diabase
Americannoun
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a fine-grained gabbro occurring as minor intrusions.
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British. a dark igneous rock consisting essentially of augite and feldspar; an altered dolerite.
noun
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an altered dolerite
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another name for dolerite
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A dark-gray to black, medium-grained igneous rock consisting mainly of labradorite and pyroxene. Diabase is compositionally similar to andesite, but has coarser grains. It is commonly found in sills and dikes.
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Also called dolerite
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of diabase
1810–20; < French, equivalent to dia- (error for di- two) + base base 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Numerous rounded diabase bowlders, varying in size from a few inches to several feet in diameter, are also scattered over the surface of the soil.
From History and Comprehensive Description of Loudoun County, Virginia by James William Head
The granite in the southern portion of the County is very important in point of extent, almost as much so as the diabase in the same section.
From History and Comprehensive Description of Loudoun County, Virginia by James William Head
The sandstone and trap are of the Triassic Period, and the trap of this vicinity is more particularly classified as diabase.
From Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, vol. LXVIII, Sept. 1910 The Bergen Hill Tunnels. Paper No. 1154 by F. Lavis
The terms diabase and dolerite are employed really to designate distinct facies of the same set of rocks.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 3 "Destructors" to "Diameter" by Various
It is traversed in places by dikes and sills of diabase or dolerite, while bosses of more or less altered gabbro rise through it.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 6 "Groups, Theory of" to "Gwyniad" by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
