Dry Storeroom No. 1 (26 page)

The cutting of thin sections through rocks opened a new world to petrologists. This is a porphyritic volcanic rock seen under polarized light (“crossed nicols”), including some large stripey twinned felspars and olivine (orange-pink) in a “sea” of much finer crystals. Modern equipment can investigate the chemistry of a single crystal.

Living “tubeworms” covering Zooarium, a sulphide chimney named for its rich biota; Explorer Ridge,
2002
.

Deep-sea sulphide deposits: a manipulator arm holds a sample from a deep-sea chimney that has ceased activity, showing “fossil” vestimentiferan worm tubes. Such fossil deposits are now known to have a history of several hundred million years.

A volcanic cone made of extraordinary carbonatite lava: Oldoinyo Lengai in Tanzania on the Great Rift Valley
120
km north-west of Arusha (
see Chapter 7
).

The remote Nuratau Mountains of central Asia, Uzbekistan, home to rare species of minerals—some of which have only recently been discovered—as well as to the Severtzov wild sheep (
Ovis ammon severtzovi
).

Rare and beautiful mineral crystals from the Kola Peninsula, Arctic Russia: Kovdorskite, a magnesium hydroxy phosphate.

The cast taken from the original Koh-i-noor diamond, and (
below it
) the brilliantly recut version in the Crown Jewels.

The rare and unusual ‘wheels’ of the mineral bournonite from Cornwall (chemically, it is copper lead antimony sulphide).

The Latrobe gold nugget (
NHM 6020
):
717
gm of crystallized gold from Mt. Ivor, Victoria, Australia.

The “accursed amethyst” of Edward Heron-Allen, now hidden in a drawer in the Mineralogy Collections. Don’t contemplate it for too long (
Chapter 7
).

ARTISTIC TREASURES KEPT SAFELY IN LIBRARIES
A confederation of owls from Audubon’s
Birds of America
(
1835–38
), Plate
432;
the species are
Athene cunicularia, A. noctua, Glaucidium gnoma
and
Asio flammeus.