Protecting mineral treasures of Antarctica's Larsemann Hills - 4

 

Blue prisms of the borosilicate grandidierite in gneiss with the aluminosilicate sillimanite (white prisms) and the borosilicate tourmaline (dark) can be seen in this sample from the Wilcock Bay area on the southern Stornes Peninsula. The sample was collected as part of a research study of minerals in the Larsemann Hills in Antarctica. In November 2003, Edward S. Grew, a research professor in the School of Earth and Climate Sciences at the University of Maine in Orono, and Christopher J. Carson, a senior Antarctic geoscientist with Geoscience Australia in Canberra, were part of a team of researchers that travelled to Antarctica's Larsemann Hills as part of a study to determine how abundant boron and phosphorus were in the area, and to suggest an explanation for why there might be an exceptional enrichment there. The trip began a decade-long research project that culminated in the 2014 designation of the area as an Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA). The Larsemann Hills are a 40-square-kilometer region of rocky islands and promontories on the eastern shore of Prydz Bay. Previous studies of the area suggested that boron and phosphorus were there in large quantities, which would be particularly exciting because the two elements are rarely found in more than trace amounts in highly deformed and metamorphosed rocks such as the granulite-facies metamorphic rocks exposed in the Larsemann Hills.   You can read the entire story about this expedition online in Earth magazine, "Protecting the mineral treasures of Antarctica's Larsemann Hills." Credit: Edward S. Grew, University of Maine

Protecting mineral treasures of Antarctica's Larsemann Hills - 3

 

The yellow-orange phosphate mineral Wagnerite in a matrix of biotite mica, the borosilicate prismatine, cordierite and oxides. This sample of schistose granulite was taken from the base of Gneiss Peak on the northern Stornes Peninsula. The sample was collected as part of a research study of minerals in the Larsemann Hills in Antarctica. In November 2003, Edward S. Grew, a research professor in the School of Earth and Climate Sciences at the University of Maine in Orono, and Christopher J. Carson, a senior Antarctic geoscientist with Geoscience Australia in Canberra, were part of a team of researchers that travelled to Antarctica's Larsemann Hills as part of a study to determine how abundant boron and phosphorus were in the area, and to suggest an explanation for why there might be an exceptional enrichment there. The trip began a decade-long research project that culminated in the 2014 designation of the area as an Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA). The Larsemann Hills are a 40-square-kilometer region of rocky islands and promontories on the eastern shore of Prydz Bay. Previous studies of the area suggested that boron and phosphorus were there in large quantities, which would be particularly exciting because the two elements are rarely found in more than trace amounts in highly deformed and metamorphosed rocks such as the granulite-facies metamorphic rocks exposed in the Larsemann Hills. You can read the entire story about this expedition online in Earth magazine, "Protecting the mineral treasures of Antarctica's Larsemann Hills." (Date of Image: 2014) Credit: Edward S. Grew, University of Maine

Protecting mineral treasures of Antarctica's Larsemann Hills - 2

 

Spectacular, randomly-oriented prisms of the borosilicate mineral prismatine on a foliation plane can be seen in this outcrop east of Prismatine Peak. Originally reported to be tourmaline--a relatively common borosilicate--by researchers in the late 1980s, later research found that the large prisms were actually prismatine, another silicate mineral containing boron as an essential constituent but far more limited in occurrence. Correcting the mineral identification resulted in the renaming of "Tourmaline Peak" to "Prismatine Peak," the official name for the prominent hill on central Stornes Peninsula where prismatine spectacularly occurs. In November 2003, Edward S. Grew, a research professor in the School of Earth and Climate Sciences at the University of Maine in Orono, and Christopher J. Carson, a senior Antarctic geoscientist with Geoscience Australia in Canberra, were part of a team of researchers that travelled to Antarctica's Larsemann Hills as part of a study to determine how abundant boron and phosphorus were in the area, and to suggest an explanation for why there might be an exceptional enrichment there. The trip began a decade-long research project that culminated in the 2014 designation of the area as an Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA). The Larsemann Hills are a 40-square-kilometer region of rocky islands and promontories on the eastern shore of Prydz Bay. Previous studies of the area suggested that boron and phosphorus were there in large quantities, which would be particularly exciting because the two elements are rarely found in more than trace amounts in highly deformed and metamorphosed rocks such as the granulite-facies metamorphic rocks exposed in the Larsemann Hills.   Credit: Edward S. Grew, University of Maine

Protecting mineral treasures of Antarctica's Larsemann Hills - 1

 

Researchers studying minerals in the Larsemann Hills set up their camp on Stornes Peninsula. This view, taken facing north, was taken after the researchers returned to camp from a traverse. For several days, approach to camp was blocked by rising water from nearby Lake Ferris that necessitated a detour--and moving one tent. The icebergs in the distance remained during the time the team was there, and probably through the entire summer. In November 2003, Edward S. Grew, a research professor in the School of Earth and Climate Sciences at the University of Maine in Orono, and Christopher J. Carson, a senior Antarctic geoscientist with Geoscience Australia in Canberra, were part of a team of researchers that travelled to Antarctica's Larsemann Hills as part of a study to determine how abundant boron and phosphorus were in the area, and to suggest an explanation for why there might be an exceptional enrichment there. The trip began a decade-long research project that culminated in the 2014 designation of the area as an Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA). The Larsemann Hills are a 40-square-kilometer region of rocky islands and promontories on the eastern shore of Prydz Bay. Previous studies of the area suggested that boron and phosphorus were there in large quantities, which would be particularly exciting because the two elements are rarely found in more than trace amounts in highly deformed and metamorphosed rocks such as the granulite-facies metamorphic rocks exposed in the Larsemann Hills. You can read the entire story about this expedition online in Earth magazine, "Protecting the mineral treasures of Antarctica's Larsemann Hills." Credit: Edward S. Grew, University of Maine   .