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Years ago, probably in my first years of studying geology, when I learned that huge part of Earth's mantle is olivine-green I was amazed by that fact. And at the same time I found it interesting that most of Earths structure illustrations show red-hot-glowing spheres and there's no clue about parts of it being green. So the green-mantle illustration idea was born long time ago :)) .

I am fully aware that the internal structure, thus colors are not that obvious and simple. In this illustration there is no representation of convection, plumes or subduction slabs. And the deeper you go the more theory based all is.

It's just the very basic, most common numbers and facts about the Earths structure illustrated but in slightly different perspective, to raise the curiosity and questions of What and Why??

By the way, interesting thing. I had an idea of showing half of it as hot-red and another part as 'cooled down'. I was struggling to find the nice balance for these red and yellow colors, how do I show it properly, how do I show one sphere hotter than other, but then again making sure they are all well visible. I was jumping back and forth with those colors, but when I saw Earths internal temperature graph somewhere and because it was in Kelvins somehow 'connecting the dots' moment happened and I realized that there is also the color spectrum for black body based on its temperature in Kelvins known. So what I did - I simply used black body color spectrum based on its temperature. So we can say that those hot colors are also true colors :))

I was working on the project regarding the rift system, also at the same time earthquakes in Turkey and Syria happened, so somehow naturally I drifted towards tectonics, and tectonic plates and thought that it would be interesting to make the 'exploded view' of the tectonic plates. I know there are a lot of them on internet, I just had an idea to make it in my style, with lava-glowing edges. However, while making first drafts and looking on the internet for the details I realized that in many cases, in such 'exploded view' illustrations there is a problem that all tectonic boundaries look like either divergent or transform but the subduction, or rather the subducted part of the plate is invisible and, even though there might be marking of the subduction edge it is still difficult to imagine, especially for non-geo person.

So I search for subduction data, found USGS Slab 2.0 data (https://www.usgs.gov/tools/slab20-interactive-map). Nice, clean, open data, articles available, etc., just google for more. And included that slab data into my animation.

The subduction slabs are all in scale, i.e. there is no vertical exaggeration. And what surprised me is how big and deep they are. I am not trying to pretend to be an expert in tectonics, so, yea, it did surprise me, as I, for some reason, had a picture in my head that they are more shallow.

The surface elevations are all flattened to 0, as it is so tiny compared to whole globe that is gives more visual noise to the animation than the actual benefit.

Also, simplified model at the exploded view is available on on sketchfab: https://skfb.ly/oEQTW

I am fully aware that some details regarding the plate boundaries or depths of the certain parts of the slabs might be debatable, or that something is too simplified. But I'll leave it to experts and as a disclaimer will call this animation a pop-geo-animation even though it is based on actual GIS data and is all in scale :)) Enjoy!

I had this idea to make some of the intrusions as really hot and glowing bodies entrapped in a rock. Decided to make few of them at the same time experimenting and practicing with some of my workflows and techniques.

Of course, every geologist will recognize that those intrusions should be fully covered with rock layers and no gaps between layers themselves should be present. Therefore I want to stress out that this is artistic approach.

More intrusion themed illustrations there: https://strike-dip.com/geology-art-intrusions/

I know somebody would like it as their new desktop image or as new picture hanging on the wall, so I made them available as digital files (mostly in 4k): https://www.artstation.com/linajakait/store

Some of the illustrations are also available as prints:https://www.artstation.com/linajakait/prints

'Two Billion Years in the Making - Greater Falun Project' animation shows the geological evolution of Falun (Sweden) area. It explains how different layers formed, what happened when rifting and opposite (compression) were dominant in the area, how the Cu-Au and polymetallic skarns (main targets) formed and why limestone layer present in the area is so helpful in prospecting.

Animation is accompanied with a bunch of illustrations. To see them all check this: https://strike-dip.com/two-billion-years-in-the-making-greater-falun-project/

Garnet minerals are great group of silicate minerals with general chemical formula X₃Y₂Si₃O₁₂. X stands for divalent Ca, Mg, Fe and Mn cations and Y – for trivalent Al, Fe and Cr cations. There are two main groups of garnet minerals. One group is Uvarovite (Ca₃Cr₂Si₃O₁₂) – Grossular (Ca₃Al₂Si₃O₁₂) – Andradite (Ca₃Fe₂Si₃O₁₂) group. This group is called Ugrandite (based on the beginnings of garnet minerals names within this group). This group has calcium in X position and chromium, aluminum or iron in Y position. Uvarovite, Grossular and Andradite are end members of this group, but mixed compositions (example: Ca₃(Al, Fe)Si₃O₁₂) are also common.

Another group: Pyrope (Mg₃Al₂Si₃O₁₂) – Almandine (Fe₃Al₂Si₃O₁₂) – Spessartine (Mn₃Al₂Si₃O₁₂). This group is called Pyralspite group. This group has aluminum in Y position and magnesium, iron or manganese in X position. All these three minerals can also blend with each other and form mixed minerals. Also, minerals of this group can blend to Grossular through calcium – magnesium, iron or manganese cations exchange. (Read more about illustration: https://strike-dip.com/garnets/)

High resolution poster there: https://gumroad.com/linajakaite

Feldspars are one of the most common minerals on Earth. There are two solid solution series of feldspar minerals: alkali feldspars and plagioclase feldspars. The end members of these solid solutions are potassium feldspar (orthoclase, microcline) (KAlSi₃O₈) – albite (NaAlSi₃O₈) – anorthite (CaAl₂Si₂O₈). So, the alkali felspars range from orthoclase and microcline to albite. Accordingly, chemical formula of these minerals ranges from KAlSi₃O₈ to NaAlSi₃O₈ (because of K-Na substitution). And plagioclase feldspars range from albite to anorthite, so from NaAlSi₃O₈ to CaAl₂Si₂O₈ (because of NaSi-CaAl substitution). Intermediate blended minerals are present for both sequences. (Read more about illustration: https://strike-dip.com/feldspars/)

High resolution poster available there: https://gumroad.com/linajakaite

The idea with these pictures was to color them by using the colors (most common) of each corner mineral and blend these colors as the percentage of mineral changes. QAPF diagram represents only the normalized felsic (light colored minerals) part of the rock, so for this illustration I avoided adding mafic (dark colored) minerals. But after posting it on few social platforms, I realized that people naturally miss mafic minerals when they see granite, diorite or any other, especially gabbro. Similar situation with other schemes I posted there: https://strike-dip.com/rock_classification/. I have some ideas how to improve them. So, if you plan to copy these schemes and use them, either wait until I post improved versions or make sure you really understand why they are colored this way 😊

What's the color inside Earth?

Muography

Tectonic Plates

Geology art. Intrusions

Vision on a UNESCO Global Geopark - Southeastern Dead Sea

New way to speed up tsunami warning

Emplacement and preservation of mineralized écaille within Roan Breccia of the Lufilian Arc

Integrated Ground Model. Ten noorden van de Waddeneilanden Wind Farm Zone

Vittangi Graphite Project

Lunar Ice Textures

Two Billion Years in the Making - Greater Falun Project

Fault Juxtaposition Plots explained

Mine's pollution pathways

Lake Wells Sulphate of Potash Project

Pyroxenes

Witwatersrand gold deposition environments illustrated

Landscape 37°09'35"N 109°49'20"W

Artificial landscape

Beryl

Geology of West Lithuania

Modelled minerals

Garnets

Porosity vs Saturation

K2 from map to mountain

Feldspars

Blue Desert

QAPF, Gabbroic and Ultramafic Rock Classification Schemes