Lightning reshapes rocks at the atomic level, study finds
Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - 16:50
in Earth & Climate
At a rock outcropping in southern France, a jagged fracture runs along the granite. The surface in and around the crevice is discolored black, as if wet or covered in algae. But, according to a new paper coauthored by the University of Pennsylvania's Reto Gieré, the real explanation for the rock's unusual features is more dramatic: a powerful bolt of lightning.