Rockfall in Tramin, Italy
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Adventures in Geology
Think geology doesn't affect you? Take a closer look.
Rockfall in Tramin, Italy
Adventures in Geology 
Licking rocks is a very important way to gtehar important geological data! I am an evaporite sedimentologist and I lick rocks to test whether a sample is halite or sylvite or epsomite, etc. In my field area in Western Australia, the locals have dubbed my research group the rock lickers . I study acid saline lakes, some of which are brightly colored. When I first encountered a yellow lake, I tasted it (just a drop on my tongue) and predicted that it had very high dissolved aluminum (it tasted like aluminum foil). Sure enough, when we measured the dissolved Al in the water in the lab, it had almost 8,000 ppm Al! You can also use rock licking to test for a volcanic tuff.