Next page Previous page

petro-

Combining form meaning stone or rock.

petrochemical

Any of several materials and compounds present in, or derived from,
natural gas or crude petroleum by physical refining or by chemical
reaction. Bennett

petrochemistry

a. The study of the chemical composition of rocks. AGI
b. The study of the chemistry of petroleum and its products. AGI

petrofabrics

The study of spatial relations, esp. on a microscale, of the
structural-textural units that comprise a rock, including a study of the
movements that produced these elements. The units may be rock fragments,
mineral grains, or cleavages.

petrogenesis

A branch of petrology that deals with the origin of rocks.
Syn:lithogenesis; petrogeny. CF:genesis

petrogenic element

An element that is characteristically concentrated in ordinary rock types
as opposed to ore deposits. CF:metallogenic element

petrogeny

See:petrogenesis

petrographer

Person who is versed in or engaged in petrography, or the study of rocks.
Fay

petrographic

Pertaining to the study of rocks. Stokes

petrographic microscope

A microscope specially fitted with optical, esp. polarizers, and
mechanical accessories for identifying and studying the properties of
minerals in granular form or in thin section.

petrographic province

A natural region within which some or all of the igneous rocks present
certain well-marked peculiarities in their mineralogical and chemical
composition, structure, texture, etc., that set them apart from rocks of
other petrographic provinces. Consanguineous, comagmatic.
Syn:comagmatic region

petrography

A general term for the science dealing with the description and
systematical classification of rocks, based on observations in the field,
on hand specimens, and on thin sections. Petrography is thus wider in its
scope than lithology, but more restricted than petrology, which implies
interpretation as well as description. Holmes, 2

petroleum coke

Cokelike material found in cavities of igneous rocks intrusive into
carbonaceous sediments. Tomkeieff

petroleum ether

A mixture of hydrocarbons boiling from 40 to 60 degrees C; a mixture of
low-boiling liquid alkanes. Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 1

petroleum-oil cannel coal

See:oil shale

petrology

A general term for the study, by all available methods, of the natural
history of rocks, including their origins, present conditions,
alterations, and decay. Petrology comprises petrography on the one hand,
and petrogenesis on the other, and properly considered, its subject matter
includes ore deposits and mineral deposits in general, as well as rocks in
the more limited sense in which that term is generally understood.
Holmes, 2

petrolo-shale

See:oil shale

petrophysics

Study of the physical properties of rock. AGI

petrotectonics

See:structural petrology

petrous

Said of a material that resembles stone in its hardness; e.g., petrous
phosphates. Little used. AGI

petuntze

See:china stone