This photograph shows a piece of one of the chimney spires. It has been cut in half and is 22 cm long. The interior of the chimney is lined by a copper-rich mineral called chalcopyrite. The gray-and-white zone near the exterior of the chimney is composed of iron, zinc and barium-rich minerals called pyrite, sphalerite and barite. Many of the mineral deposits mined on land today were once formed on the sea floor just like these chimneys.
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