English: Dendritic pyrite and galena from the Lisheen mine, south Ireland. The Lisheen zinc-lead mine in Ireland second largest base metal deposit, closing in 2015.

This image shows pyrite (dark grey) in the centre of the image, in a form that resembles branches, known as dendritic. This pyrite formed when hot metal-bearing, and cooler sulfur-rich brines met and mixed and it represents the start of significant metal deposition at Lisheen. Later fluids led to galena (white) forming around the margins of the earlier pyrite branches, reflecting a change in the fluid composition. Textures like this help us to decipher the processes that led to mineralization at deposits like Lisheen.

Image was taken at Memorial University Newfoundland (MUN), Canada during research carried out at the Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences (iCRAG) and UCD. Scale included.