[Rockhounds] fulgurites

Wed Sep 17 10:44:50 PDT 2008

Wow!  What a list.  Some of the longer ones must have been formed by multiple stikes.

> From: rik.dillen at skynet.be> To: rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com> Subject: RE: [Rockhounds] fulgurites> Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:25:13 +0200> > If anyone is interested : Prof René Van Tassel (does "vantasselite", an aluminium phosphate mineral, ring a bell ?), who> is still an active member of our mineral club, wrote an article on fulgurites for our magazine Geonieuws in 1999. He> described e.g. a fulgurite that was completely dug out in the Belgian locality Zutendaal, with a length of 8.4 m. This> fulgurite is now kept in the Belgian Museum of Natural History in Brussels. Het made at that time a list of the most> spectacular recovered fulgurites he could trace with certainty :> > Table : recovered fulgurites with a length of 3.4 m and more.> > 1 Forster Pit, S.-Carolina, USA J.J. Petty, 1936 60 ft 18 m> 2 Rome, New York, USA C. West, 1843 50 ft 15 m> 3 Hergenrath II, Eupen, België J.H. Willems, 1961 13 m> 4 Drigg, Cumberland, UK E.L. Irton, 1814 30 ft 9 m> 5 S.-Carolina, USA J.J. Petty, 1936 20-30 ft 6-9 m> 6 Zutendaal, Limburg, België R. Van Tassel, 1958 8.4 m (*)> 7 Zonhoven II, Limburg, België R. Van Tassel, 1955 7.5 m (*)> 8 Hergenrath II, Eupen, België J.H. Willems, 1964 7 m> 9 Ludlington, Michigan, USA G. Monk, 1941 7 m> 10 Macclesfield, UK Sainter, 1865 6.5 m> 11 Massel, Schleswig, Duitsland L.D. Hermann, 1711 20 Fusz 5.7 m> 12 Neu-Moresnet, Eupen, België P.C.R. Rademakers, 1963 5.8 m> 13 New Jersey, USA W.L. Barrows, 1910 19 ft 5.8 m> 14 Zonhoven I, Limburg, België R. Van Tassel, 1955 5 m> 15 Westerhaar, Overijsel, Nederland H. Krul, 1954 5 m (**)> 16 Bantelge, Münster, Duitsland K.G. Fiedler, 1817 15 par. Fusz 4.9 m> 17 Starke, Florida, USA F.W. Wright Jr., 1999 16 ft 4.9 m> 18 Dresden, Saksen, Duitsland K.G. Fiedler, 1822 8 L. el 53/4 Zoll 4.8 m> 19 Dresden, Saksen, Duitsland K.G. Fiedler, 1851 4.8 m (*)(***)> 20 Guteborn, Saksen, Duitsland W. Fisher, 1926 4.6 m> 21 Sennerheide, Paderborn, Duitsland O. Suffert, 1951 ; H. Krul, 1954 4.6 m (*)> 22 Stanton Co., Nebraska, USA E.H. Barbour, 1925 10-15 ft 3 - 4.5 m> 23 Bantelge, Münster, Duitsland K.G. Fiedler, 1817 13 par. Fusz 4.3 m> 24 Starke, Florida, USA F.W. Wright Jr., 1999 14 ft 4.3 m> 25 Sennerheide, Paderborn, Duitsland O. Suffert, 1951 ; H. Krul, 1954 4.3 m (*)> 26 Hulshorst, Veluwe, Gelderland, NL N. Tinbergen, 1942 3.5 m (*)> 27 Massel, Schleswig, Duitsland L.D. Hermann, 1711 6 Sachs. El 3.4 m> > And here is his literature list (mostly in Dutch, German and French) :> > BECKERS H.J. (1955), "Bliksembuizen", Grondboor en hamer, 65-67.> DARTEVELLE E. (1942), "Les fulgurites", Ciel et Terre, 180-187.> DARTEVELLE E. (1945), "Fulgurites de Belgique", Bull. soc. belge Géol., 54, 254-257.> GAINES R.V., SKINNER H.C.W., FOORD E.E., MASON B. en ROSENZWEIG A. (1997), "Dana's New Mineralogy", Wiley, 8th edition.> HACQAERT A., (1939), "Een fulguriet uit de Limburgse Kempen", Natuurw. Tijdschr., 21, 3-6.> HARTING M.P. (1874), "Notice sur un cas de formation de fulgurites et sur la présence d'autres fulgurites dans le sol de> la Néerlande", Natuurk. Verh. kon. Acad., 14, 22 blz.> KRUL H. (1954), "Blitzröhrenfunde in Holland", Der Aufschluss, 5(6), 113-115.> LACROIX A. (1915), "La silice fondue considérée comme minéral (lechateliérite)", Bull. soc. franç. Mineral., 38,> 182-186.> LACROIX A. (1915), "Sur les fulgurites exclusivement silicieuses du Sahara oriental et sur quelques fulgurites> silicatées des Pyrénées", Bull. soc. franç. Miner., 38, 188-198.> PITTOORS P. (1968) "Bliksembuizen. Heemkundig handboekje voor de Antwerpse randgemeenten", 16(1), 15-21.> PORADA G.M. en WITTIG R. (1975), "Geologische Wirkung von Blizeinschlägen", Natur und Mus., 105(8), 229-244.> RADEMAKERS P.C.M. (1963), "De bliksembuis van de Käskorb", Sprekende Bodem, 7(5), 46-50.> RODING G.M. (> 1959), "Verglaasde bliksem", De levende natuur, 67-71.> RODING G.M. en ZANDSTRA J.G. (1955), "Fossiele bliksems", Grondboor en Hamer, 43-48.> TINBERGEN N. (1942), "Een bliksembuis", De levende natuur, 47, 87-92.> VAN TASSEL R. (1955), "Fulgurites in situ à Zonhoven (Limbourg belge)", Meded. kon. Belg.Inst. Natuurw., 34(9), 24 blz.> VAN TASSEL R. (1958), "Une fulgurite ramifiée de Zutendaal, Limbourg belge", Meded. kon. Belg. Inst. Natuurw., 34(7), 8> blz.> WILLEMS J.H. (1961), "Een fulguriet te Hergenrath (provincie Luik, België)", Grondboor en Hamer, 322-332.> WILLEMS J.H. (1962), "Een opmerkelijk fulgurietfragment", Jaarb. Nederl. geol. Verenig., 14-16.> WILLEMS J.H. (1962), "Een fulguriet te Beek (Limburg)", Grondboor en Hamer, 133-137.> WILLEMS J.H. (1964), "De 'fulguriet II' van Hergenrath", Sprekende bodem 8(6), 92-93.> WEIGHT F.W., Jr. (1999), "Florida's fantastic fulgurite find", Rocks and Minerals 74(3), 156-159.