If I recall from my hiking days in the Sierra Nevada, serpentine is actually pretty common, which, if this article is not an academic scam, would mean that this event is only interesting because it is happening now rather than in the past. The good doctor can observe serpentine being made, rather than having to infer how it came to be by extracting it from native rock.
I say ‘common’ because a friend of mine had a pipe made from serpentine he personally found on a hiking trip. It’s a pretty nifty looking rock, too.
One last criticism: what is the shape of this ‘hole’? From the text I tend to infer that it is more of a ‘gash’ than a ‘hole’. And yes, I understand that ‘hole in the earth’ is a much more effective phrasing, if you want people to look and not instantly be offended.
OTOH, this came from the BBC, which to me is only slightly more credible than the NYT. How sadly have the great fallen.
Kind of offset that effect by prefacing hole w/ "probing" in the title..:)
Isnt serpentine also what I use to look for on the beach at Jade Cove in San Simeon aka California Jade?
a little background -
“Dr Bramley Murton, from the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, is the third expert taking part.”
You may enjoy this:
http://www.soton.ac.uk/~imw/index.htm