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Situated on the coast near to Corrie
Village, a sandstone hosts a very important fossil artefact. The
sandstone is Permian
in age and is
ca.
250 million years old and was
originally deposited as wind blown sand . On a outcrop a fossil
lightning strike or fulgurite can be found.
Fulgurite is from the
Latin fulgur meaning thunderbolt, or lightning and are natural hollow
carrot-shaped glass tubes.
Believed to be the first reported recognition of a fossilised
lightning strike in the geological and scientific literature, it was
described by Harland and Hacker in 1966.
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The fulgurite was formed by a bolt of
lightning hitting the surface of a sand dune
ca.
250 Million years ago during the
Permian Period, the lightning fused the sand into a glassy material,
that extends into the sand like a hollow tube. The tube was then
in filled by more wind blown sand. It is estimated the loose sand was
fused to make the fulgurite at approximately 1800
oC.
Below we see a close up of the circular entry point, which displays a
classic star shaped inner. In the Geology Section of the Heritage
Museum, we have a fulgurite that was formed recently in the Sahara
desert during a thunderstorm. You can compare the fossil
fulgurite seen in the image below, with the recently formed fulgurite
on show in the museum.

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