Appendix:Dictionary of Mining, Mineral, and Related Terms/S/1
- Trade name for banded variscite; may be banded vashegyite and natrolite; used as a gem stone. Syn: Trainite.
- Reducing the extent of corrosion of a metal in an electrolyte by coupling it to another metal that is electrochemically more active in the environment.
- In a dipper shovel, the boom swivel block through which the stick slides when crowded or retracted.
- a. A worker's belt attachable to some fixed object to safeguard against falls.
b. A protective belt or harness with remote anchorage, worn by a worker, for example, a quarryman, working on a face at height. Since the belt allows a drop of about 6 ft (2 m) a shock absorber is provided. c. A belt worn by a derrickman or tripodman to prevent injury due to accidental falls from the top of a derrick. d. A belt to which tools are attached to prevent risk of their falling into machines, thickeners, etc.
- Any mine car or hoisting cage provided with safety stops, catches, or other precautionary devices.
- A safety appliance that transfers the weight of the cage onto the guides if the winding rope breaks.
- A chain used across openings to mantrips and personnel carriers to prevent miners from falling out of a moving vehicle. Syn: breakaway chain.
- A check valve to slow the excessive travel speed of a piston in a hydraulic cylinder.
- Any of several types of rod clamps used at the collar of a borehole to hold the drill rods while they are being pulled or lowered. Also called alligator; automatic spider; floor clamp; foot clamp.
- A department that deals with all aspects of mine safety and safety training. See also: safety engineer.
- A device that releases automatically the hoisting rope from a cage in the event of an overwind. See also: detaching hook.
- A spare or extra door fixed ready for use in a roadway in the event of damage to the existing ventilation door. The safety door is also positioned so that it can be employed in any emergency, for example, explosions or fires. The door may be of steel construction.
- An employee whose job is to inspect all possible danger spots in the mine and plant; to cooperate with safety committees in various parts of the organization; to keep informed upon safety literature and to carry on a perpetual educational campaign among workers; to cooperate with agencies such as the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, the U.S. Bureau of Mines, the National Safety Council, and State bureaus and inspectors; to head all rescue work, first-aid instruction courses, and safety-first meetings; and to draw up and enforce a written code of minimum safety requirements for all work at the mine and plant.
- Explosive that requires a powerful initial impulse and therefore may be handled safely under ordinary conditions.
- a. The ratio of breakage resistance to load.
b. See: factor of safety. c. Ratio of breaking stress to working stress.
- A train of powder enclosed in cotton, jute yarn, and waterproofing compounds; used for firing a cap containing the detonating compound, which in turn sets off the explosive charge. The fuse burns at the rate of 2 ft/min (0.6 m/min). Used mainly for small-scale blasting in quarries and metal mines. See also: blasting fuse; capped fuse; premature blast.
- An automatically operated gate placed at the top of a mine shaft, or at landings, to guard the entrance, to prevent anyone from falling into the shaft.
- Most commonly a sandwich of plastic between two sheets of glass; i.e., laminated safety glass. Also called tempered safety glass; wire safety glass. See also: Triplex glass.
- a. A cap or hat with a hard crown worn by miners, will resist blows against it.
b. A hat or cap made of rigid material, designed for the protection of the heads of workers. If worn in a mine equipped with electricity, the material should be electrically nonconducting. Also called safety cap. c. See: tin hat.
- a. A hoisting hook with a spring-loaded latch that prevents a load from accidentally slipping off the hook.
b. A self-acting detachable hook on a mine cage, which acts in the event of an overwind. See: safety detaching hook. c. A safety catch in a mine hoist.
- See: mine inspector.
- A coarse-threaded joint in the head of a double-tube core barrel. If the core barrel becomes lodged in the borehole, the safety joint, inner tube, and core can be removed by backing off at the safety joint, thereby facilitating the subsequent fishing job.
- In gassy mines, a lamp of an approved type, which is relatively safe to use in atmospheres that may contain flammable gas. Latterly, the term tends to be restricted to naptha-fueled safety lamps, which are issued to mine inspection personnel and used for combustible gas tests. See also: bonnet; cap lamp; Davy lamp; flame safety lamp; electric cap lamp.
- See: lampman.
- In Great Britain, a coal mine in no part of which below ground is the use of lamps or lights other than permitted lights lawful.
