Palagonite

Palagonite is a yellowish-brown rock glass, which is the result of basaltic lava. It is named after the place Palagonia in Sicily.

In contrast to obsidian, another rock glass, the palagonite contains more bound water, which was recorded in the course of cooling in water-rich environment. Furthermore, the divalent iron is oxidized, so that the proportion of trivalent iron increases, and rock color becomes brownish.

In particular, in Iceland the palagonite is popular because there is enough water available by the eruption of magmas in close contact with and under the ice. The formation of palagonite is called Palagonitisierung. A formation only in close contact with ice is now refuted. Previously it had been assumed that palagonite occurs only under ice and the conversion of Ashes to palagonite takes a long time. The volcanic island of Surtsey off Iceland but has shown that the heat of the ash melts together in a short time to palagonite rocks without contact with ice.

Use

Between the towns of Pelm and Essingen there are occurrences of palagonite on Gyppenberg that was used for the fabrication of oven stones. Palagonite " has highly willingness to ion exchange and is therefore used for the production of water filters "

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