Indian Paint Rock
Description
Unlike many of the exotic-sounding minerals from which the majority of thse images are derived, Indian Paint Rock is a humble sandstone found in the US state of Nevada – but no less beautiful for that! The features that give it its special character are due to ions of trace elements such as manganese and iron migrating in water drawn by capillary attraction through microscopic cracks in the stone. These may change the colour of the stone – hence the oranges and reds that create the ‘Jackson Pollock’ character seen here – and, thanks to a process called ‘diffusion-limited aggregation’, form small, dark branching structures. Known as dendrites, from the Greek word for ‘tree’, these fractal patterns are amongst the most familiar in nature – offering, for example, the most efficient way of dissipating energy, as in lightning strikes; of distributing liquids, as in our capillaries and arteries, or the veins of leaves; and draining land, as in river systems.