Catalog Number:
402921
Object/Specimen Description:

This is a piece of vesicular basalt, a dark gray volcanic rock with many small vesicules (holes) across its surface. It measures approximately 8.6 cm x 6.6 cm.

Specimen Count:
1
Locality:
US High Plains and Rocky Mountains (ID, MT, ND, SD, WY, CO)
Collecting Locality:
North America, United States, Idaho

The bubbles in a bottle of carbonated beverage do not exist until someone removes the sealed cap, thus releasing the external pressure on the liquid. Likewise, when magma erupts from beneath the Earth's surface, the sudden release of pressure causes dissolved gases to form bubbles within the molten rock. Geologists call these bubbles "vesicles." As the bubbles grow larger, due to decreasing pressure and more gas coming out of the magma, the magma becomes less dense, so it may rise faster and spew out of the ground. Rapid cooling of the lava may solidify it into a porous, cavity-filled rock before all the bubbles have a chance to reach the surface of the liquid and burst. Pumice and scoria are two types of rock rich in vesicles. In some cases, heated groundwater may deposit other minerals such as calcite into empty vesicles after the erupted magma has solidified, so the resulting rock may resemble a cookie filled with nuts. Scientists call this texture "amygdaloidal."