palagonite

In a study with Echinolittorina hawaiiensis, Struhsaker and Costlow (1968) observed that the species settled on all types of rock (palagonite, reef limestone, basalt, and quartz) and on the glass surface, providing that the surfaces were covered with a thin film of algae or debris.

This is also accompanied by abiotic alteration and corrosion through hydration, because basaltic glass is chemically unstable and readily reacts with percolating water in the medium forming palagonite. Slight alteration form yellow--brown gel palagonite, which is in turn a metastable phase and progressively change to colored- anisotropic fibropalagonite (Stronick & Schmincke, 2002) which is a mixture of palagonite with clays (montmorillonite), zeolites and iron and manganese oxyhydroxides (Fig.

In addition, a significant amount of seawater-oceanic crust interaction takes at low temperatures that contribute third components like palagonite, smectite and/or carbonates (Jochum and Verma, 1996).