#fulgrite

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[earthstory]

Fulgurite: fossilised lightning strikes Fulgurites form when lightning strikes the ground and almost instantaneously melts the silicate minerals it contacts. The melt then rapidly cools leaving a hollow tube with a glass rim behind, often with other sand grains stuck to the surface. These tubes mimic the shape of the lightning as it passed into the ground creating the spectacular geometric pattern seen in these fulgurites. - Watson Further Reading: http://bit.ly/1FCC2xb Image credit:

Ken smith http://www.geologues-prospecteurs.fr/dictionnaire-geologie/f/fulgurite/yoyoj3d1 

http://bit.ly/1AXiAOQ

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Each Monday, join museum curator Garrett Barmore on an educational exploration of the many amazing minerals, fossils and historical objects on display at the W.M. Keck Earth Science and Mineral Engineering Museum!

This week's specimen is fulgurite.

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What's A Fulgurite? A Fulgurite (from the Latin, Fulgar, meaning Thunderbolt) is a hollow tube made from glass,, formed in quartz rich sedimentary rocks when lightening that is over 1800 degrees Celsius hits the rock and instantly melts the silica and fuses the grains. The entire process only takes 1 second. Fulgurites are sometimes referred to as petrified lightening or "palaeo-lightening" and have been found in most countries around the world. They can be very large, sometimes up to metres in length and several cm's in diameter. If you want to find out more about Fulgurites, including where to find them and how to spot them, head to any of the links below: -LL http://geology.utah.gov/surveynotes/gladasked/gladfulgurites.htm http://www.ira.usf.edu/cam/exhibitions/1998_12_McCollum/supplemental_didactics/33.Regina.pdf http://www.minresco.com/fulgurites/fulgurites.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgurite

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Most likely a fulgrite - lightning hitting sand.

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Did lightning strikes feed early life?

Since the 1953 Miller-Urey experiment which used simulated lightning in a replica of the early atmosphere to create amino acids, speculation on the role of lightning in generating early life has continued. Research by scientists at the University of Arizona now suggests a new mechanism by which lightning may have helped life on its way.

The research involved multi-instrument analysis of rocks called fulgurites, named after the Latin for thunderbolt (and also known as lightning glass). These form when lightning strikes moist silica rich soil or rock, melting and vaporising it as the electrical energy dissipates into the earth. The melt cools swiftly to a glass, similar to that of impact tektites such as Moldavite, and often takes the shape of a hollow tube as the vapour component escapes. Fulgurites resemble roots or branching corals, whose shapes reveal the pattern of electrical dissipation in the earth as the current follows the path of least resistance through the particular material. They are a good illustration of the Chinese concept of Li (literally the markings in jade), which is incorporated into one of their words for science and translates as patterns of organic energy. Their colour depends on the chemical makeup of the rock and their size on the depth of penetration of the strike, which also gives a measure of its energy. They are usually quite small (< 1 metre) but a record 4.9 metre specimen was once found in Florida. They are collectable and can be quite expensive.

The analysis revealed that lightning may have helped enrich the early earth in vital nutrients in a form early life could assimilate. It was already known as one of the few abiotic means of fixing nitrogen (which is why we use agricultural fertilisers), but this research demonstrates its role in providing phosphorous in the reduced form used by early life. Phosphorous is a vital constituent of RNA/DNA and cell membranes, and was once referred to by Isaac Asimov as 'life's bottleneck' as it constitutes 1% of organisms while only being present in 0.1% of the world's minerals. It is usually the limiting nutrient in an ecosystem as its hard to dissolve and moves slowly through the rock cycle.

Nowadays, phosphorous is relatively plentiful, mostly as fully oxidised orthophosphate. In the Achaean and early Proterozoic, before oxygen entered the atmosphere, reduced phosphorous was a larger percentage of the available stock, and early life evolved a different chemical pathway for incorporating it to that of modern life. Modern phosphate comes from the weathering of rock in our current oxidising atmosphere, but on early Earth the geochemical sources must have been different.

Lightning is one of the few natural phenomena powerful enough to reduce phosphorous, electricity providing the energy, while the organic matter in the soil strips off the oxygen, acting as the reducing agent (though other reduced elements more reactive than Phosphorous could have done it on early Earth). Analysis of modern fulgurites showed elevated amounts of reduced phosphorous in proportion to their contents of organic matter. Since the element is rare today in its reduced forms, biologists are puzzled why many micro-organisms retain the enzymes to process it, and the genetic evidence suggests that this is an ancient biochemical pathway. They believe it was more common on the primordial Earth, and had long posited the existence of a geological source of reduced phosphorous, which the Earth sciences have now found for them.

The real joy lies in the feeling that as the work of geoscience progresses each year, each brick builds into an awareness of the whole Earth system. Terra doen't divide itself into pieces in the way that those of us who study it do. As we get to know it as an undivided whole, our love and respect for our wonderful world grows with the profundity of our understanding.

Loz

Fulgurite image credit: Stan Celestian and Earth Science Picture of the Day: http://epod.usra.edu/

http://blogs.nasa.gov/cm/blog/whatonearth/posts/post_1290194194320.html

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=spark-for-life-lightning

Fulgurite and phosphite paper: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/abscicon2010/pdf/5261.pdf

http://www.gemstonesadvisor.com/fulgurite/

[earthstory]

Fulgurite: fossilised lightning strikes

Fulgurites form when lightning strikes the ground and almost instantaneously melts the silicate minerals it contacts. The melt then rapidly cools leaving a hollow tube with a glass rim behind, often with other sand grains stuck to the surface. These tubes mimic the shape of the lightning as it passed into the ground creating the spectacular geometric pattern seen in these fulgurites.

- Watson

Further Reading: http://bit.ly/1FCC2xb

Image credit: Ken smith http://bit.ly/1F3Z1iV yoyoj3d1 http://bit.ly/1AXiAOQ

[earthstory]

FULGURITES  Fulgurite (aka fossilised lightning; the name comes from the Latin fulgur, which translates as lightning) is the name given to quartz (Si02) fused when lightning with a temperature of at least 1,800°C strikes quartzose sand, silica, or soil and creates natural hollow glass tubes. The process only takes one second and can penetrate as deep as 15 metres below the surface. Lechatelierite is the name for the glass formed; this has also been found in tektites. Fulgurite is amorphous and is therefore classified as a mineraloid.  The tubes that are formed vary in size and can be up to several centimetres in diameter and a few metres long. The longest fulgurite found so far is just over 4.9 metres long; it was found in northern Florida, USA. The colours associated with fulgurite vary depending on the mineralogy of the source material they formed in; they can be black or tan to green or white. The inside of the tube is normally smooth and glassy or lined with very small bubbles while the outside is often rough with adhered sand particles and appears porous.  Rock fulgurites form when lightning strikes the surface of a rock, which melts and fuses the surface and sometimes the interior as well. -TEL http://www.minresco.com/fulgurites/fulgurites.htm;  Image: http://www.ahaonline.cz/clanek/trapasy/12345/tajemstvi-blesku-a-hromu.html