| Webster's Online Dictionary |
| Expressions | Domain | Definition | |
| Expansion fissure | Mining | In petrology, one of a system of fissures that radiate irregularly through feldspar and other minerals adjacent to olivine crystals that have been replaced by serpentine. The alteration of olivine to serpentine involves considerable increase in volume, and the stresses so produced are relieved by the fissuring of the surrounding minerals. This phenomenon is common innorite and gabbro. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | Top | ||
