The Empire of Siliceous Ooze

Description

Limited Edition Reproduction of 30 Only

A pelagic, deep-sea sediment containing marine zooplankton ( in this case Radiolarians) forms a biogenic, amorphorous opal on the sea bed – the siliceous ooze. Then through compaction, cementation, reworking, replacement, crystallisation, leaching, hydration, bacterial action ( and a few others I haven’t thought of) the ooze transforms into disordered, crystalline opal. Further physical and chemical changes eventually convert the crystalline opal into a mosaic of microcrystalline chert (the grey areas) or chalcedony.

In short; the tiny, microscopic, marine organisms are transformed from a siliceous ooze into a chert. This “Empire” has been painted in four dimensions.