Home >
Glossary & Definitions
Glossary & Definitions
You will find below a glossary of terms and abbreviations found on this site. I am also including links to an English-French dictionary and a French-English dictionnary provided by Philippe Saget of the French Micromineralogy Association that will prove invaluable in correspondance or reading French mineralogical literature.
| AP - | Altered pegmatites. |
| BR - | Igneous breccias. |
| Breccia - | Rock consisting of sharp fragments in a fine grained matrix. |
| FR - | Rock forming minerals. |
| HF - | Hornfels. |
| Hornfels - | Fine grained silicate rock produced by metamorphism. |
| MC - | Miarolitic cavities. |
| Miarolitic - | Irregular cavities into which well-formed crystals project. |
| MSH - | Mont Saint-Hilaire. |
| MX - | Marble xenoliths. |
| PE - | Unaltered pegmatites |
| Pegmatite - | Natural igneous rock formation usually characterized by a coarse texture caused by crystallization from an exceptionally fluid magma rich in mineralizers containing rare elements |
| Rarity factors - | Rarity factor tables from common to extremely rare species as explained on the legend page. |
| SEM - | Scanning electron microscope. |
| SS - | Sodalite syenite. |
| SX - | Incorrectly called sodalite xenolith, proper name is tawite. |
| Syenite - | Intrusive igneous rock composed of dominant alkaline feldspar. |
| Xenolith - | Fragment of a rock included in another rock. |