Fossil fumarole in andesitic breccia, Spain

Description

This dyke of hyaloclastite in an andesitic autoclastic breccia is a fossil fumarole. Probably water got trapped at depth, heated, became overpressured. Then it shot upwards fast along a fracture, creating flow laminations along the way. Playa Monsul, Cabo de Gata Natural Park, Spain. Lat 36˚43'51.07''N, Lon2˚08'48.88''W, sea level. If you go to this coordinates in Google Earth, the dyke can be seen as a subvertical white thin stripe, 10 m tall, on the cliff at the shoreline: this model shows approximately the lower 1/4 of the dyke.