Xenolith on Long Island

October 16, 2005

Copy_of_dsc04715 copy

Provided by: Chris Bolger
Summary authors & editors: Chris Bolger

The above formation is an example of a xenolith, which in essence a fragment of foreign rock enclosed within an igneous rock. It was taken near Long Island Sound in Larchmont, New York. The highly metamorphosed rock in the center is estimated to be 1 billion years old and is thought to have originally been part of the oceanic crust -- thrust up onto land by a subducting oceanic plate.

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