Brian's WoGE #424 was one of those cases where it was harder to find information than to find the location. I blame the nearby mercury mine for having fogged the brains of the mappers; every search I tried ended up in the mine. Still there were good structural clues which helped find out what and where it was.
This one also has some clues as to the location. Finding out exactly what it is may be harder, though - at least I hope so. :)
For any new players to Where on (Google) Earth, simply post a comment with latitude and longitude and write something about the (geologic/geographic/hydrographic) feature in the picture. If you win, you get to host the next one. Previous WoGEs are collected by Felix on his blog and a KML file.
Well ... another clue(s), maybe?
SvarSlettAnother clue? Well...
SvarSlettThere's a delta/beach in that little lake. That beach is green.
The Gusdal olivine mine near Aheim, Norway.
SvarSlett62.02N, 5.60E
This is the largest commercial deposit of olivine in the world. The mineral is processed and shipped from the small port of Aheim, just off the top left corner of the image. The largest volume is used as a slag conditioner in iron production. This reduces CO2 emmisions by millions of tons each year because it replaces dolomite (which releases its carbon during smelting). Other products include sand for metal casting and sand blasting, and refractory bricks used in the metal and glass industries. (Sources: http://www.olivin.com/side_bilder/Environmental_GB.pdf; http://iugs.org/33igc/coco/EntryPage-c11450-p11443-o11402-l0-p5060.html)
The olivine deposits are part of the Almklovdalen peridotite massif, a very old ultra-mafic body embedded in the Western Gneiss Region of Norway. It seems to be a very interesting place for studying the formation of rocks in the upper mantle, but beyond that the geology gets too dense for me. You can read more about it here: http://petrology.oxfordjournals.org/content/47/8/1611.full
You got it, Matthew! Over to you. :)
SvarSlettThe Western Gneiss Region is a strange mixture of gneisses (mostly) of all possible types, with scattered "blobs" of dunite and eclogite. It is probably the deep root of the Caledonids; several of the eclogite bodies contain microscopic diamonds. This indicates a very rapid uplift and erosion which is still a bit of a puzzle.
Thanks for a very educational challenge. I had no idea what olivine is actually used for in industry.
SvarSlettThe next challenge is posted at: http://matthews-woge.blogspot.com/2014/02/woge-426.html