Palomaya geology

### ironsand (tatasaend)

* palomaya has limited deposits of iron ore, but deposits of ironsand are massive
* ironsand occurs extensively on the west coast of punamu
* the sand makes up the black-sand beaches as well as surrounding sea floor
* the magnetite in the sand contains large quantities of titanium & is sometimes called titanomagnetite
* it is formed from oceanic erosion of volcanic rock which is washed ashore by waves forming black sand beaches
* the magnetite is mixed with sand made from andesite & rhyolite
* the material cannot be smelted in common bloomeries or blast furnaces
* the typical composition of the magnetite is 82% iron oxide / 8% titanium dioxide / 8% silica / small concentrations of sulfur & phosphorus
* the loose sand makes it difficult to smelt in a normal bloomery or blast furnace
* palomayans use an open-topped tub-shaped horizontal blumery furnace called a tata (a tatara in japan)

### twelve stones

* twelve stones are culturally appreciated & associated with each of the twelve months of the year
* they are typically used in artwork / mosaics / jewelry

these 12 stones are<

* white - pearl
* green - punamu (jade)
* light green - serpentine
* light aqua blue - zircon
* yellow - citrine quartz
* red - garnet
* orange - coral\*
* rose - quartz
* lavender - quartz
* purple - rhodolite (garnet)
* blue - apatite
* dark blue - kyanite

\*it is taboo to disrupt live coral

### glow-stones

* palomayans frequently use glow-stones as night lanterns or to line pathways
* glow-stone lanterns are used during the light festival which is a celebration of unity in the month june (lun)
* they are also used for night-time "egg" hunts for a children's celebration in the month of march (dol)
* these sodalite-rich syenite rocks which seem to emit light from cracks in the rock like a dragon egg getting ready to hatch
* calcite stones are powered by the sun during the day and offer a nice night-time glow
* palomayans enjoy playing night-time mini golf in which the balls and pathways are lit using glow-stones

## pacific ridge rise

palomaya main islands punamu & nuqaly & numaya are located on the pacific ridge rise

## palomaya geology provides natural protection

the unique geology and location of palomaya provides a natural protective environment via a **magnetic anomaly** which is a local variation in the earth's magnetic field resulting from magnetism / the magnetic variation (geomagnetic reversals) is successive ocean floor bands which are parallel with mid-ocean ridges / the magnetic anomaly tends to disrupt navigational instrumentation making it difficult to locate the islands / palomaya engineers have placed beacons around the perimeter of palomaya lands which creates an impenetrable energy field protective barrier / this barrier also prevents flights over the area

## kármán vortex

In fluid dynamics, a **Kármán vortex street** is a repeating pattern of swirling vortices, caused by unsteady separation of flow of a fluid around blunt bodies / palomaya call this a qalaul

the pacific ridge sometimes results in vortex cloud formations which obscure the main islands / the flow of atmospheric air over the mountain ridges results in qalaul / when a cloud layer is present at the appropriate altitude, the qalaul become visible / the vortex street can reach over 400 km and the diameter of the vortices are normally 20–40 km / palomaya is not in the path of regular shipping routes< however palomaya engineers have taken advantage of this natural phenomena to obscure the islands if ships come near the islands / at certain wind speeds the phenomena also results in a "singing" sound