granophyre

American  

[gran-uh-fahy^uhr] / ˈgræn əˌfaɪər /

noun

1. a fine-grained or porphyritic granitic rock with a micrographic intergrowth of the minerals of the groundmass.

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granophyre British  

/ ˌɡrænəʊˈfɪrɪk, ˈɡrænəʊˌfaɪə /

noun

1. a fine-grained granitic rock in which irregular crystals of intergrown quartz and feldspar are embedded in a groundmass of these minerals

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granophyre Scientific  

/ grăn′ə-fīr′ /

1. A fine-grained igneous rock that has large intergrown crystals of quartz and feldspar in the matrix.

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Other Word Forms

• granophyric adjective

Etymology

Origin of granophyre

First recorded in 1880–85; grano- + -phyre

Example Sentences

Low, brown boulders and rust-colored piles of super-hard granophyre give no clue to the location of the artistic riches hidden in the scrub beyond the sealed road from Karratha.

From Time Magazine Archive

This is the essential distinction between a granite and a quartz-porphyry or a granophyre.

From Volcanoes: Past and Present by Hull, Edward

Another granite area appears on the south side of the road between Brodick and Shiskine, where it is associated with granophyre and quartz-diorite and traverses the volcanic vent of post-Cretaceous or Tertiary age already described.

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

Not only is this so, but the granophyre is frequently seen to truncate, and abruptly terminate some of the basaltic dykes by which the basic sheets are traversed—as in the neighbourhood of Beinn na Dubhaic.

From Volcanoes: Past and Present by Hull, Edward