Processed to 4485.5 feet, a closeup of phillipsite

Today we boxed rock core to a depth of 4485.5 ft, 89.5 ft deeper than yesterday.  There was one intrusion among the units we processed, and lots of vesicles filled partially or entirely with secondary minerals.  Below is an example of a common zeolite mineral we've been seeing lining vesicles in the core, it's white and called phillipsite:

This image is only about one inch from top to bottom, and the phillipsite looks like small spheres lining the vesicles.  In fact, phillipsite does not make spheres at all, but rather many thin fibers grow radially outward from a central nucleation point.  This gives the impression of a sphere unless you use magnification to view the mineral or find a large enough sample to see the fibers with the naked eye.  Phillipsite and the other zeolites we're currently seeing in the core all incorporate water into their structure, indicating chemical interaction between the rock and groundwater caused the formation of these minerals.