Mid-Atlantic Ridge at the Kane Fracture Zone
Slurry from the Kane Fracture Zone is what I have. Where’s that? How did I get it? Drillings into the Mid-Atlantic Ridge were brought to land and the rocks were cut with water for lubrication. The cut produced fine rock powder in a slurry, which I melt into glaze. This might be my favorite — Earth’s crust. The picture shows two sides of a piece of the rock sample given to me by Jessica Warren. Following the photo is a description of the rock by the man who gave me the slurry:
Thanks to Eben Franks, I know this is from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge – Research Vessel Knorr cruise 180. Coordinates: 2. 23.5° North and 45° West. Cruise was Nov. 14 to Dec. 17th, 2004.
Drilling from: 2000 to 3600 meters depth
Age: between 1.5 and 2.5 million years.
Buckets of slurry Eben brought me he described as, "Glop from rock saws, high in manganese. It has lots of peridotite, serpentine, basalt, and olivine gabbro. It is mostly volcanic in nature".
Eben said, “It has spent significant time in Hell, meaning that it is from rocks that were buried deeply within the ocean crust, under immense pressure and high temperature – the very crucible of ocean crust formation. Some of it is derived from rocks from the mantle of of the Earth, below the ocean crust . . . from the top of the magma chamber. The mantle is exposed at this location, which is called the Kane Megamullion.”
Photos at left show versatility of this one material; it can be sheer and revealing of porcelain clay surface and it can be dense and rock-like on porcelain. Photo at right shows how a ppikle of gooey slurry contracted first when water evaporated and then, in the kiln, it self-sorted into brick-like shapes.