- A latch provided on a hook or elevator to prevent it from becoming detached prematurely. CF: safety hook.
- A spring-tensioned aluminum pole (of two sections) with a holder to hold a flashlight in a horizontal position with an adjustable screw aligned with the push button switch of the flashlight. If there is conversion of the mine roof (back), the adjustment screw will depress, putting on the light to warn a miner in the area. Sometimes accompanied by a conversion gauge (measures in thousandths). See also: guardian angel.
- An offset swivel coupling that supports the weight of the rods when whipstocking.
- a. A platform built in a derrick as a safe working place for workers who must be up the derrick to handle elevators, casing, drill rods, etc.
b. A platform with a hinged-door opening, over a shaft while being sunk, esp. where blasted materials are hoisted with a muck bucket. After the bucket is hoisted, the hinged door is closed to prevent any material from falling back onto workers in the shaft.
- A timber placed near the face of working places to afford protection for the workers at the face. It must be set like a line timber and with equal care.
- A term used for short-flame explosives before the introduction of permissible explosives.
- A cable-winding device anchored at the upper grade of an inclined face and having its cable attached to the head of the coal cutter or cutter loader to assist overcoming frictional resistance of the cutter or loader while in operation against the grade.
- a. An appliance to stop or control cars near the shaft at the pit bottom or at the top of incline haulages.
b. On a hoisting apparatus, a check by which a cage or lift may be prevented from falling. c. An automatic device on a hoisting engine designed to prevent overwinding.
- A switch that provides shunt protection in blasting circuits between a blast site and the switch used to connect a power source to the blasting circuit.
- a. Nonsparking tools made of beryllium-copper alloy for use in explosive atmospheres.
b. A tool such as a catching hook, a grappling tong, a fish head, or a bell screw, for recovering broken boring tools, picking up material, etc., at the bottom of boreholes.
- A pressure-relief valve.
- a. Essentially, a diarsenide of cobalt but usually with a considerable amount of iron, and rarely, a small amount of nickel. Syn: cobalt lollingite. See also: smaltite.
b. An orthorhombic mineral, 4[CoAs (sub 2) ] ; loellingite group; dimorphous with clinosafflorite; metallic; tin-white tarnishing to dark gray; sp gr, 7.4; in hydrothermal veins.
- See: mucker.
- a. A depression in a coal seam, mine floor, or roof.
b. A depression produced by downwarping of beds on the downthrown side of a fault such that they dip toward the fault. c. The difference between the sagging path a conveyor belt actually takes due to the imposed load of material and its own weight, and the theoretical plane tangent to the top of the supporting idler rolls. d. See also: rod sag.
- The minimum tension in any portion of the carrying run of belt necessary to prevent excessive sag of the belt between belt idlers.
- Bolts installed at intersections to measure roof sag. A sag bolt is a 12-ft (3.5-m) unit put in without a bearing plate. It is securely anchored in the 12-ft horizon with the aid of a heavy nut, and extends about 2 in (5 cm) from the hole. Three 1/2-in (1.3-cm) strips of colored pressure-sensitive tape are wrapped around the extending section of the bolt, beginning with green at the roof line, then yellow and red. The color bands provide a simple, economical means of detecting roof sag at a glance.
- A tape correction applied to the apparent length of a level base line to counteract the sag in measuring tape.
- a. An acicular variety of rutile in reticulated twin groups.
b. See: rutilated quartz; Venus hairstone. Etymol: Latin "sagena" large fishing net. Adj: sagenitic.
- Occurring as needles or plates intersecting in a gridlike or grill-like manner. CF: acicular.
- Transparent quartz containing acicular rutile, tourmaline, goethite, actinolite, or other mineral. See also: Thetis hairstone; Venus hairstone; rutilated quartz.
- A coarse fireclay, often forming the floor of a coal seam, so called because it is used for making saggers or protective boxes in which delicate ceramic pieces are placed while being fired. Etymol: corruption of "safeguard." Also spelled: seggar. Syn: sagre.
- A bending moment that produces concave bending at midspan of a simply supported beam, generally termed a positive bending moment. It is the opposite of a negative or hogging moment, which would occur at the supports.
- See: closure meter.
- A term proposed as a substitute for inverted siphon.
- Ponds occupying depressions along active faults, owing to uneven settling of the ground.
- See: sagger.
- A general term for load casts and related sedimentary structures.
