# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Obsidian

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​OBSIDIAN, a glassy volcanic rock of acid composition. A similar rock was named obsianus by medieval writers, from its resemblance to a rock discovered in Ethiopia by one Obsius. The early printed editions of Pliny erroneously named the discoverer Obsidius, and the rock obsidianus. Rhyolitic lavas frequently are more or less vitreous, and when the glassy matter greatly predominates and the crystals are few and inconspicuous the rock becomes an obsidian; the chemical composition is essentially the same as that of granite; the difference in the physical condition of the two rocks is due to the fact that one consolidated at the surface, rapidly and under low pressures, while the other cooled slowly at great depths and under such pressures that the escape of the steam and other gases it contained was greatly impeded. Few obsidians are entirely vitreous; usually they have small crystals of felspar, quartz, biotite or iron oxides, and when these are numerous the rock is called a porphyritic obsidian (or hyalo-liparite). These crystals have, as a rule, very good crystalline form, but the quartz and felspar are often filled with enclosures of glass.
All obsidians have a low specific gravity (about 2.4) both because they are acid rocks and because they are non-crystalline. Their lustre is vitreous except when they contain many minute crystals; they are then velvety or even resinous in appearance. Thin splinters and the sharp edges of fragments are transparent. Black, grey, yellow and brown are the prevalent colours of these rocks. In hand specimens they often show a well-marked banding which is sometimes flat and parallel, but may be sinuous and occasionally is very irregular, resembling the pattern of damascened steel. In such cases the molten rock cannot have been homogeneous, and as it flowed along the ground the different portions of it were drawn out into long parallel streaks. As the rock was highly viscous and the surface over which it moved was often irregular the motion was disturbed and fluctuating; hence the sinuous and contorted appearance frequently assumed by the banding. When crystals are present they generally have their long axes parallel to the fluxion.
Even when conspicuous and well formed crystals are not visible in the rock there is nearly always an abundance of minute imperfect crystallizations (microlites, &c.). They are often so small that high magnifications may be necessary to ascertain their presence. Some are globular and others are rod-shaped; they may be grouped in clusters, stars, rosettes, rows, chains or swarms of indefinite shape. In banded obsidians these micro lites may be numerous in some parts but few or absent in others. The larger ones polarize light, have angular outlines like those of crystals, and may even show twinning and definite optical properties by which they can be identified as belonging to felspar, augite or some other rock-forming mineral. The variety of their shapes is endless. Some are black, very thin and curved like threads or hairs (trichites); often a group of these is seated on a. small crystal of augite or magnetite and spreads outwards on all sides. Others have hollow or funnel-shaped ends and are constricted at the middle like a dice cup. In some rocks small rod-like micro lites are grouped together in a regular way to form growths which resemble fir branches, fern leaves, brushes or networks, in the same manner as minute needles of ice produce star-like snow crystals or the frost growths on a window pane.
These crystallites (q.v.) show that the glassy rock has a tendency to crystallize which is inhibited only by the very viscous state of the glass and the rapidity with which it was cooled. Another type of incipient crystallization which is excessively common in Obsidian is spherulites (q.v.), or small rounded bodies which have a radiating fibrous structure. They are of globular shape, less frequently irregular or branching, and may be elongated and cylindrical (axiolites). In some obsidians from Teneriffe and Lipari the whole rock consists of them, so closely packed together that they assume polygonal shapes like the cells of a honeycomb. In polarized light they show a weak grey colour with a black cross, the arms of which are parallel to the cobwebs in the eyepiece of the microscope and remain stationary when the section is rotated. Often bands of spherulites alternate with bands of pure glass, a fact which seems to indicate that the growth of these bodies took place before the rock ceased to flow.
As cooling progresses the glassy rock contracts and strain phenomena appear in consequence. Porphyritic crystals often contract less than the surrounding glass, which accordingly becomes strained, and in polarized light may show a weak double refraction in a limited area surrounding the crystal. Minute cracks are sometimes produced by the contraction; they are often more or less straight, but in other cases a very perfect system of rounded fissures arises. These surround little spherules of glass which are detached when the rock is struck with a hammer. There may be concentric series of cracks one within another. The minute globular bodies have occasionally a sub-pearly lustre, and glassy rocks which possess this structure have been called perlites (q.v.). If we take a thin layer of natural Canada balsam and heat it strongly for a little time most of the volatile oils are driven out of it. When it cools it becomes hard, but if before it is quite cold we plunge it into cold water a very perfect perlitic structure will arise in it. Occasionally the rounded cracks extend from the matrix into some of the crystals especially those of quartz which have naturally a conchoidal fracture. If the matrix, however, is originally crystalline it does not seem probable that perlitic structure can develop in it. Hence it may be regarded as diagnostic of rocks which were vitreous when they consolidated.
