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Geological Magazine; September 2006; v. 143; no. 5; p. 737-741; DOI: 10.1017/S0016756806002391
© 2006 Cambridge University Press (CUP)
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Unusual features caused by lightning impact in West Greenland

PETER W. U. APPEL*,{dagger}, NIELS ABRAHAMSEN{ddagger} and THORKILD M. RASMUSSEN*

* Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Denmark
{ddagger} Geophysical Laboratory, Aarhus University, Denmark

{dagger} Author for correspondence: pa{at}geus.dk

Two lightning impacts are described from an area near the Inland Ice in West Greenland. The first lightning blasted an outcrop of metacherts. It subsequently split into two branches, which traversed rock outcrops and boulders, leaving behind two white almost straight lines, 30 m and 14 m long, respectively, where all lichens and plants were burned away. On the white lines the upper few millimetres of the traversed boulders were melted to a glass which subsequently peeled off by thermal expansion to leave a rough surface. Magnetic investigation of an amphibolite boulder found on the white line showed that a strong electric current indeed traversed the boulder. A few years later a second lightning impacted on a mountaintop close to the first impact. The second lightning left a trail on the rock surface covered by a thin layer of glass. The glass displays spectacular colours ranging from metallic blue to red, yellow and green.

Key Words: lightning • magnetization • fulgurite • Greenland • iron formation






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