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basin-and-range

Said of a topography, landscape, or physiographic province characterized
by a series of tilted fault blocks forming longitudinal, asymmetric ridges
or mountains and broad, intervening basins; specif. the Basin and Range
physiographic province in the Southwestern United States.
See also:basin range

basining

The bending down or settling of part of the Earth's crust in the form of a
basin, as by rock deformation or by solution of underground deposits of
salt or gypsum. AGI

basin range

A mountain range that owes its elevation and structural form mainly to
faulting and tilting of strata and that is flanked by alluvium-filled
basins or valleys. Etymol: from the Great Basin, a region in the
Southwestern United States characterized by fault-block mountains.
See also:basin-and-range

basis price

The price agreed between the seller and the buyer of an option at which
the option can be exercised. This price is also called the "strike price."
The price is normally the current market price of the metal.
See also:option

basket

a. A type of single-tube core barrel made from thin-wall tubing with the
lower end notched into points, which are intended to pick up a sample of
granular or plastic rock material by bending in on striking the bottom of
the borehole or a solid layer. Also used as a fishing tool to recover an
article lost or dropped into a borehole. Syn:basket core lifter;
sawtooth barrel. CF:calyx
b. Wire-mesh strainer in the top of a core barrel to strain out bits of
debris, which might clog up the water ports in the core barrelhead.
Long

basket centrifuge

A device for dewatering in which wet coal is thrown by centrifugal force
against a perforated containing surface that permits the outward passage
of water and retains the coal. BS, 5

basket core

A sample of rock or rock material recovered by using a basket tube or core
barrel. See also:basket

basket core lifter

A type of core lifter consisting of several fingerlike springs brazed or
riveted to a smooth-surfaced ring having an inside diameter slightly
larger than the core size being cut. Also called basket lifter; finger
lifter. See also:basket

basonomelane

A variety of hematite containing titanium oxide. See also:ilmenite

bass

Eng. A black carbonaceous shale, Yorkshire, Lancashire, South and North
Staffordshire. Nelson

basset

a. The outcropping edge of a geological stratum. Webster 3rd
b. The shallow or rise side of a working.
c. Coal outcrop. Pryor, 3
d. An obsolete term for the noun outcrop and the verb to crop out.
AGI

bassetite

A yellow monoclinic mineral, Fe(UO2 )2 (PO4 )2
.8H2 O ; meta-autunite group.

bastard

a. Said of an inferior or impure rock or mineral, or of an ore deposit
that contains a high proportion of noncommercial material. AGI
b. Said of any metal or ore that gives misleading assays or values.
AGI
c. Said of a vein or other deposit close to and more or less parallel to a
main vein or deposit, but thinner, less extensive, or of a lower grade.
AGI

bastard asbestos

Miners' term for picrolite (antigorite), a mineral associated in places
with chrysotile asbestos.

bastard cauk

Inferior barite; Derbyshire lead mines, U.K. Arkell

bastard emerald

See:peridot

bastard freestone

Any inferior or impure rock; the Inferior Oolite, Bath, U.K.

bastard ganister

A silica rock having the superficial appearance of a true ganister but
characterized by more interstitial matter, a greater variability of
texture, and often an incomplete secondary silicification. AGI

bastard quartz

a. See:bull quartz
b. A round or spherical boulder of quartz embedded in soft or decomposed
rock. AGI

bastard shale

See:cannel shale

bastite

An olive-green, blackish-green, or brownish variety of serpentine mineral
resulting from the alteration of orthorhombic pyroxene (esp. enstatite),
occurring as foliated masses in igneous rocks; characterized by a schiller
(metallic or pearly) on the chief cleavage face of the pyroxene.
Syn:schiller spar