Description

This is a view into an olivine crystal erupted from Mauna Loa, Hawaii ~1000 years ago. The large, dark brown shape in the center is a 400 micrometer melt inclusion, which is a portion of the magma trapped by the olivine as the olivine crystallized.

The chemistry of melt inclusions provides important information about magmas at depth, such as from which rocks they melted and the source(s) of the Hawaiian mantle plume. The large melt inclusion is surrounded by many smaller melt inclusions. Photo was taken by an Olympus camera attached to an Olympus BX51 petrographic microscope. Field of view is ~1.4 mm.