SERPENTINE (NATURAL PIECE) - Lizard, Cornwall
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SERPENTINE
Lizard Peninsula, Cornwall
Natural piece of serpentinite
Serpentine is a remarkable rock. In the early Devonian period, 400 million years ago, there was an great ocean to the south of Cornwall called the Rheic Ocean. One hundred million years later this ocean disappeared as the ocean crust was ‘subducted’ down into the Earth’s mantle.
However, a slice of this crust, and part of the mantle, got accidentally caught up in the collision zone and millions of years of erosion have now exposed these rocks at the surface in what is now the Lizard Peninsula, which makes it a geologically unique part of Britain.
The altered mantle material is called serpentinite (commonly called serpentine).
Click on a picture for a larger image
Size: 11 x 8 x 6 centimetres
Weight: 503 grams
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