- A pair of floating lightweight sheaves, which give support, at a suitable point, to the ropes leading away from the winding drums. The sheaves are located at a point about one-third of the length of rope between the drum and winding pulleys, measured from the drum. A sag tower suppresses rope oscillation and dampens out the rhythmic swing of the rope.
- A monoclinic mineral, Pb (sub 14) (AsO (sub 4) ) (sub 2) O (sub 9) Cl (sub 4) ; forms aggregates of thin yellow scales; at Laangban, Sweden.
- Alternate spelling of salite.
- A white or grayish chalcedony with tiny red spots so close together that the appearance at a distance is a uniform rose-red.
- See: sial.
- Total coal mine output less tonnage rejected or consumed during preparation for market.
- A legal term that for Federally owned lands, defines mineral commodities that are sold by sales contract from the Federal Government. These are generally construction materials and aggregates such as sand, gravel, cinders, roadbed, and ballast material. The applicable statute is the Mineral Materials Sale Act of 1947, as amended (30 USC 602-604, 611-615).
- The total tonnage of clean coal produced at a mine as distinct from pithead output. It is the tonnage of coal as weighed after being cleaned and classified in the preparation plant.
- A solid mass of iron, frequently weighing many tons, that is deposited and substantially replaces the firebrick hearth in the bottom of a blast furnace after long periods of operation. Syn: bear.
- See: asbestos.
- An isometric mineral, NH (sub 4) Cl ; a volatile white crystalline salt forming encrustations around volcanic vents. Syn: salmiak.
- A coal pillar design formula that predicts the strength of coal pillars based on a survey of failed and standing coal pillars in South Africa. The coal pillar strength is predicted from coal pillar height and width specifications combined with empirical constants developed from fitting the design equation to 125 case studies.
- A pale-red or blue variety of gem corundum in small transparent hexagonal prisms in Sri Lanka.
- A term used in Southwestern United States and in the Chilean nitrate fields for a salt flat or for a salt-encrusted depression that may represent the basin of a salt lake. Etymol: Spanish, to salt. Pl: salares; salars. See also: playa.
- a. A term current among miners for the parts of a vein or dike next to the country rock.
b. The selvage of an igneous mass or of a mineral vein. Etymol: German Salband or Sahlband.
- A monoclinic mineral, Mg(UO (sub 2) ) (sub 2) (PO (sub 4) ) (sub 2) .2H (sub 2) O ; autunite group; forms pseudotetragonal square yellow plates at Katanga, Zaire.
- An orthorhombic mineral, Cu(IO (sub 3) )(OH); forms blue-green crystals; in Chile.
- Said of certain light-colored silicon- or aluminum-rich minerals present in the norm of igneous rocks; e.g., quartz, feldspar, felspathoid. Also, applied to rocks having one or more of these minerals as major components of the norm. Etymol: a mnemonic term derived from "s"ilicon + "al"uminum + "ic." CF: femic; mafic; felsic.
- Salt-bearing; esp. said of strata producing, containing, or impregnated with salt. See also: saline.
- A hydrometer specially graduated to indicate directly the percentage of a salt (as common salt) in a brine or other salt solution.
- a. A place where crystalline salt deposits are formed or found, such as a salt flat or pan, a salada, or a salt lick; esp. a salt-encrusted playa or a wet playa. See also: playa.
b. A body of saline water, such as a salt pond, lake, well, or spring, or a playa lake having a high concentration of salts. c. Saltworks. d. Salt marsh. Etymol: Spanish; saltpit; salt mine; saltworks. Anglicized equivalent: saline.
- a. A natural deposit of halite or of any other soluble salt; e.g., an evaporite. See also: salines.
b. An anglicized form of salina. In this usage, a saline may refer to various features such as a playa, a salt flat, a saltpan, a salt marsh, a salt lake, a salt pond, a salt well, or a saltworks. c. Salt spring. d. Salty; containing dissolved sodium chloride, e.g., seawater. e. Having a salinity appreciably greater than that of seawater, e.g., a brine. f. Containing dissolved salts at concentrations great enough to allow the precipitation of sodium chloride; hypersaline. g. Said of a taste resembling that of common salt, esp. in describing the properties of a mineral.
- See: evaporite.
- See: salines.
- See: evaporite.
