The Earth Story

“A few moments” from the lands of Slovakia

Original caption:

Euchroite The lovely green of copper colours this rare arsenate mineral, named after the Greek for beautiful colour in 1823. The specimen in the photo is large for Euchroite, particularly considering it comes from the type locality of this species: Lubietova in Slovakia, with the largest crystal measuring about a centimetre. It occurs as a hydrothermal mineral (precipitated by mineralising fluids) in copper bearing veins in a metamorphic mica schist. The label attached to the piece dates from the late 19th century, and identifies the source as Hungary, back when this region was still part of the Hapsburg empire. Other sources include Greece, Bulgaria and the United States. Loz Image credit, 10 x 6.5 x 5 cm: Joe Budd/Rob Lavinsky/iRocks.com http://www.mindat.org/min-1417.html http://www.dakotamatrix.com/mineralpedia/5738/euchroite

Ruins of Beckov castle on a Klippe of Limestone in Slovakia

Clouds pouring in as waves, mountains of Slovakia

Spectacular sunset in Slovakia

Original caption:

Devilline

The mineral formerly known as Herrengrundite is not named after the Adversary but for a nineteenth century French chemist who shared a name with the Evil One in 101 Dalmatians while pioneering that branch of geology known as rock melting and squishing, in which artificial minerals and rocks are made to understand their formation. Colours range through the blues and greens, as is usually the case for minerals coloured by copper.

It forms by alteration, as percolating groundwater flows through a copper concentration it turns the primary sulphide minerals into secondary oxides, carbonates or sulphates (see http://bit.ly/1I4XWKt for an explanation of the process). Many deposits are therefore zoned, ranging from unaltered rocks to highly transformed clayey mush, with bands distinguished by different mineral assemblages appropriate to the local geochemistry, which in turn reflects how long the fluids have been percolating down.

Devilline is a calcium copper sulphate and is quite uncommon, as the particular chemical circumstances necessary to its formation occur infrequently. Amongst other localities it has been mined in England, Slovakia , Germany, Italy, Namibia, Japan, New Zealand, the United States. Like Atacamite (see http://bit.ly/2iEOVFX) it is soluble in water and soft (only 2.5 on Mohs scale), and therefore neither stable nor long lasting once exposed to the weather.

This beautiful 3.2 x 2.1 x 1.6 cm antique specimen has graced a few collections in its time, and comes from the old mines of Slovakia that were mined and depleted in the 19th century,.

Loz

Image credit: Rob Lavinsky/iRocks.com

https://www.mindat.org/min-1270.html http://bit.ly/2kgvDah

There are some incredible views in here. Maybe the end result of driving across Asia, but anyway. Here’s the full caption:

HIGH TATRAS MOUNTAINS—SLOVAKIA

The High Tatras Mountains in northern Slovakia, part of the Carpathian Mountains, are the smallest range in Europe that contains mountains that are not covered in ice. The chain’s length is 55 kilometers, and its highest peak is Mt. Gerlachovsky´ stít, which is 2655 meters tall. Located in Slovakia and Poland, the mountains were formed by extensive glacial activity during the Pleistocene Epoch, which lasted from 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago. As a result, one can see many clues that this region was covered in sheets of ice that advanced and retreated at least three times in the past, such as moraines (piles of glacial debris and sediment left behind after a glacier melts), glacial valleys, waterfalls, and lakes.

The approximately 165 alpine lakes left behind in Slovakia from the glacial ice melt were hollowed out by the ice sheets and were dammed by sediments left behind after the glaciers melted. The largest and deepest of these lakes on the Slovakian side is VeI'ke Hincovo pleso (The Great Hincovo Mountain-lake), which is 53 meters deep. All of the lakes in the mountains freeze during the winter months. The Polish side of the mountains contains the largest and deepest lakes in the entire mountain range.

The High Tatras Mountains are currently on a Tentative List to be nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. These sites are considered by nations to be of cultural or natural significance, and should therefore be protected from human development. The mountains are currently part of the High Tatras National Park in Slovakia, which was the first national park established in the nation in 1948. The park also includes the Western Tatras Mountains and the Belianske Tatras. Most of the mountains are covered in forests, mainly spruce and fir-spruce, and there are 1400 plant species in High Tatras National Park. This region is a popular tourist attraction in the country for hikers and skiers.

-Jeanne K.

Photo courtesy of Simka via Wikimedia Commons.

References: http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/1737/

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/quaternary/pleistocene.php

http://www.vysoketatry.com/ciele/vhpleso/en.html

http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/

http://www.scij.info/JASNA07/High%20Tatras.html

http://www.slovakia.com/national-parks/high-tatras/

http://www.travelslovakia.sk/slovakia-trips/high-tatras/high-tatras.php

Mountains and national parks of Slovakia

Banská Štiavnica Volcanic Complex

Although it’s not obvious from any view, this small town of about 11,000 inhabitants in Slovakia exists and is a UNESCO World Heritage site because the entire landscape is a large volcano.

Like most southern European Mountains, the Carpathian Mountain Range owes its existence to the Alpine Orogeny, the ongoing collision between Africa and Europe as the ancient Tethys seaway closed. 20 million years ago this area was being actively compressed, growing faults and thrusting the land towards the sky. However, tectonics in mountain ranges can be complex – if a piece of subducting oceanic crust is too old and dense, it can literally rip apart the continent above it and cause basins to open.

Starting about 20 million years ago in the Miocene this happened in the Carpathian Range; the forces that were compressing the range turned around and started opening gaps in the range. When mountains are pulled apart the stretching lets the mantle flow upward to fill the gaps and when mantle moves upward it starts to melt due to decompression.

About 15 million years ago, volcanism started on this site. It went through several phases, including the development of a magma chamber, subsidence of the overlying rocks as magma gradually erupted onto the surface, and then thrusting upward of a resurgent dome at the center of the caldera. The end result was a 50-kilometer wide caldera with a 20-kilometer wide dome in the center, all made of volcanic and hydrothermally altered igneous rocks. The hills at the center represent the eroded remnants of the uplifted dome and are the center of the modern town. The dome itself is far larger than can be seen in any single shot and since it has been undergoing erosion for about 10 million years the caldera itself is poorly expressed in the topography.

However, even though we can’t well see the caldera, human history actually marks its location. Hydrothermally altered igneous rocks are great places for ore bodies to form and this site has had mining on it going back to the bronze age. The oldest officially established mining town here dates back to the 13th century and that site was the oldest mining town in what is today Slovakia. In 1762 the first Mining and Forestry Academy in Europe was founded here, and the waterworks and mining structures continued being active until the 19th century.

-JBB

Image credit: http://bit.ly/2aacVu6

References: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/618 http://bit.ly/29DPzRx http://bit.ly/29Qumnl http://bit.ly/29OODIk

This is about how I feel right now