Aggregate (geology)

In geology, particularly in mineralogy and petrology, an aggregate is a mass of mineral crystals, mineraloid particles or rock particles.^[1]^[2] Examples are dolomite, which is an aggregate of crystals of the mineral dolomite,^[3] and rock gypsum, an aggregate of crystals of the mineral gypsum.^[4] Lapis lazuli is a type of rock composed of an aggregate of crystals of many minerals including lazurite, pyrite, phlogopite, calcite, potassium feldspar, wollastonite and some sodalite group minerals.^[5]

^ Neuendorf, K.K.E.; Mehl, J.P. Jr.; Jackson, J.A., eds. (2005). Glossary of Geology (5th ed.). Alexandria, Virginia: American Geological Institute. p. 11.
^ Abel, Mara; Lorenzatti, Alexandre; Rama Fiorini, Sandro; Carbonera, Joel (2015). Ontological analysis of the lithology data in PPDM well core model. PNEC Conferences. Houston. p. 3. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
^ Teichert, Curt (1965). Devonian Rocks and Paleogeography of Arizona (US Geological Survey Professional Paper 464) (PDF). Washington DC: USGS. p. 150.
^ Jessica Elzea Kogel (2006). Industrial Minerals & Rocks: Commodities, Markets, and Uses (7th ed.). SME. p. 522. ISBN 978-0-87335-233-8.
^ T. Calligaro; Y. Coquinot; L. Pichon; B. Moignard (2011). "Advances in elemental imaging of rocks using the AGLAE external microbeam". Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B. 269 (20): 2364–2372. Bibcode:2011NIMPB.269.2364C. doi:10.1016/j.nimb.2011.02.074.