- a. A general term for the naturally occurring soluble salts, such as common salt, sodium carbonate, sodium nitrate, potassium salts, and borax. Syn: saline deposits.
b. A general term for salt mines, salt springs, salt beds, salt rock, and salt lands.
- Said of a stratum that yields salt.
- The total amount of solid material in grams contained in 1 kg of water when all the carbonate has been converted to oxide, the bromine and iodine have been replaced by chlorine, and all organic matter has been completely oxidized. Expressed as grams per kilogram of water or parts per thousand.
- An instrument for determining salinity of water (a salinometer) by measuring electrical conductivity of the water sample with a wheatstone bridge.
- An instrument that measures conductivity of a water sample. This conductivity when compared with that of a sample of known salinity can be converted to an expression of salinity for the unknown.
- A variety of diopside at Sala, Sweden. Also spelled sahlite.
- A term used in Patagonia for a swampy place where salts (esp. potassium nitrate) become encrusted in the dry season. Etymol: Spanish, saltpeter bed.
- See: sal ammoniac.
- See: tarbuttite.
- a. A buff hydrous phosphate of manganese and iron, Fe (sub 2) O (sub 3) .9MnO.4P (sub 2) O (sub 5) .14H (sub 2) O ; orthorhombic; cleavable fibrous masses. An alteration product of hureaulite. From Pala, San Diego County, CA.
b. A mixture of hureaulite plus jahnsite.
- Crude soda ash.
- a. A general term for naturally occurring sodium chloride, NaCl. See also: halite; common salt; rock salt.
b. To introduce extra amounts of a valuable mineral into a sample to be assayed or into the working places of a mine, with fraudulent intent. c. The generic term salt is applied to any one of a class of similar compounds formed when the acid hydrogen of an acid is partly or wholly replaced by a metal or a metallic radical.
- Sand consisting of a mixture of light- and dark-colored grains.
- A diapiric or piercement structure, like a salt dome except that the salt core is linear rather than equidimensional, e.g., the salt anticlines in the Paradox basin of the central Colorado Plateau. Syn: salt wall.
- A mode of sediment transport in which the particles are moved progressively forward in a series of short intermittent leaps, hops, or bounces from a bottom surface; e.g., sand particles skipping downwind by impact and rebound along a desert surface, or bounding downstream under the influence of eddy currents that are not turbulent enough to retain the particles in suspension and thereby return them to the streambed at some distance downstream. It is intermediate in character between suspension and the rolling or sliding of traction. Etymol: Latin saltare, to jump, leap.
- a. An installation of vacuum pans or grainers for producing salt by evaporation.
b. Evaporated salt or fine rock salt mechanically compressed into dense blocks, usually 50 lb (20 to 25 kg) in weight, for stock feeding.
- The lower portion of a vacuum pan into which finished salt settles; also, the pit or tank into which the barometric leg of a vacuum pan drops salt.
- A flat piece of relatively low-lying ground encrusted with salt.
- A small reservoir or tank, usually cylindrical, with a false bottom for drainage and a cleanout door, placed under an evaporator for removal of salt.
- Usually an inverted glass U-shaped tube filled with a sodium chloride solution, the two legs of which dip into the connecting two vessels of electrolyte, forming an electrochemical cell.
- Commercial term for sodium sulfate, Na (sub 2) SO (sub 4) .
- See: saltpit.
- A method of binding mine roadway dust by spraying the area with salt and water. The salt is subjected to wetting and drying cycles. The deposited dust is bound at first by surface tension and then in the recrystallization of the dissolved salt.
- A diapir or piercement structure with a central, nearly equidimensional salt plug, generally 1 to 2 km or more in diameter, which has risen through the enclosing sediments from a mother salt bed 5 km to more than 10 km beneath the top of the plug. Many salt plugs have a cap rock of less soluble evaporite minerals, esp. anhydrite. The enclosing sediments are commonly turned up and complexly faulted next to a salt plug, and the more permeable beds serve as reservoirs for oil and gas. Certain salt domes are sources of salt and sulfur. Salt domes are characteristic features of the Gulf Coastal Plain in North America and the North German Plain in Europe, but occur in many other regions. CF: salt anticline. See also: dome; salt tectonics.
- The solubility of a precipitate in a solution of an electrolyte that has no ion in common with the precipitate is higher than it is in pure water. This is not the salting-out effect. CF: salting out.
- a. A saltworks where salt is produced by boiling or evaporation of salt or brine.
b. See: salt garden.
