felsite

American  

[fel-sahyt] / ˈfɛl saɪt /

noun

1. a dense, fine-grained, igneous rock consisting typically of feldspar and quartz, both of which may appear as phenocrysts.

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felsite British  

/ fɛlˈsɪtɪk, ˈfɛlsaɪt, ˈfɛlˌstəʊn /

noun

1. any fine-grained igneous rock consisting essentially of quartz and feldspar

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felsite Scientific  

/ fĕl′sīt′ /

1. A fine-grained, light-colored igneous rock, consisting mainly of feldspar and quartz.

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Other Word Forms

• felsitic adjective

Etymology

Origin of felsite

First recorded in 1785–95; fels(par) + -ite ¹

Example Sentences

Cambrian Period.—In the Pass of Llanberis, along the banks of Llyn Padarn, masses of quartz-porphyry, felsite and agglomerate, or breccia, indicate volcanic action during this stage.

From Volcanoes: Past and Present by Hull, Edward

The building material here is a close-grained felsite, and huge fragments of it have been used in the construction of the parapets.

From Unknown Mexico, Volume 1 (of 2) A Record of Five Years' Exploration Among the Tribes of the Western Sierra Madre; In the Tierra Caliente of Tepic and Jalisco; and Among the Tarascos of Michoacan by Lumholtz, Carl

These rocks approach towards true granites in one direction, and through quartz-porphyry and felsite to rhyolite in another—probably depending upon the conditions of cooling and consolidation.

From Volcanoes: Past and Present by Hull, Edward

In the south of the island there are sills and dykes of felsite, quartz-porphyry, rhyolite, trachyte and pitchstone.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 6 "Armour Plates" to "Arundel, Earls of" by Various

From this place to the mines the rocks were soft decomposing dolerites, with many harder bands of felsite, and, occasionally, plains composed of more recent trachytic lavas.

From The Naturalist in Nicaragua by Belt, Thomas