rhyolite

American  

[rahy-uh-lahyt] / ˈraɪ əˌlaɪt /

noun

1. a fine-grained igneous rock rich in silica: the volcanic equivalent of granite.

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rhyolite British  

/ ˈraɪəˌlaɪt, ˌraɪəˈlɪtɪk /

noun

1. a fine-grained igneous rock consisting of quartz, feldspars, and mica or amphibole. It is the volcanic equivalent of granite

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rhyolite Scientific  

/ rī′ə-līt′ /

1. A usually light-colored, fine-grained extrusive igneous rock that is compositionally similar to granite. It often includes flow lines formed during the extrusion.

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Other Word Forms

• rhyolitic adjective

Etymology

Origin of rhyolite

1865–70; rhyo- (irregular < Greek rhýax stream of lava) + -lite

Example Sentences

The rest spilled across this ancient seabed and formed a fine-grained rhyolite.

From Washington Post • Dec. 9, 2021

No one is sure how the continent-forming magma originates; one idea is that basaltic magma gets altered by seawater, remelts, and eventually erupts from volcanoes as rhyolite.

From Science Magazine • Sep. 14, 2021

Storage and eruption of near-liquidus rhyolite magma at Cordon Caulle, Chile.

From Nature • Dec. 12, 2017

In the narration, Smithson mentions, “I’m not interested in excavation,” an operation that sets what he did apart from Mr. Heizer, who displaced 240,000 tons of rhyolite and sandstone when he created “Double Negative.”

From New York Times • Jan. 27, 2017

It then cools quickly and forms finely crystalline rocks of the rhyolite and basalt types.

From The Economic Aspect of Geology by Leith, C. K. (Charles Kenneth)