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. |