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Embedded in the lava still spewing some 130 feet into the air from Hawaii's Kilauea volcano are green crystals.
Called olivine, these minerals can turn Hawaiian beaches green, and it appears some of the green gems are raining down upon homes near the eruption or popping up near lava flows.
"Yes, the lava that is erupting now is very crystal-rich and it is quite possible that residents might be finding olivine," Cheryl Gansecki, a geologist at the University of Hawaii-Hilo that studies the composition of Kilauea's lava, said over email.
"It can be carried in the pumice [rapidly cooled lava] pieces that have been rained all over the area," she noted, or left behind when weaker lava rocks are crushed by cars or foot traffic.
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientist Wendy Stovall, who was out studying Kilauea last week, also confirmed that recent lava samples do contain olivine, though she didn't happen upon any separated green crystals herself.
Other folks in the area, however, appear to be collecting the tiny green gems as they see them:
Friends of mine live in Hawaii, right next to the area impacted by the most recent lava flows. In the midst of the destruction nearby & stress of the unknown, they woke up to this - tiny pieces of olivine all over the ground. It is literally raining gems. Nature is truly amazing.
Some olivines that popped out of an a'a flow. Kilauea's little gems. #hawaii #kilauea #olivine #lovevolcanoes http://www.geoetc.com
It's certainly not unusual to find olivine crystals in most any Hawaiian lava rock, both new and ancient.
"It's pretty common," Stovall said in an interview. "There’s often olivine in rocks all over Hawaii."
And this olivine can become completely separated from lava rocks in a variety of ways.
Sometimes the crystals can be simply weathered out from old lava rocks. Or, in the case of green-tinged Hawaiian beaches, lava can erupt through ocean water in steamy, explosive events, breaking the lava into smaller pieces and fast-tracking the separation process, said Stovall.
Image: Stanley Mertzman
But in the case of this olivine presumably falling down on property near the eruption, the crystals "just kind of fall out" as lava is spewed into the air, said Stovall.
"The olivine crystals folks are finding on the ground scattered about are from violently ejected basalt [a type of lava] blobs wherein the embedded, earlier-formed olivine crystals are freed from their surrounding pahoehoe [syrupy lava] basalt liquid," Stanley Mertzman, a volcanologist at Franklin and Marshall College, said over email.
Both violent ejections on land and from lava flowing into the ocean can "produce freed individual olivine crystals that people can pick up any time," said Mertzman.
Image: Stanley Mertzman
The crystals may be flying through the air from exploded bits of lava, but it's unlikely they're also coming from the volcano's summit, where there's been a large plume of steam and ash erupting from the crater — and at times rare, explosive eruptions.
"One thing I can say is that olivine is not raining out of the plume," Michael Poland, a USGS volcanologist, said over email.
Poland added that olivine is common on the ground regardless, because roads in Hawaii are made up of ground up olivine-rich lava rock.
Image: usgs
The little crystals, however, are not being created during the eruption. They've been formed deep underground long ago, brewing in the molten rock.
"It really is one of the first things to form," said Stovall.
And olivine might not be the only crystal falling down inside the nearby neighborhood.
"It's possible that other crystals are being found," said Stovall, adding that a USGS rock specialist said olivine is difficult to tell apart from another common crystal, called clinopyroxene.
It's also quite possible nearby islanders will continue to find semi-translucent crystals on the ground. The eruption, over a month old now, shows no signs of relenting, and could very well last months — or longer.
and from an article by NASA three years ago:Green sand found on the big island of Hawaii resembles olivine crystals in the icy interior of comet Tempel 1, according to a NASA astrophysicist.
Gemini mid-infrared, false color images of comet Tempel 1 minutes before impact (left), 3 hours after (center) and 24 hours after impact (right.) This image can be used for personal, educational, non-profit use and news media stories, according to Gemini. For all other uses and to confirm Gemini policies, please review the Gemini web site at http://www.gemini.edu/, or contact Gemini directly. Image credit to: Gemini Observatory/AURA.
Scientists revealed that they detected green silicate crystals (olivine) in Tempel 1 similar to, but smaller than, Hawaiian green sand particles, according to articles by the researchers in the September 15, 2005 issue of the journal Science Express. They made their observations before, during and after the NASA Deep Impact spacecraft's 820-pound 'impactor' collided with the comet in early July 2005, as planned, so astronomers could determine what is in comets. The papers outline findings scientists made using infrared detectors on the Gemini and Subaru telescopes in Hawaii.
"The silicate crystals are talcum powder-size, but they are made of the same materials as the green sand beaches in Hawaii," said Diane Wooden, a co-author of both papers. She is an astrophysicist at NASA Ames Research Center, located in California's Silicon Valley. The principal author of the Gemini Telescope paper is David Harker, University of California, San Diego. Seiji Sugita of the University of Tokyo is the principal author of the second Subaru Telescope paper.
