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COLOFANA [1 record]

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Record 1 2006-08-14

English

Subject field(s)
  • Mineralogy
DEF

Any of the massive cryptocrystalline varieties of apatite, often opaline, horny, dull, colorless, or snow-white in appearance, that constitute the bulk of phosphate rock and fossil bone and that are used as a source of phosphate for fertilizers.

OBS

The name "collophane" has been widely applied to cryptocrystalline phosphate material; it appears amorphous under microscopic or x-ray examination and in many cases occurs as layers resembling opal.

French

Domaine(s)
  • Minéralogie
DEF

Forme d'apatite à structure cryptocristalline.

CONT

[Les phosphates en grains] sont, de beaucoup, les plus répandus [...] La taille des grains est variable : en moyenne de quelques millimètres. La forme est également variable : arrondie, ovoïde ou irrégulière. La couleur la plus répandue est le jaune ou le brun. On trouve des traces de microfossiles : Foraminifères, Radiolaires, etc. Les grains peuvent être amorphes (collophanite), ce sont les plus fréquents, ou cristallisés (francolite).

CONT

Les grands dépôts marins renferment des grains minuscules de colophanite amorphe, phosphate de chaux complexe [...] Parfois ces petits grains possèdent une enveloppe de francolite, minéral très voisin de la colophanite, mais à structure fibreuse.

OBS

Le terme «collophane» a largement été appliqué aux phosphates cryptocristallins; ceux-ci apparaissent comme amorphes à l'examen microscopique ou aux rayons X et, dans de nombreux cas, se présentent en couches rappelant l'opale.

OBS

Ne pas confondre avec «colophane» ni avec «colophonite».

Spanish

Campo(s) temático(s)
  • Mineralogía
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