So, I was kind of freaked out about what to write about that starts with X. (English grammar good…) So I simply went on Google and searched “words that start with X.” And I had to look up a bunch that appeared in the results, but one I thought would be kind of interesting is: Xenolith.
xen·o·lith
noun /ˈzenəˌliTH/ /ˈzēnə-/
xenoliths, plural
- A piece of rock within an igneous rock that is not derived from the original magma but has been introduced from elsewhere, esp. the surrounding country rock
Sweet, now we all know what that means.
Then I did an image search on Google, and at first, the results were boring. So boring.
Oooooh…
Ahhhh… (This one even has graffiti!)
But then I kept scrolling…
Actually quite gorgeous!
Wow!
Pretty cool.
So, xenoliths are basically rocks that are enveloped as a larger rock hardens during its development. It is usually used to describe igneous rocks…You know, the ones formed through the cooling and solidifying of magma or lava? (Hearkening back to elementary school…) And, a xenocryst is “an individual foreign crystal included within an igneous body. Examples of xenocrysts are quartz crystals in a silica-deficient lava and diamonds within kimberlite diatremes.”
Diamonds…Shiny…
So, there you have it. Learn something new every day. Now go tell your friends about xenoliths and how cool they are.
And read more about them at National Geographic.
***This post is part of the Blogging from A-Z April challenge. Starting with A, every post in April will be about a topic starting with a letter of the alphabet, consecutively. For more information, please visit the official page.***
die Gedankenwelt 