Abstract
MINERAL OIL IN A LAVA OF MOUNT ETNA.—In the basaltic zone which reaches from the foot of Mount Etna in a south-south-easterly direction, near the village of Paterno there is a prehistoric doleritic lava containing olivine, which surrounds the clay deposits of a mud volcano and which has been examined by Sig. Orazio Silvestri. Under the microscope the lava shows an augitic principal mass with a quantity of olivine and many white transparent crystals of labradorite. The lava contains numerous round or irregular cavities which are coated with arragonite and which are filled with mineral oil. This oil, of which there is about 1 per cent, by weight in the whole mass, was taken from one of the cavities at 24° C. At about 17° C. it begins to solidify and is of a yellowish green tint by transmitted light, while by reflected light it is opalescent and light green. Chemical analysis of the liquid proved it to contain:—
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Chemical Notes . Nature 17, 150–151 (1877). https://doi.org/10.1038/017150a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/017150a0