Smithsonian magazine's 22nd Annual Photo Contest | Made possible through the support of MPB.com

12th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Natural World
Golden flowers of Thompsonite

I was walking along a beach in Lanzarote, Canary Islands, with my 8-year old son who spotted these golden minerals. A few cubic meters of a basalt cliff had collapsed and boulders were lying in the beach. Some of the boulders had small pockets or vugs with these beautiful golden flowers of minerals called thompsonite and mesolite.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 02.2014
Date Uploaded: 10.2014
Photo Location: Spain
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Copyright: © Henri Koskinen