Petrified Lightning - 2.178" Saharan Fulgurite disney 2018 (Source: USGS)

2018 (Source: USGS)

nothing quite compares to the Permian-Triassic Extinction Event

Over the course of its ten missions

in 1883 Othniel C

A simple pigment called ochre

Petrified Lightning - 2.178" Saharan Fulgurite disney 2018 (Source: USGS)Above: Front of the Specimen Card. When lightning strikes dry sand, the intense heat melts and fuses the silica creating tubes of rough glass called fulgurites. The process happens quickly, often trapping molecules from the surrounding atmosphere inside the walls of the impact tube. These natural time capsules allow scientists to study the composition of ancient climates. This specimen is a 2. 178" fulgurite collected in the Sahara Desert. Originally