Fulgurites - the beauty of geomorphology
Fulgurites (from the Latin fulgur, meaning "thunderbolt") are a variety of the mineraloid lechatelierite. Sometimes referred to as petrified lightning, they are natural hollow glass tubes formed by lightning strikes in quartzose sand, silica, or soil. (Codding, Penelope W., 1998). They are formed when lightning with a temperature of at least 1,800 °C (3,270 °F) instantaneously melts silica on a conductive surface and fuses grains together; the fulgurite tube is the cooled product. (Carl Ege. geology.utah.gov. Retrieved 2009-03-21.)This process occurs over a timespan of around one second,[3] and leaves evidence of the lightning path and its dispersion over the surface or into the earth. (Uman, Martin A., 2008. The Art and Science of Lightning Protection. Cambridge University Press. p. 212. ISBN 0-521-87811-X.)
Photographed by Ken Smith.
Posted by Konstantinos Tsanakas