- The level, salt-encrusted bottom of a lake or pond that is temporarily or permanently dried up; e.g., the Bonneville Salt Flats west of Salt Lake City, UT. See also: playa; alkali flat.
- A simple form of furnace for heating evaporating pans in a salt plant.
- A large, shallow basin or pond where seawater is evaporated by solar heat. Syn: saltern.
- A quarryman's term for aplite. See also: salt vein.
- The fraudulent adulteration of a sample, for example, adding a small amount of gold to a sample to make it appear that the gold content of the rock is much higher than it actually is. Salting may be accidental, caused by the fortuitous segregation of rich mineral during sampling. Sampling methods are conducted to reduce chance segregation to a minimum.
- Sprinkling gold or rich ore upon or digging it into the ground, or placing it in samples for assay. Drill holes for uranium may be salted before logging with radiation counters.
- An evaporator that produces crystals or other solids, in distinction to one that only concentrates liquids.
- a. The addition of sodium chloride or some other electrolyte to a solution of a monelectrolyte to reduce the solubility of the latter. The rarer converse effect is termed salting in. CF: salt effect.
b. Addition of salt to hasten or to improve the separation of soap from glycerol and weak lye during manufacture. Also, to hasten or to improve the separation of sulfated oil from the residual solution after sulfating.
- A mine in which rock-salt deposits are worked. See also: salina.
- Potassium carbonate, K (sub 2) CO (sub 3) .
- A mordant made by dissolving tin in hydrochloric acid. Syn: tin salt; stannous chloride.
- a. A shallow lake of brackish water.
b. An undrained natural depression in which water gathers and leaves a deposit of salt on evaporation. CF: playa. See: saltpit.
- a. Potassium nitrate. One of the principal ingredients of black blasting powder. See: niter. Also spelled saltpetre.
b. Any earthy nitrate cave deposit.
- A cave in which the earth fill contains appreciable quantities of nitrates; once mined commercially. Syn: saltpeter earth.
- See: saltpeter cave.
- a. A pit where salt is obtained. Syn: saltpan.
b. Reservoir along a salt lake or a seacoast for making solar salt.
- The salt core of a salt dome.
- See: soda prairie.
- Reaction products of acids (HX) with bases (M.OH). M.OH + HX = MX + H (sub 2) O is the simplest formula.
- Coarsely crystallized and cleavable halite.
- A general term for a diapiric salt body of whatever shape.
- The flat upper surface of a salt stock, along which ground-water solution leads to the formation of cap rock by freeing anhydrite (Goldman, 1952).
- A general term for the study of the structure and mechanism of emplacement of salt domes and other salt-controlled structures. Syn: halokinesis.
- A term applied by quarrymen to a coarse granite vein from 2 in (5 cm) to 2 ft (61 cm) or more thick, intersecting granite or any other crystalline rock. See also: salt horse.
- See: salt anticline.
- A drilled or dug well from which brine is obtained. See also: brine pit.
- Any installation where salt is produced commercially, as by extraction from seawater, from wells, or from the brine of salt springs. Syn: salina; saltern.
- a. A layer or parting of clay or pug occurring on the wall of a vein.
b. To chemically or electrolytically remove diamonds from used diamond bits. c. To recover lost bits or drill pipe from a borehole. d. To reclaim residual assets left at minesite after the mine has closed.
- Number of resettable diamonds salvaged by cutting out of worn or used diamond bit.
- a. The net worth of diamonds recovered from a used or worn diamond bit or other diamond-inset tool.
b. The net worth of on-site equipment, and tangible assets after a mine has been closed.
- An important iron ore deposit in Germany. It consists of conglomerated oolitic limonite and contains about 30% iron.
- A bright, silvery, lustrous, metallic element of the rare-earth group. Symbol, Sm. It is found along with other members of the rare-earth elements in many minerals, including monazite and bastnasite, which are commercial sources. Used for carbon-arc lighting for the motion picture industry, for permanent magnets, and in optical masers and lasers.
- Sm (sub 2) O (sub 3) has a melting point of 2,350 degrees C. This material has a high thermal neutron cross section, making it usable as a nuclear control rod material. It is also used as a phosphor activator.
- A monoclinic mineral, (Y,Ce,U,Fe) (sub 3) (Nb,Ta,Ti) (sub 5) O (sub 16) ; commonly metamict; in granite pegmatites. Syn: ampangabeite; uranotantalite.
