(wet, cut surface)
-------------------------------
"Greek Green Porphyry" is a famous, classic decorative stone that rivals "Imperial Porphyry" in importance. The rock itself is a Triassic, subvolcanic, glomeroporphyritic metabasalt with light-colored, saussuritized (altered) plagioclase feldspar phenocrysts, blackish pyroxene phenocrysts, and a dark greenish, finely-crystalline groundmass. Minerals identified in the groundmass include albite feldspar, augite pyroxene, epidote, magnetite, quartz, titanite / sphene, and chlorite.
Published geochemistry details show that this material is porphyritic basalt, later subjected to low-grade metamorphism. Silica percentages are ~53-54%, numbers that prompted some to categorize "Green Green Porphyry" as porphyritic andesite. The relatively high silica numbers resulted from partial silicification. This rock is actually transitional between tholeiitic basalt and calc-alkaline volcanics.
"Greek Green Porphyry" is known by many names, including:
Lapis Taygetas
Marmo Taigeto
Lapis Croceus
Krokeatis Lithos
Krokeian Stone
Marmo Tenario
Lapis Spartanus
Marmo Spartano
Lapis Lacedaemonius
Marmor Lacedaemon
Marmo Lacedemonio
Marmo Verde Lacedomonio
Marmo Laconio
Porfido Verde Antico [despite it not being serpentinite]
Porfido Serpentino Verde [despite it not being serpentinite]
Laconian emerald
Stratigraphy: Tyros Beds, Phyllite-Quartzite Series, Triassic
Locality: near Levetsova / Krokees, Laconia, southern Peloponnese Peninsula, southern Greece
-------------------------------
Mostly synthesized from:
Koutsovitis et al. (2016) - Mineralogical, petrological and geochemical features of the unique Lapis Lacedaemonius (Krokeatis Lithos) from Laconia, Greece: approach on petrogenetic processes within the Triassic volcanic context. Bulletin of the Geological Society of Greece 50: 1903-1912.
Price (2007) - The Sourcebook of Decorative Stone, an Illustrated Identification Guide. Buffalo, New York. Firefly Books. 288 pp.
Loading contexts...
