Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A variety of feldspar, essentially potassium aluminum silicate, KAlSi3O8, characterized by a monoclinic crystalline structure and found in igneous or granitic rock. Also called potash feldspar.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Common or potash feldspar, a silicate of aluminium and potassium, occurring in monoclinic crystals and also massive. It has two perfect cleavages, at right angles to each other (whence the name). It varies much in color, from white to yellow, red, and green. Adularia, including most moonstone, is a crystallized variety, transparent or nearly so, characteristic especially of the crystalline rocks of the Alps; valencianite, from Valenciana, Mexico, is similar to it. Sanidine is a glassy variety, usually containing more or less soda; it is characteristic of certain igneous rocks, as trachyte, phonolite, etc.; rhyacolite, from Monte Somma, Vesuvius, is similar. Loxoclase is a variety from Hammond, New York, and murchisonite one from Exeter, England, the latter showing golden-yellow reflections on a surface nearly parallel to the orthopinacoid. Orthoclase is an essential constituent of granite and some other crystalline rocks, and often occurs in large masses in granite-veins, and is then quarried and used in making pottery. Much of the potash feldspar called orthoclase is really the related triclinic species microcline. The name anorthoclase has been given to some kinds of triclinic feldspar containing considerable potash, which are more closely related to albite than to microcline in optical characters. See
feldspar . Also calledorthose .
Wiktionary
- n. mineralogy Potassium aluminum silicate, KAlSi3O8, a common feldspar of igneous, plutonic, and metamorphic rocks. Orthoclase is the main feldspar of pegmatite occurrences, where it is most commonly flesh-colored. Orthoclase is used in the ceramic and glass industries and as a decorative gravel.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Min.) Common or potash feldspar crystallizing in the monoclinic system and having two cleavages at right angles to each other. See feldspar.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a white or colored monoclinic feldspar
Etymologies
- ortho- + Ancient Greek κλαστός (klastos, "broken") (Wiktionary)
- Greek ortho-, ortho- + Greek klasis, a breaking (from klān, to break). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“It occurs as nitrate in nitre (KNO_ {3}), and as silicate in many minerals, such as orthoclase (or potash-felspar) and muscovite (or potash-mica).”
A Text-book of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines.
“The minerals included in this group are orthoclase, microcline, and the plagioclase feldspars.”
“A pomegranate is not a species of granular crystalline rock consisting essentially of quartz, orthoclase-feldspar, and mica, as I spelled it.”
“(K2O · Al2O3 ·6SiO2), exists as minerals named orthoclase and microcline, melting at 1200°C.”
“Other kinds of felspar, even orthoclase, may however also show the aventurine appearance.”
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 1 "Austria, Lower" to "Bacon"
“There are, for instance, several different minerals commonly classified under the name of felspar, which have been distinguished by mineralogists by the names of orthoclase, albite, oligoclase, and labradorite; and there are at least two sorts of mica, two of hornblende, and many varieties of zeolites.”
“Granite is a mixture of quartz, felspar, and mica in variable proportions, and the quality of the soil it yields depends on whether the variety of felspar present be orthoclase or albite.”
“Those yielded by orthoclase must generally abound in potash, while albite and labradorite, containing little or none of that element, must produce soils in which it is deficient.”
“(Common orthoclase feldspar, which is frequently of a brownish pink or flesh color, will do.)”
A Text-Book of Precious Stones for Jewelers and the Gem-Loving Public
“In this way I have melted beryl, orthoclase, and quartz.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘orthoclase’.
-
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...
-
my favorite geology terms
(i'm a rock nerd, so what? :P)
dodecahedron, schist, gneiss, rhombic, conchoidal, metamorphose, loam, shale, sphalerite, apatite, orbital harmony, carboniferous and 26 more...
-
chronotopes & spime
geotope, physiotope, ecotope, idiotope, Kotope, metope, zonotope, rhombic room, isopach, isopachous line, flysch, orthoclase and 2 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for orthoclase.
Comments
No comments yet...
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.