microlitic
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microlitic
[¦mī·krə¦lid·ik] (petrology)
Of the texture of a porphyritic igneous rock, having a groundmass composed of an aggregate of microlites in a generally glassy base.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
References in periodicals archive
They are darker than their host rock and display a porphyritic texture, with plagioclase, orthopyroxene, amphibole, and quartz phenocrysts in a
microlitic groundmass mainly composed of acicular plagioclase and accessory opaque minerals.
Accessory minerals (fine-grained
microlitic zircon, apatite, monazite, and allanite) were identified and confirmed using a scanning electron microscope including backscattered electron imaging, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray element mapping.
Rare monocrystalline sand grains of clinopyroxene are also present, as are
microlitic lithic fragments (plagioclase microlites set in nearly opaque tachylitic glass) probably derived from chilled lava surfaces or basaltic tephra.
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