Lovoya, Norway/300

Previous | Home | Next

Alf Olva next took us to the tiny island of Låven, 8 km to the southeast. This view of Låven is northward, seen from the sea. The white rock is syenite pegmatite (a coarse grained alkaline feldspar mixed with other minerals), while the black base of the island is basalt (dark, volcanic rock). The island is 60 m x 30 m wide, and 8.5 m high. This is the island where Axel Erdmann (1814-1869) collected a mineral from which he isolated lanthanum; he named the mineral "mosandrite" in honor of Mosander who had just discovered the element. Erdmann was a geologist who studied under Sefström at Falun and who founded the Geological Survey of Sweden. Under his leadership the geologists proved Sweden was once under a blanket of ice, consistent with Agassiz's (1807-1873) theory of general glaciation. {LINK: Mosander and lanthanum in Stockholm, 2nd Swedish Academy site}