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Spanish lazulite

Iolite, a variety of cordierite.

Spanish topaz

a. Any orange, orange-brown, or orange-red variety of quartz resembling
the color of topaz; e.g., heat-treated amethyst. CF:topaz;
Madeira topaz.
b. A wine-colored or brownish red citrine from Spain.

spantone

See:gypsum

spar

a. A term loosely applied to any transparent or translucent light-colored
mineral that is readily cleavable having a vitreous luster; e.g., Iceland
spar (calcite), fluorspar (flourite), feldspar, heavy spar (barite).
b. Applied locally by miners to small clay veins found in coal seams.
AGI
c. Corn. Quartz.
d. See:Iceland spar

sparable ore

A nonmetallic tin ore occurring in small granules. Osborne

sparagmite

A collective term for the late Percambrian fragmental rocks of
Scandinavia, esp. the feldspathic sandstones of the Swedish Jotnian,
consisting mainly of coarse arkoses and subarkoses, together with
polygenetic conglomerates and graywackes. Etymol: Greek sparagma,
fragment, thing torn, piece. AGI

spare

N. of Eng. A wedge from 6 to 8 in (15 to 20 cm) long for driving behind
plates when adjusting them to the circle of the shaft. Also called spear
wedge.

spare face

See:standby face

sparite

a. A descriptive term for the crystalline transparent or translucent
interstitial component of limestone, consisting of clean, relatively
coarse-grained calcite or aragonite that either accumulated during
deposition or was introduced later as a cement. It is more coarsely
crystalline than micrite, the grains having diameters that exceed 10 mu m.
AGI
b. A limestone in which the sparite cement is more abundant than the
micrite matrix. AGI

spark absorber

See:absorber

spark chamber

An instrument for detecting and measuring nuclear radiation; analogous to
the cloud chamber. It consists of numerous electrically charged metal
plates mounted in a parallel array, the spaces between the plates being
occupied by inert gas. Ionizing radiation causes sparks to jump between
the plates along its path through the chamber. See also:bubble chamber;
cloud chamber. Lyman

sparker

A marine seismic source that employs an electrical spark discharge to form
the outgoing signal and produces a trace in the recorder showing the
subbottom strata. Hy

sparkle metal

A matte containing about 74% copper. Webster 3rd

spark test

Identification of type of iron alloy by appearance of sparks emitted when
rubbed on grindstone. Pryor, 3

sparry

a. Pertaining to, resembling, or consisting of "spar"; e.g., sparry vein
or sparry luster. Like spathic; as in feldspathic. See also:spar
b. Pertaining to "sparite" esp. in allusion to the relative clarity, both
in thin section and hand specimen, of the calcite cement; abounding with
sparite, such as a sparry rock.

sparry iron

See:siderite

sparry lode

A lode filled with spar, e.g., fluorspar, calcspar, or heavy spar.

sparse vitrain

A field term to denote, in accordance with an arbitrary scale established
for use in describing banded coal, a frequency of occurrence of vitrain
bands comprising less than 15% of the total coal layer.
CF:abundant vitrain; dominant vitrain; moderate vitrain. AGI

spartaite

A variety of calcite containing some manganese. Fay

spartalite

A former name for zincite.

spate

a. Corn. In mining, to fine for disobedience of orders.
b. A variation of spall.