- Artificially produced silicon carbide or carborundum.
- a. Representative fraction of body of material; removed by approved methods; guarded against accidental or fraudulent adulteration; and tested or analyzed to determine the nature, composition, percentage of specified constituents, etc., and possibly their reactivity. Bulk samples are large (several tons), so taken as to represent the ore for the purpose of developing a suitable treatment. Channel samples, cores, chips, grab, pannings, stope samples, etc., are small ones-- made primarily to establish the value of the ore reserve.
b. A section of core or a specific quantity of drill cuttings that represents the whole from which it was removed. CF: borings.
- In mine valuation and process control, devices that cut a representative fraction from a pile of ore or from a passing stream.
- A mechanical device for removing a soil sample from a sampling tube; usually consists of a piston driven by a jackscrew or a hydraulic mechanism.
- One who grinds samples of ore to required fineness (depending on character of ore) to prepare them for analysis by assayer. Also called sample crusher.
- An orthorhombic mineral, NaCaCu (sub 5) (PO (sub 4) ) (sub 4) Cl.5H (sub 2) O ; forms crusts of minute blue crystals.
- a. Strip of graph paper showing units of depth on which the geologist, using cores and samples, describes the rock formations penetrated by drilling.
b. Syn: drill log. c. A log depicting the sequence of lithologic characteristics of the rocks penetrated in drilling a well, compiled by a geologist from microscopic examination of well cuttings and cores. The information is referred to depth of origin and is plotted on a strip log form. See also: well log.
- In coal and coke sampling, the process whereby an analysis sample is obtained from a sample by particle size reduction, mixing and sample dividing in successive stages. A stage of sample preparation refers to the sequence of operation leading up to a sample division.
- a. A mechanical device for selecting a certain fractional part of ore to be used as an assay sample; as, for example, split shovel, riffle sampler, Brunton's mechanical sampler, and Vezin's sampler.
b. An instrument designed to take samples of the flame or other explosion gases at predetermined intervals during an explosion. c. A specific device for recovering samples of overburden. See also: sampler barrel. d. One whose duty it is to select and prepare samples of materials and products for an assay or analysis.
- As used in soil-testing work, one of several tubelike devices used to cut and recover a core sample of soil or soft rock. It can either be a plain tube designed to be driven or pressed into the formation being sampled, or be equipped with cutter heads and helical flutes for taking the sample by rotary methods. Syn: sampler tube.
- Reducing a soil, coal, or other sample to manageable size while still obtaining a representative sample. The methods may be divided into manual (for example, quartering) and mechanical; riffle box.
- An adapter or sub for attaching a sampler to a drill-rod string.
- A thin-wall tube fitted inside the barrel of a sampler. The liner serves as a retainer for the sample and when sealed at either end is used as a container in which the sample can be transported safely. Syn: sampler tube.
- See: sampler barrel; sampler liner.
- A device for separating dry incoherent material (such as sediment) into truly representative samples of workable size for laboratory study. Syn: riffler.
- a. The gathering of specimens of ore or wall rock for appraisal of an orebody. Since the average of many samples may be used, representative sampling is crucial. The term is usually modified to indicate the mode or locality; e.g., hand sampling, mine sampling, and channel sampling.
b. Cutting a representative part of an ore (or coal) deposit, which should truly represent its average value. Most usually a trenchlike cut 4 in (10.2 cm) wide and 2 in (5.1 cm) deep is cut into the clean face of ore (or coal) and across its course. Honest sampling requires good judgment and practical experience. c. Selecting a certain fractional part of ore or coal from cars, stock piles, etc., for analysis. d. Separation of a representative fraction of ore, pulp, or any product for testing or checking purposes.
- Collection devices that use a pump to draw the contaminated air into a contaminant bag. The entire sampling bag containing the contaminated air is sent to the laboratory for analysis.
- A device to determine the methane or dust concentration in mine air to assess safety and health. Instruments are designed to sample instantaneously, or over short periods, or to operate continuously. For methane, warning is required whenever the percentage approaches a danger figure. Dust dangers are not momentary peak concentrations but the bulk quantity of dust breathed over a period. See also: dust sampling; methanometer. The term may also be applied to soil-, coal-, or mineral-sampling devices of an instrumental nature.