"Following the collision of the comet with the 'impactor,' there was a short-lived gas geyser associated with the impact site that carried the crystals from Tempel 1 into space," Wooden said. "The Gemini and the Subaru telescopes are two of the biggest in the world, and we were able to focus in on the green dust particles in the jet and ejecta – something that most space-borne telescopes could not see in infrared light," she noted.
"The insides of comet Tempel 1 look very much like the outsides of comets that have not been 'cooked' by passages close to the sun," Wooden said. She explained that there might be green silicates on the surfaces of comets that swarm in the outer reaches of the solar system and are not exposed to intense sunshine.
Another comet, Hale-Bopp, was so active that it released green silicate crystals as it passed close to the sun in 1997, according to Wooden.
"However, the Deep Impact spacecraft's 'impactor' had to blast the green silicate crystals from the interior of the comet Tempel 1 for us to see them with our ground-based instruments," she noted.
Olivine particles are from the Green Sand Beach in Hawaii. Photo Credit: NASA Ames Research Center, Tom Trower.
Tempel 1 travels close to the sun during part of the comet's orbit, and strong sunlight hits the comet, causing its surface gases and other particles to fly off into space. These particles are what make up a comet's tail, which forms nearer the sun. "In Tempel 1's case, it has passed near the sun so many times that it has lost much of its surface gases and particles," said Wooden.
"What's incredible to me is that the surface – or maybe the fluffiness of the body of Tempel 1 -- is protecting the primitive particles and gases just below the surface from being out-gassed," ventured Wooden.
"We discovered crystalline silicates in the dust that flew from the comet after its collision with the Deep Impact 'impactor.' We don't usually see these silicates in comets that have been 'cooked' by the sun," Wooden explained.
Digital images of olivine particles from a green sand beach in Hawaii and other images related to this story can be found at:
A movie is available on-line that shows the collision of the comet with Deep Impact's projectile:
John Bluck
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Phone: 650/604-5026
E-mail: jbluck@mail.arc.nasa.govNASA Research Finds Green Sand Crystals Are in Comet Tempel 1
GIs Hawaii's
Kilauea volcano shooting green gems into the air?
and from an article by NASA three years ago:Green sand found on the big island of Hawaii resembles olivine crystals in the icy interior of comet Tempel 1, according to a NASA astrophysicist.
Gemini mid-infrared, false color images of comet Tempel 1 minutes before impact (left), 3 hours after (center) and 24 hours after impact (right.) This image can be used for personal, educational, non-profit use and news media stories, according to Gemini. For all other uses and to confirm Gemini policies, please review the Gemini web site at http://www.gemini.edu/, or contact Gemini directly. Image credit to: Gemini Observatory/AURA.
Scientists revealed that they detected green silicate crystals (olivine) in Tempel 1 similar to, but smaller than, Hawaiian green sand particles, according to articles by the researchers in the September 15, 2005 issue of the journal Science Express. They made their observations before, during and after the NASA Deep Impact spacecraft's 820-pound 'impactor' collided with the comet in early July 2005, as planned, so astronomers could determine what is in comets. The papers outline findings scientists made using infrared detectors on the Gemini and Subaru telescopes in Hawaii.
"The silicate crystals are talcum powder-size, but they are made of the same materials as the green sand beaches in Hawaii," said Diane Wooden, a co-author of both papers. She is an astrophysicist at NASA Ames Research Center, located in California's Silicon Valley. The principal author of the Gemini Telescope paper is David Harker, University of California, San Diego. Seiji Sugita of the University of Tokyo is the principal author of the second Subaru Telescope paper.
"Following the collision of the comet with the 'impactor,' there was a short-lived gas geyser associated with the impact site that carried the crystals from Tempel 1 into space," Wooden said. "The Gemini and the Subaru telescopes are two of the biggest in the world, and we were able to focus in on the green dust particles in the jet and ejecta – something that most space-borne telescopes could not see in infrared light," she noted.
"The insides of comet Tempel 1 look very much like the outsides of comets that have not been 'cooked' by passages close to the sun," Wooden said. She explained that there might be green silicates on the surfaces of comets that swarm in the outer reaches of the solar system and are not exposed to intense sunshine.
Another comet, Hale-Bopp, was so active that it released green silicate crystals as it passed close to the sun in 1997, according to Wooden.
"However, the Deep Impact spacecraft's 'impactor' had to blast the green silicate crystals from the interior of the comet Tempel 1 for us to see them with our ground-based instruments," she noted.
