Perfect cubic shapes are characteristic of pyrite, although it can also take octahedral forms. It receives its name due to the sparkles it makes when struck against steel. This photo in particular was taken from the face of a pyrite cube and it is interesting to see the imperfections this mineral can develop.
To begin with, we cannot introduce this Pyrite as a fool’s gold because one must be very ingenuous not to see this has not the colour of the precious metal. Pyrite may darken due to oxidation, which in our case, has generated some blacker and greener tones. These are especially visible on the left side of the bottom cuboid.
Now let us return to the geometry of the mineral. Despite the evident erosion of the figures, we can see that all the shapes have their origin in rectangular prisms. There is an example in the centre of the image, where five cubes carefully balanced in their corners tilt their edges to produce a swirl effect.
In other words, simple forms might be dull to observe. Luckily, nature is not simple, but complex and imperfect.
Author: Sergi Batlle
No comments:
Post a Comment