> > > Rik DILLEN > Doornstraat 15,  B-9170 Sint-Gillis-Waas > Belgium > E-mail rik.dillen at skynet.be > Homepage : http://users.skynet.be/rik.dillen > > > -----Original Message-----> From: rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com [mailto:rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com] On Behalf Of pmodreski at aol.com> Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2008 7:17 PM> To: rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com> Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] fulgurites> > It's been interesting to read everyone's comments about fulgurites; I've just been catching up on my Rockhounds email,> after being very tied up with the Denver Show, a preceding mineralogical conference in Golden, and having been away> visiting my family in New Hampshire the week before that.> > You bet, lechatlierite is for sure a mineraloid.? The name is "traditionally" mentioned in mineralogy books, but it> definitely is not found in sources such as the Glossary of Mineral Species, which only list bona fide approved mineral> species.? Lechatlierite occurs in fulgurites, and has also been recognized in some impact-deformed rocks, subject to> intense pressure and temperature.? A somewhat analogous term is maskelynite, which is glassy (melted) plagioclase> feldspar from shock impact, known from some meteorites and (according to Mindat.org) from at least one terrestrial> impact structure.? I don't know if there is another such name, for melted potassium feldspar.> > I've been interested to read people's comments about searching for, and finding, fulgurites.? I've always considered> that they are quite uncommon and very hard to find, and, like meteorites, I think almost all have been found by> accident, not by anyone's systematic searching.? (That statement used to be true for meteorites but no longer really as,> in view of the large number that have been found in Antarctica, as well as in the Sahara.)> > Something that I have puzzled over, is, what proportion of lightning strikes, actually produce fulgurites?? I'm not sure> that anyone really knows this; there are thousands of lightning strikes every day, worldwide; but I'm not sure if anyone> knows if it does or doesn't take special conditions of soil/sand type, moisture, etc., to make a fulgurite.? It's likely> that in many instances, the lightning discharge may travel first through other material (such as trees and tree roots)> down into the ground before it begins to melt sand and form a fulgurite, so many fulgurite may be "hidden" underground,> and would not be found or noticed unless someone excavated in the right spot where there had been a lightning strike.> > Likewise a puzzle--and we have talked about this before on this List--is how common it is for lightning strikes on rock> outcrops, to produce a fulgurite.? One always reads "anecdotally" that there exist melted patches on rocks near mountain> summits where lightning has struck, but I am still not sure that I have ever actually seen a picture of such a thing> (much less see one in person), or read any definitive documentation that ANYWAY has ever really seen such a thing.? My> suspicious is that most lightning strikes on mountains, if they do not hit trees, go to the crevices between rocks where> moist soil is likely to be more conductive, and that any melted rock that forms, may be in the form of rock fragments> contained in the soil down beside or in cracks within bedrock.? The closest I've seen is one specimen, in Kreigh's> collection, of a small piece of granite "from the Colorado mountains" partially melted by lightning; but I don't believe> the source of his specimen had provid!> ed any specific information of how/what/where this actually occurred.? A few years ago, some collectors brought a large> fulgurite specimen to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, from a lightning strike on a ridge high above Boulder> Canyon, in Colorado (the Museum subsequently acquired the specimen); it was from a lightning strike I believe at a tree> stump, and the fulgurite was excavated by digging out the crevices between and beneath the rocks around it; I don't> think any actual melted rock was observed on exposed rock surfaces.> > Pete Modreski> > -----Original Message-----> From: kugeln at peoplepc.com> To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>> Sent: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 6:17 pm> Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] fulgurites> > > Fulgurites are one of the very few mineraloids that are a true glass. The glass is known as LeChatelierite. Pete> Modreski, correct me if I'm wrong.?> > > -- > _______________________________________________> Rockhounds at drizzle Mailing List> Subscription Services:> http://lists.drizzle.com/mailman/listinfo/rockhounds> List Home Page, with a link to the List Usage Policy:> http://www.eclecticlapidary.com/Rockhounds/index.html

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