Olivine particles are from the Green Sand Beach in Hawaii. Photo Credit: NASA Ames Research Center, Tom Trower.
Tempel 1 travels close to the sun during part of the comet's orbit, and strong sunlight hits the comet, causing its surface gases and other particles to fly off into space. These particles are what make up a comet's tail, which forms nearer the sun. "In Tempel 1's case, it has passed near the sun so many times that it has lost much of its surface gases and particles," said Wooden.
"What's incredible to me is that the surface – or maybe the fluffiness of the body of Tempel 1 -- is protecting the primitive particles and gases just below the surface from being out-gassed," ventured Wooden.
"We discovered crystalline silicates in the dust that flew from the comet after its collision with the Deep Impact 'impactor.' We don't usually see these silicates in comets that have been 'cooked' by the sun," Wooden explained.
Digital images of olivine particles from a green sand beach in Hawaii and other images related to this story can be found at:
A movie is available on-line that shows the collision of the comet with Deep Impact's projectile:
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Phone: 650/604-5026
E-mail: jbluck@mail.arc.nasa.govNASA Research Finds Green Sand Crystals Are in Comet Tempel 1
09.15.05
Mark Kaufman
,Mashable•June
12, 2018
Embedded in
the lava still spewing some 130 feet into the air from Hawaii's Kilauea volcano
are green crystals.
Called
olivine, these minerals can turn Hawaiian beaches green, and it appears some of
the green gems are raining down upon homes near the eruption or popping up near
lava flows.
"Yes,
the lava that is erupting now is very crystal-rich and it is quite possible
that residents might be finding olivine," Cheryl Gansecki, a geologist at
the University of Hawaii-Hilo that studies the composition of Kilauea's lava,
said over email.
SEE ALSO:
Lava transforms a Hawaiian bay into a blackened peninsula
"It can
be carried in the pumice [rapidly cooled lava] pieces that have been rained all
over the area," she noted, or left behind when weaker lava rocks are
crushed by cars or foot traffic.
U.S.
Geological Survey (USGS) scientist Wendy Stovall, who was out studying Kilauea
last week, also confirmed that recent lava samples do contain olivine, though
she didn't happen upon any separated green crystals herself.
Other folks
in the area, however, appear to be collecting the tiny green gems as they see
them:
View image on
TwitterView image on TwitterView image on Twitter
Erin Jordan
✔
@ErinJordan_WX
Friends of mine live in Hawaii, right next to
the area impacted by the most recent lava flows. In the midst of the
destruction nearby & stress of the unknown, they woke up to this - tiny
pieces of olivine all over the ground. It is literally raining gems. Nature is
truly amazing.
6:14 AM - Jun
11, 2018
2,551
966 people
are talking about this
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View image on
Twitter
View image on
Twitter
GEOetc
@GEOetc2
Some olivines that popped out of an a'a
flow. Kilauea's little gems. #hawaii #kilauea #olivine #lovevolcanoes
http://www.geoetc.com
3:47 PM - Jun
10, 2018
155
52 people are
talking about this
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It's
certainly not unusual to find olivine crystals in most any Hawaiian lava rock,
both new and ancient.
"It's
pretty common," Stovall said in an interview. "There’s often olivine
in rocks all over Hawaii."
And this
olivine can become completely separated from lava rocks in a variety of ways.
Sometimes the
crystals can be simply weathered out from old lava rocks. Or, in the case of
green-tinged Hawaiian beaches, lava can erupt through ocean water in steamy,
explosive events, breaking the lava into smaller pieces and fast-tracking the
separation process, said Stovall.
Small green
olivine crystals on a Big Island beach.
Small green
olivine crystals on a Big Island beach.
More
Image:
Stanley Mertzman
But in the
case of this olivine presumably falling down on property near the eruption, the
crystals "just kind of fall out" as lava is spewed into the air, said
Stovall.
"The
olivine crystals folks are finding on the ground scattered about are from
violently ejected basalt [a type of lava] blobs wherein the embedded, earlier-formed
olivine crystals are freed from their surrounding pahoehoe [syrupy lava] basalt
liquid," Stanley Mertzman, a volcanologist at Franklin and Marshall
College, said over email.
Both violent
ejections on land and from lava flowing into the ocean can "produce freed
individual olivine crystals that people can pick up any time," said
Mertzman.
Olivine
crystals embedded in a Hawaiian lava rock.
Olivine
crystals embedded in a Hawaiian lava rock.
More
Image:
Stanley Mertzman
The crystals
may be flying through the air from exploded bits of lava, but it's unlikely
they're also coming from the volcano's summit, where there's been a large plume
of steam and ash erupting from the crater — and at times rare, explosive
eruptions.
