#Serpentine minerals: low temperature #lizardite, high temperature #antigorite transport water into the mantle and lubricate the subduction channel; they're why we have subduction and also facilitate the return of some eclogites back up to the surface.
Soldiers Delight is a serpentine barrens in northern #Maryland. Altered ocean crust, now in part #lizardite, is low in plant nutrients and has a unique ecosystem. Plots were given out in the 1700's because the lack of trees made the land easy to clear. It was also the source of most of the world's chromium in the early 1800's.
A great place for a hike. https://dnr.maryland.gov/wildlife/Pages/NaturalAreas/Central/Soldiers-Delight.aspx
Lizardite, a green serpentine-subgroup mineral is surprisingly not named for lizards, but for The Lizard, in Cornwall, also strangely not named for lizards but rather for “Lys Ardh” the Cornish High Court.
I will give Rhodochrosite the art vote. It does appear in jewelry, but really it’s for strictly aesthetic “forbidden bacon” reasons. I mean look at it! #MinCup23