Serpentine Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

I like to collect rock surfaces to use as backgrounds for graphics. This particular serpentine has rich hues -- blues, greys, greens -- that makes it enjoyable to me in its own right. Serpentine is about 170 million years old. I took it on the field trip where I blasted out my knee.

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Critiques | Translate

bazal (7898) 2006-10-10 16:08

Hello.
Nice to meet geoscientists on TE. Interesting close-up of this serpentinite with the few clematite leaves that give an idea of the scale. Is it coming from the alteration of some ophiolitic rocks or is this just a deep liasic plutonic formation exhumed during the Alpine orogen?
Nice, unusual and interesting shot, anyway.
Thanks for sharing!

jassy (1065) 2007-05-04 13:03

Hello Annie,
Ah, I do like a good serpentine. We have it all over California; in fact, I believe it is the official State Rock. During high school, I thought of being a geologist but flunked mineral identification and so immediately changed my sights to biology. :-) Still like rocks, though, and have a small collection scattered around the house and garden.
Yours is a nice shot of the rock, showing its interesting grain and fine colors. I bet it's spectacular in higher def. It would indeed make a great background.
Regards, Jackie