XENOLITH

Xenolith

A xenolith is a rock fragment which becomes enveloped in a larger rock during the latter's development and hardening. In geology, the term xenolith is almost exclusively used to describe inclusions in igneous rock during magma emplacement and eruption. Xenoliths may be engulfed along the margins of a magma chamber, torn loose from the walls of an erupting lava conduit or explosive diatreme or picked up along the base of a flowing lava on Earth's surface. A xenocryst is an individual foreign crystal included within an igneous body. Examples of xenocrysts are quartz crystals in a silica-deficient lava and diamonds within kimberlite diatremes.

The above text is a snippet from Wikipedia: Xenolith
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

xenolith

Noun

  1. any piece of rock having a different origin to that of the igneous rock in which it is found


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: xenolith
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

Need help with a clue?
Try your search in the crossword dictionary!