- A small pipe built into and through a stopping or seal to enable samples to be taken of the air within the sealed area. The analysis of such samples will give an indication of the state of the fire or heating. In the case of a waste heating a sampling pipe may be pushed into the waste, on the return side, to give an indication of the conditions.
- A cylinder with a spoonlike cutting edge for taking soil samples.
- The head of a soil auger or soil-sampling barrel.
- The order of sequence in which personal health sampling equipment parts are assembled together to complete the cycle of assimilated breathed atmosphere that a person is exposed to during the working time period.
- A plant and its equipment for sampling and determining the value of ores that are bought, sold, or treated metallurgically.
- A monoclinic mineral, Ag (sub 4) MnSb (sub 2) S (sub 6) ; steel black but red in transmitted light; at the Samson Mine, Harz, Germany.
- A loader in which the gathering head has rotating arms that pull the stone or coal onto ramps and push it to a scraper chain conveyor, which conveys it to and delivers it at the end of the jib. The jib can be swiveled horizontally and raised or lowered to suit the tub, car, or conveyor to which it is delivering. The whole machine is self-hauling (automobile) on power-driven tractor crawlers with mechanical steering. It is not applicable in steep inclinations.
- A longwall cutter loader of the plow type, with two cutting blades, one at each end, operated by a hydraulic cylinder, which can give a powerful thrust (about 42 st or 38 t) to the blades and cause them to bite into the coal. While this thrust is being exerted, the machine is anchored by means of a vertical jack that engages the roof and floor. The jack is built on sliding bars, and the machine is moved by sliding the jack along the bars to the next position for anchoring the machine. It travels alongside the conveyor but is not connected to it. A loading ramp guides the cut coal onto the conveyor. The machine is employed in seams from 4 to 5 ft (1.2 to 1.5 m) thick with a strong roof and floor.
- a. A rock fragment or detrital particle smaller than a granule and larger than a coarse silt grain, having a diameter in range of 1/16 to 2 mm (62 to 2,000 mu m, or 0.0025 to 0.08 in, or 4 to 1 phi units, or a size between that at the lower limit of visibility of an individual particle with the unaided eye and that of the head of a small wooden match), being somewhat rounded by abrasion in the course of transport. In Great Britain, the range of 0.1 to 1 mm has been used. See also: coarse sand; fine sand.
b. A loose aggregate, unlithified mineral or rock particles of sand size; an unconsolidated or moderately consolidated sedimentary deposit consisting essentially of medium-grained clastics. The material is most commonly composed of quartz, and when the term sand is used without qualification, a siliceous composition is implied; but the particles may be of any mineral composition or mixture of rock or mineral fragments, such as coral sand consisting of limestone fragments. Also, a mass of such material, esp. on a beach, desert, or in a streambed. c. Sandstone. d. Separate grains or particles of detrital rock material, easily distinguishable by the unaided eye, but not large enough to be called pebbles; also, a loose mass of such grains, forming an incoherent arenaceous sediment. Building sand, any hard, granular rock material finer than gravel and coarser than dust. The term indicates material comminuted by natural means. e. Detrital material of size range from 2 to 1/16 mm in diameter. Very coarse, 1 to 2 mm; coarse, 1/2 to 1 mm; medium, 1/4 to 1/2 mm; fine, 1/4 to 1/8 mm; very fine, 1/8 to 1/16 mm. f. Granular material, composed mainly of quartz, that will settle readily in water. In the mechanical analysis of soil, sand--according to international classification--has a size between 0.02 mm and 2.0 mm. It has no cohesion when dry or saturated but has apparent cohesion when damp. g. The residue after amalgamation on plates. h. In gold-ore treatment, the coarser and heavier portions of the crushed ore in a mill or battery. i. A driller's term applied loosely to any visibly granular sediment, or to any fluid-productive porous sedimentary unit or objective zone of a well. j. A tract or region of sand, such as a sandy beach along the seashore, or a desert land. k. A sandbank or a sandbar. The term is usually used in the plural; e.g., sea sands. l. A term used in the United States for a rock or mineral particle in the soil, having a diameter in the range of 0.05 to 2 mm; prior to 1947, the range 1 to 2 mm was called fine gravel. The diameter range recognized by the International Society of Soil Science is 0.02 to 2 mm. A textural class of soil material containing 85% or more of sand, with the percentage of silt plus 1.5 times the percentage of clay not exceeding 15; specif. such material containing 25% or more of very coarse sand, coarse sand, and medium sand, and less than 50% of fine sand or very fine sand. The term has also been used for a soil containing 90% or more of sand.