"One
thing I can say is that olivine is not raining out of the plume," Michael
Poland, a USGS volcanologist, said over email.
Poland added
that olivine is common on the ground regardless, because roads in Hawaii are
made up of ground up olivine-rich lava rock.
A June 6
plume from Kilauea's crater, Halema‘uma‘u.
A June 6
plume from Kilauea's crater, Halema‘uma‘u.
More
Image: usgs
The little
crystals, however, are not being created during the eruption. They've been
formed deep underground long ago, brewing in the molten rock.
"It
really is one of the first things to form," said Stovall.
And olivine
might not be the only crystal falling down inside the nearby neighborhood.
"It's
possible that other crystals are being found," said Stovall, adding that a
USGS rock specialist said olivine is difficult to tell apart from another
common crystal, called clinopyroxene.
It's also
quite possible nearby islanders will continue to find semi-translucent crystals
on the ground. The eruption, over a month old now, shows no signs of relenting,
and could very well last months — or longer.
NASA Research
Finds Green Sand Crystals Are in Comet Tempel 109.15.05
Green sand
found on the big island of Hawaii resembles olivine crystals in the icy
interior of comet Tempel 1, according to a NASA astrophysicist.
comet temple
1
Gemini
mid-infrared, false color images of comet Tempel 1 minutes before impact
(left), 3 hours after (center) and 24 hours after impact (right.) This image
can be used for personal, educational, non-profit use and news media stories,
according to Gemini. For all other uses and to confirm Gemini policies, please
review the Gemini web site at http://www.gemini.edu/, or contact Gemini
directly. Image credit to: Gemini Observatory/AURA.
Scientists
revealed that they detected green silicate crystals (olivine) in Tempel 1
similar to, but smaller than, Hawaiian green sand particles, according to
articles by the researchers in the September 15, 2005 issue of the journal
Science Express. They made their observations before, during and after the NASA
Deep Impact spacecraft's 820-pound 'impactor' collided with the comet in early
July 2005, as planned, so astronomers could determine what is in comets. The
papers outline findings scientists made using infrared detectors on the Gemini
and Subaru telescopes in Hawaii.
"The
silicate crystals are talcum powder-size, but they are made of the same
materials as the green sand beaches in Hawaii," said Diane Wooden, a
co-author of both papers. She is an astrophysicist at NASA Ames Research
Center, located in California's Silicon Valley. The principal author of the
Gemini Telescope paper is David Harker, University of California, San Diego.
Seiji Sugita of the University of Tokyo is the principal author of the second
Subaru Telescope paper.
"Following
the collision of the comet with the 'impactor,' there was a short-lived gas
geyser associated with the impact site that carried the crystals from Tempel 1
into space," Wooden said. "The Gemini and the Subaru telescopes are
two of the biggest in the world, and we were able to focus in on the green dust
particles in the jet and ejecta – something that most space-borne telescopes could
not see in infrared light," she noted.
"The
insides of comet Tempel 1 look very much like the outsides of comets that have
not been 'cooked' by passages close to the sun," Wooden said. She
explained that there might be green silicates on the surfaces of comets that
swarm in the outer reaches of the solar system and are not exposed to intense
sunshine.
Another
comet, Hale-Bopp, was so active that it released green silicate crystals as it
passed close to the sun in 1997, according to Wooden.
green
crystals "However, the Deep Impact spacecraft's 'impactor' had to blast
the green silicate crystals from the interior of the comet Tempel 1 for us to
see them with our ground-based instruments," she noted.
Olivine
particles are from the Green Sand Beach in Hawaii. Photo Credit: NASA Ames
Research Center, Tom Trower.
Tempel 1
travels close to the sun during part of the comet's orbit, and strong sunlight
hits the comet, causing its surface gases and other particles to fly off into
space. These particles are what make up a comet's tail, which forms nearer the
sun. "In Tempel 1's case, it has passed near the sun so many times that it
has lost much of its surface gases and particles," said Wooden.
"What's
incredible to me is that the surface – or maybe the fluffiness of the body of
Tempel 1 -- is protecting the primitive particles and gases just below the
surface from being out-gassed," ventured Wooden.
"We
discovered crystalline silicates in the dust that flew from the comet after its
collision with the Deep Impact 'impactor.' We don't usually see these silicates
in comets that have been 'cooked' by the sun," Wooden explained.
Digital
images of olivine particles from a green sand beach in Hawaii and other images
related to this story can be found at:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/multimedia/images/2005/olivine.html
A movie is
available on-line that shows the collision of the comet with Deep Impact's
projectile:
http://www.nasa.gov/mov/121527main_MRI_impact.mov
John Bluck
NASA Ames
Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Phone:
650/604-5026
E-mail:
jbluck@mail.arc.nasa.gov