wurtzilite Min.
(ˈvɜːtsɪlaɪt)
[f. the name of Henry Wurtz (1828–1910), U.S. mineralogist + -i- + -lite.]
A black, massive, sectile, asphaltic pyrobitumen produced by the metamorphosis of petroleum.
| 1889 W. P. Blake in Engin. & Mining Jrnl. XLVIII. 542/2 In now proposing for it the name Wurtzilite I desire to compliment my friend, Dr. Henry Wurtz, of New York who in 1865 described the mineral to which he gave the name grahamite. 1918 [see pyrobituminous adj. s.v. pyro- 2]. 1965 [see impsonite]. 1979 J. M. Hunt Petroleum Geochem. & Geol. viii. 403 Wurtzilite appears to be a more indurated polymer with an origin similar to elaterite. |