William S. Schenck / Delaware Geological Survey / Staff
Mineral Van Gogh
Polarized light microscopy – Landscape
Photomicrograph of Delaware’s state mineral Sillimanite under crossed polarized light. The swirling habit of the Sillimanite is reminiscent of Van Gogh paintings. The mineral habit is bundles of needles of Sillimanite crystals, commonly called fibrolite that have been deformed along with surrounding rock during the Taconic Orogeny 450 million years ago during the formation of the ancient Appalachian Mountains and the super continent of Pangaea.
Mineral Van Gogh
2018, Art in Science