Next page Previous page

amatrice

a. See:variscite
b. A green gem cut from variscite and its surrounding matrix of gray,
reddish, or brownish crystalline quartz or chalcedony.

amause

See:trass

amazonite

A bright, apple- or blue-green variety of microcline; may be carved for
art objects. Syn:amazonstone

amazonstone

See:amazonite

amber

a. A mineraloid; amorphous hydrocarbons from resins secreted by trees or
shrubs upon injury, derived by oxidation and polymerization of nonvolatile
terpenoids; in sedimentary rocks and on beaches, e.g., Baltic Sea.
See also:chemawinite
b. A hard, brittle fossil resin, yellow to brown, that takes a fine
polish; may contain fossil insects and plant matter. Syn:succinite;
bernstein; electrum. See also:resin
c. A group of fossil resins containing considerable succinic acid and
having highly variable C:H:O ratios; e.g., almashite, simetite,
delatynite, and ambrosine. See also:copal

Amberine

A local trade name for a yellowish-green variety of chalcedony from Death
Valley, CA. English

amberite

Former spelling of amber.

amber mica

See:phlogopite

amberoid

A gem material consisting of small fragments of genuine amber artificially
united or reconstructed by heat and pressure; may be characterized by an
obvious flow structure or a dull spot left by a drop of ether. Also
spelled ambroid. Syn:pressed amber

amber opal

A brownish-yellow variety of opal stained by iron oxide.

ambient

a. The environment surrounding a body but undisturbed or unaffected by it.
Hy
b. Encompassing on all sides; thus, ambient air is the air surrounding.
Strock, 2

ambrosine

A yellowish to clove-brown amber found in the phosphate beds near
Charleston, SC; it may be a modern resin that has been subjected to the
action of salt water. Rich in succinic acids. Fay; Tomkeieff

amenability

Characteristic reactions of minerals to basic methods of mineral
processing, studied in preliminary testwork on unknown ores.
Pryor, 3

American

Permissible explosive used in coal mines. Bennett

American-Belgian furnace

A direct-fired Belgian furnace used in the United States, conforming
essentially to the Liege design. Fay

American forge

See:Champlain forge

American jade

a. Nephrite in Wyoming.
b. See:californite

American ruby

A red pyrope garnet in Arizona and New Mexico.

American system

See:churn drill

American Table of Distances

The quantity-distance table, prepared and approved by the Institute of
Makers of Explosives (IME), for storage of explosive materials to
determine safe distances from inhabited buildings, public highways,
passenger railways, and other stored explosive materials.

amesite

An apple-green silicate mineral belonging to the phyllosilicate group and
occurring in foliated hexagonal plates. See also:magnesium kaolinite
Kirk; Webster 3rd