different between feldspar vs anorthosite

English

Alternative forms

• felspar

Etymology

Partial calque of German Feldspat, formed from Feld (“field”) + Spat (“spar”).

Noun

feldspar (countable and uncountable, plural feldspars)

1. (mineralogy) Any of a large group of rock-forming minerals that, together, make up about 60% of the earth's outer crust. The feldspars are all aluminum silicates of the alkali metals sodium, potassium, calcium and barium. Feldspars are the principal constituents of igneous and plutonic rocks.

Derived terms

Related terms

• feldspathic
• feldspathoid
• feldspathose

Translations

See also

• albite
• bytownite
• andesine
• anorthite
• granite
• labradorite
• microcline
• mineral
• oligoclase
• orthoclase
• rock

English

Noun

anorthosite (countable and uncountable, plural anorthosites)

1. (petrology) A phaneritic, intrusive igneous rock characterized by a predominance of plagioclase feldspar.
   • 1863, T. Sterry Hunt, "On the Chemical and Mineralogical Relations of Metamorphic Rocks", The American Journal of Science and Arts, Volume XXXVI, November, 1863, page 224:

     The second, or Labrador series is characterized, as already remarked, by the predominance of great beds of anorthosite, composed chiefly of triclinic feldspars […]

Translations