of Wyoming, there is a volcanic rock area called the Leucite Hills. The lava that can be seen in this area was spewed out between about 3 million and 900,000 years ago, and there are many table-shaped rocks made of lava scattered here and there in the Leucite Hills. The photo at the top shows one of them, Black Rock. There are several types of lava, but the lava in the Leucite Hills is a very rare type called lamproite. The lamproite lava was formed over a billion years ago when the mantle underwent chemical changes deep underground, […]

A forest turned into an iridescent jewel. Fossil Forest National Park in Arizona, USA

Update Date：2021-09-11
Post Date：2020-05-14

Mineral

Giant trees buried in volcanic ash become colorful jasper A huge tree lying in a desolate rocky desert. At first glance, it looks like a tree, but upon closer inspection, it is a rock. In the “Fossil Forest National Park” in Arizona, USA, there are fossilized trees like the one in the photo lying here and there. These fossils, called silicified wood, are the result of ancient forest trees that were swept away by floods and buried in volcanic ash sand, where their wood components were replaced by silicon dioxide Moreover, the silicified wood here was not only replaced by silicon dioxide, but also took in the iron and manganese […]