Economic Geology Flashcards
Dolomitization
The process by which limestone is converted to dolomite by replacing calcium for magnesium.
Eh
The measurement of the potential of a substance to oxidize.
Epigenetic
An ore deposit that originates later than the enclosing rocks.
Block Caving
A mining technique that takes advantage of naturally occurring fractures by blasting and collecting the blocks.
Gangue
Valueless rock or mineral aggregates in an ore. It is economically useless.
Gossan
An iron-bearing weathered product overlying a sulfide deposit.
Pathfinder
A relatively mobile element whose geochemical properties are used to find a deposit of greater importance or value more easily.
Longwall Mining
A mining technique that shears off the coal from the longest wall of the room.
Metasomatism
The process of practical simultaneous solution and deposition of a new mineral in an old mineral via interstitial fluids.
Volume stay constant.
Prophyry
An igneous rock that contains phenocrysts in a fine-grained matrix.
Play
A geographic area where common geologic factors exist to create petroleum accumulation
Precious Metal
Gold, silver, or minerals of the platinum group.
Replacement
A solid-state change in composition of a mineral accomplished by diffusion of new material in and old material out.
Retreat Mining
(In horizontal mining) Mining of the support pillars while retreating from the mine.
Skarn
Silicate rocks of complex metamorphic-metasomatic mineralogy formed in carbonate rocks in a contact metamorphic aureole.
