albite Min.
(ˈælbaɪt)
[mod. f. (by Gahn and Berzelius 1814) L. alb-us white + -ite, min. form.]
1. a. A feldspathic mineral, usually white, differing from common feldspar in containing soda instead of potash; white or soda feldspar.
| 1843 W. Humble Dict. Geol., Albite..forms a constituent part of the greenstone rocks in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. 1879 Rutley Rocks x. 88 The species albite and anorthite are isomorphous. |
b. Comb. albite-felsite, a variety of albite; albite porphyry, a porphyry containing crystals of albite. Hence albitiˈzation (see quot. 1940).
| 1909 Geol. Mag. VI. 250 (title) Albitization of Basic Plagioclase Felspars. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 20/2 Albitisation, in igneous rocks, the process by which a soda-lime feldspar (plagioclase) is replaced by albite (soda-feldspar). 1959 J. J. Reed in G. J. Williams Econ. Geol. N.Z. (1965) x. 156/2 The hardness of the argillites is due largely to albitization. |
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Add: ˈalbitize v. trans., to convert into a form containing albite, by the alteration of alkali feldspar or plagioclase feldspar to the albite end-member; ˈalbitized ppl. a.
| 1909 Geol. Mag. Decade V. VI. 253 In the lavas which have been most completely albitized, there was still a surplus left. 1946 Bull. Geol. Surv. Nigeria No. 17. 11 A new tin–zinc mineral..occurs.. associated with the albitized pegmatites. 1965 G. J. Williams Econ. Geol. N.Z. viii. 87/2 Thin marginal dykes of albitized, carbonated and epidotised porphyry. 1988 Geol. Mag. CXXV. 229/1 The original feldspars were antiperthites in which the K-feldspar lamellae were albitized. |