In mineralogical collections rounded nodules of brown glass, varying from the size of a pea to that of an orange, may often be seen labelled marekanite. They have long been known to geologists and are found at Okhotsk, Siberia, in association with a large mass of perlitic obsidian. These globular bodies are, in fact, merely the more coherent portions of a perlite; the rest of the rock falls down in a fine powder setting free the glassy spheres. They are subject to considerable internal strain, as is shown by the fact that when struck with a hammer or sliced with a lapidary’s saw they often burst into fragments. Their behaviour in this respect closely resembles the balls of rapidly cooled, unannealed glass which are called Prince Rupert’s drops. In their natural condition the marekanite spheres are doubly refracting, but when they have been heated and very slowly cooled they lose this property and no longer exhibit any tendency to sudden disintegration.
Although rocks wholly or in large part vitreous are known from very ancient geological systems, such as the Devonian, they are certainly most frequent in recent volcanic countries. Yet among the older rocks there are many which, though finely crystalline, have the chemical composition of modern obsidians and possess structures, such as the perlitic and spherulitic, which are very characteristic of vitreous rocks. By many lines of evidence we are led to believe that obsidians in course of time suffer devitrification, in other words they pass from the vitreous into a crystalline state, but as the changes take place in a solid mass they require a very long time for their achievement, and the crystals produced are only of extremely small size. A dull stony-looking rock results, the vitreous lustre having entirely disappeared, and in microscopic section this exhibits a cryptocrystalline structure, being made up of exceedingly minute grains principally of quartz and felspar. Often this felsitic devitrified glass is so fine-grained that its constituents cannot be directly determined even with the aid of the microscope, but chemical analysis leaves little doubt as to the real nature of the minerals which have been formed. Many vitreous rocks show alteration of this type in certain parts where either the glass has been of unstable nature or where agencies of change such as percolating water have had easiest access (as along joints, perlitic cracks and the margins of dikes and sills). Obsidians from Lipari often ​have felsitic bands alternating with others which are purely glassy. In Arran there are pitchstone dikes, some of which are very completely vitreous, while others are changed to spherulitic felsites more or less silicified. The pitchstone of the Scuir of Eigg is at its margins characterized by a dull semi-opaque matrix which seems to be the result of secondary devitrification. In the same way artificial glass can be devitrified if it be kept at a temperature slightly below the fusing point for some days. Window glass exposed to alkaline vapours often shows a thin iridescent surface film which is supposed to be due to crystallization; the same change is found in pieces of Roman glass which have been dug out of the ruins of Pompeii.
Obsidians occur in many parts of the world along with rhyolites and pumice. In Europe the best-known localities for them are the Lipari Islands, Pantellaria, Iceland and Hungary. Very fine obsidians are also obtained in Mexico, at the Yellowstone Park, in New Zealand, Ascension and in the Caucasus. Included in this group are some rocks which are more properly to be regarded as vitreous forms of trachyte than as glassy rhyolites (Iceland), but except by chemical analyses they cannot be separated. It is certain, however, that most obsidians are very acid or rhyolitic. The dark, semi-opaque glassy forms of the basic igneous rocks are known as tachylytes. The typical obsidians exhibit the chemical peculiarities of the acid igneous rocks (viz. high percentage of silica, low iron, lime and magnesia, and a considerable amount of potash and soda).
The chemical composition of typical obsidians is shown by the following analyses:—
Obsidian, when broken, shows a conchoidal fracture, like that of glass, and yields sharp-edged fragments, which have been used in many localities as arrow-points, spear-heads, knives and razors. For such purposes, as also for use as mirrors, masks and labrets, it was extensively employed, under the name of itztli, by the ancient Mexicans, who quarried it at the Cerro de las Navajas, or “Hill of Knives,” near Timapan. The natives of the Admiralty Islands have used it for the heads of spears. By the ancient Greeks and Romans obsidian was worked as a gem-stone; and in consequence of its having been often imitated in glass there arose among collectors of gems in the 18th century the practice of calling all antique pastes “obsidians.” At the present time obsidian is sometimes cut and polished as an ornamental stone, but its softness (H＝5 to 5·5) detracts from its value. Certain varieties, notably some from Russia, possess a beautiful metallic sheen, referable to the presence of either microscopic fissures or enclosures. The substance known as moldavite, often regarded as an obsidian, and the so-called obsidian bombs, or obsidianites, are described under Moldavite. (J. S. F.)