Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A white, gray, green or red variety of plagioclase feldspar that contains a higher proportion of sodium than calcium and is common in silica-rich igneous rocks.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A soda-lime triclinic feldspar, the soda predominating. See feldspar.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Min.) A triclinic soda-lime feldspar. See feldspar.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun mineralogy A plagioclase feldspar, the second member of the Albite-Anorthite solid solution series. Primarily found as small crystals in impure marble. Oligoclase contains a small amount of calcium substituting for some of the sodium in its formula. Oligoclase with reddish-golden inclusions found in Norway and Canada is called sunstone.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any of a series of triclinic feldspars that form rocks

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[oligo– + Greek klasis, cleavage (from klān, to break; see plagioclase feldspar).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From oligo- +‎ clase

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Examples

  • It must be remembered, however, that it is only the orthoclase or potash felspars which contain large quantities of potash -- other felspathic rocks, such as oligoclase and labradorite, being comparatively poor in it.

    Manures and the principles of manuring Charles Morton Aikman

  • There are, for instance, several different minerals commonly classified under the name of felspar, which have been distinguished by mineralogists by the names of orthoclase, albite, oligoclase, and labradorite; and there are at least two sorts of mica, two of hornblende, and many varieties of zeolites.

    Elements of Agricultural Chemistry Thomas Anderson

  • They are divisible into two great classes, which have received the names of diorite and dolerite, the former a mixture of albite and hornblende, the latter of augite and labradorite, sometimes with considerable quantities of a sort of oligoclase containing both soda and lime, and of different kinds of zeolitic minerals.

    Elements of Agricultural Chemistry Thomas Anderson

  • Dolerite, when composed entirely of augite and labradorite, produces rather inferior soils; but when it contains oligoclase and zeolites, and comes under the head of basalt, its disintegration is the source of soils remarkable for their fertility; for these latter substances undergoing rapid decomposition furnish the plants with abundant supplies of alkalies and lime, while the more slowly decomposing hornblende affords the necessary quantity of magnesia.

    Elements of Agricultural Chemistry Thomas Anderson

  • Aventurine felspar, known also as Sun-stone (_q. v._) is found principally at Tvedestrand in south Norway, and is a variety of oligoclase enclosing micaceous scales of haematite.

    Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 1 "Austria, Lower" to "Bacon" Various

  • It depends on the felspar present -- _i. e._, whether it is orthoclase, oligoclase, or albite -- whether the soil will be rich in potash or not.

    Manures and the principles of manuring Charles Morton Aikman

  • Day and his colleagues immediately recognized that these meteorites were unusual because of elevated contents of a light-colored feldspar mineral called oligoclase.

    Space News From SpaceDaily.Com 2009

  • Day and his colleagues immediately recognized that these meteorites were unusual because of elevated contents of a light-colored feldspar mineral called oligoclase.

    Earth News, Earth Science, Energy Technology, Environment News 2009

  • Perhaps 75\% of this is the plagioclase feldspars (mostly albite, oligoclase and labradorite) with the remainder as potassium feldspars (mostly microcline and orthoclase).

    Netvouz - new bookmarks 2008

Comments

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  • This mineral is also known as sunstone and moonstone in the lapidary and jewelry trade.

    June 2, 2010