Disaggregation
Pillow Basalt breccia from Coos County on a base of scrap steel. When a basalt lava flow enters the sea, the front of the flow freezes immediately, but the flowing lava behind the front builds up pressure which cracks the frozen surface. The liquid lava spurts out, forming a sauasage-shaped body of lava that then freezes immediately. These are called basalt pillows. A pile of pillows builds up as the flow advances, and little pieces break off the pillows as they form and pile up on the sea floor forming a breccia ( rock made of broken fragments). Over millions of years this breccia was cemented with white and pink calcite.
On the large polished face, it looks to me like a dark rocky layer at the bottom is breaking up and rising upward, reversing the pattern that led them to aggregate on the sea floor to begin with, hence the title.
HxWxD; 11", 3.5", 11"
56 million years old
Availble for sale $500
On the large polished face, it looks to me like a dark rocky layer at the bottom is breaking up and rising upward, reversing the pattern that led them to aggregate on the sea floor to begin with, hence the title.
HxWxD; 11", 3.5", 11"
56 million years old
Availble for sale $500
