Xenolith on Long Island
October 16, 2005
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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