Archive Fractal Geometry of Rocks A. P. Radlinski, E. Z. Radlinska, M. Agamalian, G. D. Wignall, P. Lindner, and O. G. Randl Phys. Rocks as Fractals 15 April 1999 Dana Mackenzie Eric Weisstein, University of Virginia Menger sponge.
New research shows that rocks are equally rough over at least three length scales.
Complex yet strangely beautiful, fractals are mathematical curves and surfaces that look equally rugged no matter how many times you magnify them. For this reason, they have been used to describe all sorts of irregular shapes in nature, including coastlines, arteries, ferns, and rocks. In the 12 April PRL , a team of six physicists reports that they have found the best experimental proof of fractality yet, in sedimentary rocks. A network of arteries, for example, might look very intricate under tenfold or hundredfold magnification, but if you zoom in again all you see is an individual capillary. To the low-energy neutrons, the rock is nearly transparent.