adjective
definition
Of or pertaining to porphyry
definition
Containing large crystals in a fine mass of material
Examples of porphyritic in a Sentence
The rocks of its lower half are mainly granite and gneiss; its upper half is composed of porphyritic greenstone, and a variety of minerals occur.
Few obsidians are entirely vitreous; usually they have small crystals of felspar, quartz, biotite or iron oxides, and when these are numerous the rock is called a porphyritic obsidian (or hyalo-liparite).
Porphyritic crystals often contract less than the surrounding glass, which accordingly becomes strained, and in polarized light may show a weak double refraction in a limited area surrounding the crystal.
Above Lima the western chain of the Andes is composed of porphyritic tuffs and massive limestones, while the longitudinal valley of the Oroya is hollowed in carbonaceous sandstones.
The Eastern Cordillera is composed of gneiss, mica and chlorite schist and other crystalline rocks of ancient date; the Western Cordillera, on the other hand, is formed of porphyritic eruptive rocks of Mesozoic age, together with sedimentary deposits containing Cretaceous fossils.
Most of the country between the Andes and the sea is covered by Tertiary and Quaternary beds; but the range of hills which runs north-west from Guayaquil is formed of Cretaceous and porphyritic rocks similar to those of the Andes.
Of this range the central feature is the mountain of Kinabalu, which is composed of porphyritic granite and igneous rocks and attains to a height of 13,698 ft.
These porphyritic rocks form a characteristic feature of the southern Andes, and were at one time supposed to be metamorphic; but they are certainly volcanic, and as they contain marine fossils they must have been laid down beneath the sea.
At the base there is frequently a conglomerate or tuff of porphyritic rocks.
Quartz occurs as a primary and essential constituent of igneous rocks of acidic composition such as granite, quartz-porphyry and rhyolite, being embedded in these either as irregularly shaped masses or as porphyritic crystals.
The Western Cordillera is the direct continuation of the Western Cordillera of Ecuador, and, like the latter, to judge from the scattered observations which are all that are available, consists chiefly of sandstones and porphyritic rocks of the Cretaceous series.
The rocks of Tristan da Cunha are felspathic basalt, dolerite, augite-andesite, sideromelane and palagonite; some specimens of the basalt have porphyritic augite.