Page:The Journal of geology (IA journalofgeology11893univ).pdf/361
clinic augites. One of them exhibits a violet-gray color in thin section and belongs to the basaltic augites; the other one becomes transparent with a dark green color. Both form numerous phenocrysts, but the first occurs somewhat more frequently. They occur as single crystals and are also grown together in a zonal manner, the green one always forming the center, the gray one the outer parts of the crystals. Hence the gray augite is the younger. The pyroxene in the groundmass shows the same color and properties. The pleochroism of the two minerals is as follows:
| Gray augite. | Green augite. | ||
| a | Brownish-yellow | Light yellowish-green | |
| b | Violet-gray | Dark gray-green. | |
| c | Dark green. | ||
The angle of extinction, c: c, is large and, as may be seen in the zonal crystals, it is somewhat larger in the gray pyroxene than in the green. The extinction in sections cut approximately parallel to (010) has been observed to be about 47 degrees (gray augite) and 41 degrees (green augite). The two pyroxenes show in addition to the cleavage parallel to (110) another but less distinct one parallel to (010). Inclusions of magnetite, apatite and glass are common.
Phenocrysts of feldspar are scarce. In part they show the polysynthetic twinning lamination of plagioclase; in part the latter is wanting and one of the latter feldspars, which was isolated and examined for specific gravity and optical properties, was found to be sanidine. Phenocrysts of nepheline are more frequent than those of feldspar. The mineral appears partly in the form of short-prismatic crystals, partly in rounded grains. It presents distinct cleavage, parallel to (1010) and to (0001), and the usually observed optical properties. Isolated grains are decomposed by hydrochloric acid with the separation of gelatinous silica; the resulting solution when evaporated gives numerous cubes of NaCl. Inclusions are scarce; there are fluid cavities with moving bubbles, generally arranged in rows, besides some pyroxene crystals.
Apatite forms short and stout crystals always filled with in-