Spherulite (geosciences)

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Pink- colored rhyolite spherulites in a fine-grained matrix of the same rock
Spherical aggregates made of Kakoxen crystal needles that have grown radially

Spherolite (also radiolite ) is a term from mineralogy and petrology , with which round to spherical rock or mineral formations are referred to, which either grow freely or occur as insets or inclusions in rocks.

Spherolithic rocks are mainly found among the volcanic rocks, such as porphyry and rhyolite , where one or more aggregates can be spherulitic.

Mineral spherulites are formed when many crystal fibers continue to grow radially starting from a crystallization nucleus and form spherical mineral aggregates . Examples of predominantly free-growing, spherulitic mineral formations are kakox , mesolite , natrolite and scolezite . The mineral wavellite occurs both grown and ingrown in spherical aggregates and the quartz modification cristobalite is mainly known in the form of white, spherical structures in snowflake obsidian .

literature

  • Rudolf Graubner: Lexicon of geology, minerals and rocks . Emil Vollmer Verlag, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-87876-327-1 , p. 362 .
  • Hans Murawski, Wilhelm Meyer: Geological dictionary . 12th edition. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg 2010, ISBN 978-3-8274-1810-4 , pp. 156 .

Web links

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