Olivine Hawaiite - Isle of Rum
Collection:
UK Virtual Microscope
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Object

Fact sheet

Olivine Hawaiite - Isle of Rum

This sample of hawaiite lava comes from the Orval Member of the Canna Lava Formation. The Orval Member is the uppermost series of this incomplete sequence of Palaeocene lavas which record the last major eruptive events on the Isle of Rum. The lavas and associated sediments are outliers, interpreted as having accumulated in a succession of hills and evolving valleys, post-dating the Western Granophyre and thus the central complex on Rum. These lavas are one of the best examples of the rapid erosion and exposure of volcanic plugs in the North Atlantic Igneous Province. The Orval Member includes olivine- and feldspar-phyric hawaiites and basaltic hawaiites.

The thin section exhibits relatively equal sized olivine and pyroxene grains some cldeavage evident in the pinkish-grey pyroxenes. Opaque minerals are common, and randomly oriented plagioclase laths and altered glass complete the section.

 

Additional images
 
  • Basalt - width 2.8 cm
  • Basalt - width 2.7 cm
  • Basalt - width 5.5 cm
  • Basalt - width 5.5 cm
Map
 
57.006882, -6.387746
Description:
Somewhere on the Isle of Rum
Precision:
Good
About this collection
 
UK Virtual Microscope

The United Kingdom Virtual Microscope (UKVM) collection consists of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks from around the UK.

It is intended as a teaching resource, helping to tell the story of the common rock types and how they form, and reflecting the history of the UK at the margins of the continent of Europe. The collection is a series of teaching sets, for example igneous rocks from the North Atlantic Igneous Province and SW England; high-temperature metamorphic rocks from Scotland and low-temperature metamorphic rocks from Wales; and sedimentary rocks, including English limestones and sandstones.

Sample details

Collection: UK Virtual Microscope
Type
igneous
Category
basalt
Rock-forming mineral
olivine
pyroxene
plagioclase
feldspar
Accessory minerals
iron oxide
Category guide  
Category Guide
Title
Refers to any word or phrase that appears in the individual rock names. Names are generally descriptive; they allow users to search for broad terms like ‘granite’ as well as more specific names such as ‘breccia’. However, the adjacent descriptions of the specimens captures a wider range of general words and phrases and is a more powerful search tool.
Description
Refers to any word or phrase that appears anywhere in the descriptions of the specimens
Accessory minerals
Minerals that occur in very low abundance in a rock. They are usually not visible with the naked eye and contribute perhapssver, they often dominate the rare elements such as platinum group metals.
Rock-forming minerals
Minerals that make up the bulk of all rock samples and are also the ones used in rock classi?cation.
Timescale
Selecting one or more period, for example 'Jurassic'.
Theme
A term used to group together related samples that are not already gathered into a single Collection. For instance, there is a ‘SW England granites’ theme that includes such rock types as granite, hydrothermal breccia, skarn and vein samples.
Category
A general term used to label a rock sample. It is a useful way of grouping similar samples throughout a collection. Category names are often, but not exclusively, common rock names (e.g. granite, basalt, dolerite, gabbro, greisen, skarn, gneiss, amphibolite, limestone, sandstone).
Owner
The owner of the sample that appears in the collection. For example, NASA owns all the samples that appear in the Moon Rocks collection
We would like to thank the following for the use of this sample:

More from this collection

UK Virtual Microscope