sanidine

American  

[san-i-deen, -din] / ˈsæn ɪˌdin, -dɪn /

noun

Mineralogy.

1. a glassy, often transparent variety of orthoclase in which sodium may replace as much as 50 percent of the potassium: forms phenocrysts in some igneous rocks.

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sanidine British  

/ ˈsænɪˌdiːn, -dɪn /

noun

1. an alkali feldspar that is a high-temperature glassy form of orthoclase in flat, tabular crystals, found in lavas and dykes. Formula: KAlSi 3 O 8

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Other Word Forms

• sanidinic
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of sanidine

1805–15; < German Sanidin, equivalent to Greek sanid- (stem of sanís plank) + German -in -ine ²

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sanidine

To test the recalibrated method, the researchers examined eight samples of sanidine, a potassium-containing volcanic mineral from Vesuvius.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 30, 2026

Renne and his colleagues had already used sanidine from pumice produced during the 79 CE eruption to test argon-argon dating.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 30, 2026

Renne, P. R., Mundil, R., Balco, G., Min, K. & Ludwig, K. R. Joint determination of 40K decay constants and 40Ar*/40K for the Fish Canyon sanidine standard, and improved accuracy for 40Ar/39Ar geochronology.

From Nature ● Nov. 28, 2017

Matthews, N. E., Vazquez, J. A. & Calvert, A. T. Age of the Lava Creek supereruption and magma chamber assembly at Yellowstone based on 40Ar/39Ar and U-Pb dating of sanidine and zircon crystals.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2017

Monoclinic felspar does, however, occur in some of these rocks; but the difficulty of ascertaining the precise character of microliths renders it unsafe to speculate on the amount of sanidine which may be present.

From Etna A History of the Mountain and of its Eruptions by G. F. Rodwell

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