Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A rare plagioclase feldspar with high calcium oxide content occurring in igneous rocks.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A triclinic lime feldspar, found in small transparent crystals on Mount Vesuvius, and existing also as a constituent of some rocks. See feldspar.
Wiktionary
- n. mineralogy A plagioclase feldspar, the final member of the Albite-Anorthite solid solution series. Anorthite is very rare on Earth, but abundant in moon rocks. This is because Anorthite weathers rapidly to clay minerals under atmospheric conditions. Good crystals have been found in lava-digested limestone blocks erupted from Mount Vesuvius.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A mineral of the feldspar family, commonly occurring in small glassy crystals, also a constituent of some igneous rocks. It is a lime feldspar. See feldspar.
WordNet 3.0
- n. rare plagioclastic feldspar occurring in many igneous rocks
Etymologies
- From Ancient Greek "less than straight, not perpendicular" - a reference to the odd angles at which crystals grow. (Wiktionary)
- From Greek an-, not; see a-1 + orthos, straight (from its oblique crystals). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Like labradorite and anorthite, it is a common constituent of basic igneous rocks, such as gabbro and basalt.”
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4 "Bulgaria" to "Calgary"
“In chemical composition and in optical and other physical characters it is thus much nearer to the anorthite end of the series than to albite.”
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4 "Bulgaria" to "Calgary"
“The name was afterwards applied by G. Tschermak to those plagioclase felspars which lie between labradorite and anorthite; and this has been generally adopted by petrologists.”
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4 "Bulgaria" to "Calgary"
“The minerals anorthite, albite, and orthoclase named in this figure are all feldspars; sylvite and halite are chlorides of potash and soda.”
“This young scientist, too, cherished loving thoughts about Angelina, thoughts of a more earthly and volcanic tinge; certain definite projects which made him forget, at times, his preoccupation with biotite, perlite, magnetite, anorthite, and pyroxene.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘anorthite’.
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Minerals and Mineralogy
List of minerals, elements, group names and geochemistry terms encountered in the science of mineralogy. I've chosen to avoid capital letters in most examples, though a great many mineral names hon...
galkhaite, xanthoconite, pyrostilpnite, polybasite, pyrargyrite, djurleite, digenite, covellite, chalcocite, cerargirite, acanthite, aeschynite and 2608 more...
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