Geosciences Working Group

Diatomeen, Images courtesy of Mary Ann Tiffany, San Diego State University. – Bradbury J: Nature’s Nanotechnologists: Unveiling the Secrets of Diatoms. PLoS Biol 2/10/2004: e306.doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0020306

Diatomite from the Luneburg Heath
Lecturer: Dieter Siebert

Diatomite is a light powder-like rock that consists almost exclusively of the shells of diatoms. The diatoms are made of biogenic opal, thus the silicon dioxide is not crystalline but amorphous. This makes the rock light and porose and it easily disaggregates. In North Germany there are many fossils lakes where diatomite has been formed a few hundred thousand years ago – during interglacials.

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