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An imitation, in pottery, of natural basalt; a kind of black porcelain.

Pertaining to basalt; formed of, or containing, basalt; as basaltic lava.

In the form of basalt; columnar.

Formed like basalt; basaltiform.

A variety of trap or basaltic rock, containing small cavities, occupied, wholly or in part, by nodules or geodes of different minerals, esp. agates, quartz, calcite, and the zeolites. When the imbedded minerals are detached or removed by decomposition, it is porous, like lava.

of pyroxene, usually of a black or dark green color, occurring in igneous rocks, such as basalt; -- also used instead of the general term pyroxene.

Said of crystalline rocks which contain a relatively low percentage of silica, as basalt. Basic salt (Chem.), a salt formed from a base or hydroxide by the partial replacement of its hydrogen by a negative or acid element or radical.

ng a concave surface above. This structure is characteristic of certain igneous rocks, as basalt, and is due to contraction in cooling.

which divide the sandstone contrast finely with the divisional planes which separate the basalt into pillars. Lyell.

Covered with a crust; as, crustated basalt.

dspar with magnetic iron. By many authors it is considered equivalent to a coarse-grained basalt.

, plant, or thing, of extraordinary size or power. Giant's Causeway, a vast collection of basaltic pillars, in the county of Antrim on the northern coast of Ireland.

A grayish or greenish compact rock, composed of feldspar and augite, and allied to basalt.

Resulting from, or produced by, the action of fire; as, lavas and basalt are igneous rocks.

Any one of several dark-colored augitic, eruptive rocks allied to basalt.

A mineral occurring in small yellow crystals, found in the lavas (melilite basalt) of Vesuvius, and elsewhere. [Written also mellilite.]

A block of black basalt, found at Dibon in Moab by Rev. F. A. Klein, Aug. 19, 1868, which bears an inscription of thirty-four lines, dating from the 9th century b. c., and written in the Moabite alphabet, the oldest Phonician type of the Semitic alphabet. It records the victories of Mesha, king of Moab, esp. those over…

n. Pyroxene is an essential constituent of many rocks, especially basic igneous rocks, as basalt, gabbro, etc.

tance or body; as, the structure of a rock or a mineral; the structure of a sentence. It [basalt] has often a prismatic structure. Dana.

A vitreous form of basalt; -- so called because decompposable by acids and readily fusible.