Lizard Serpentine

Notes:

A distinctive dark metamorphic rock with a blotchy red, green and black colouration. It was formed by serpentinisation when water was incorporated into the metamorphic causing event on a dense suite of igneous rocks gabbros and peridotites that made up parts of an oceanic crust that was later uplifted to the surface. The rock is composed largely of the dark minerals olivine and pyroxene, with veins of red and green oxidised serpentine minerals. The stone became highly popular in the 1800s as a decorative stone and promoted by several London-based companies. It continued to be worked until the mid-1900s and fashioned into small objects for the tourist trade.