- See: realgar.
- In the roof of a coal seam, a deposit of glacial debris formed by scour and fill subsequent to coal formation. See also: debris bag.
- In many mines a rapid and efficient means of erecting stoppings and walls for the control of ventilation near the face. The walls of doors and air crossings in the workings are often entirely of interlocked sandbags. This method minimizes the use of brattice and gives more permanent results in the workings.
- A bar or low ridge of sand that borders the shore and is built to, or nearly to, the water surface by currents in a river or by wave action along the shore of a lake or sea. Syn: sand reef.
- The supports of a core in the sand of a mold.
- a. The bed into which molten metal from a blast furnace is run.
b. A floor of a foundry in which large iron castings are made.
- A method of cleaning metal and stone surfaces with sand sprayed over them through a nozzle at high velocity. Sandblasting is also used to form pits on the intrinsically smooth surfaces of materials, such as glass, requiring a particular finish.
- A sand-pouring cylinder used for determining the dry density of soil.
- Concretions of sandstone. See also: burr.
- a. Calcite crystals containing abundant sand grains.
b. Siliceous calcite.
- A machine comprising a stationary cylinder into which the sand is charged. Inside this cylinder is fitted a main shaft onto which are bolted retaining discs whose main function is to prevent the loose ball in between each disc from traveling laterally. As the discs rotate on the shaft, the lumpy sand is moved into contact with the balls, which crush the sand to grain size.
- A large euhedral or subhedral crystal (as of barite, gypsum, and esp. calcite) loaded with detrital-sand inclusions (up to 60%), developed by growth in an incompletely cemented sandstone during cementation. See also: crystal sandstone.
- Name in the trade for diamonds occurring in the gravels and old marine deposits on the Gold Coast of Africa.
- A sedimentary dike consisting of sand that has been squeezed or injected upward into a fissure. See also: neptunian dike.
- Drill-string equipment, casing, or drivepipe so firmly fastened in a borehole by reason of caving walls or impaction of sand, mud, or drill cuttings that the article cannot be pulled from the borehole.
- A flotation process that uses, instead of an acid bath in deep pans, a dilute solution of aluminum sulfate in shallow pans.
- Hydraulic filling, stowing. Use of sand or plant tailings, conveyed underground by water to support cavities left by extraction of ore.
- A filter for purifying domestic water, consisting of specially graded layers of aggregate and sand, through which the water flows slowly downwards. A similar type of filter is used for treating sewage effluent, but has coarser sand.
- Fine-grained sandstone that can be readily split into flagstones.
- A sand bed in the floor near the blast furnace into which the molten pig is run to be cast into convenient sizes for handling.
- The use of well-graded sand, mixed with water, as the medium for washing coal, as in the Chance washer. See also: dense-medium washer.
- See: sand pump.
- A cavity in a pump barrel to catch sand and keep it out of the way of the plunger or buckets.
- One who charges mixing mill and removes mixture of sand and refractory clay to be used in packing around ware in bisque firing.
- A device consisting essentially of a sandbox and a series of plungers for gradually lowering into position a heavy weight, supported by the plungers, by running out the sand below.
- Sand leaching or percolation may be practiced wherever the ore is coarse enough to permit free passage of the solvent through the voids. The ore is loaded into large vats or tanks that are then filled with leaching solution. After the solution has been in contact with the ore for a certain time, it is withdrawn, and fresh solution is added. Liquid may be added from the top (downward percolation) or from the bottom (upward percolation). See also: percolation.
- A laborer who switches flow of sand (waste minerals and water resulting from treatment of ore for removal of valuable minerals) in pipe or flumes from one stope (underground openings from which ore has been mined) to another, so that they will be properly filled with sand (after water has drained off) to support the walls and roof and prevent caving of the ground surrounding the worked out area.
- A body of sand and binder surrounding a cavity for the reception of molten metal in the production of castings. The cavity must have dimensional accuracy, and the sand surrounding it must be of sufficient stability to allow the metal to solidify in the exact shape of the impression. The production of the sand mold involves making a pattern of the part to be cast, and packing molding sand round the pattern, which when withdrawn leaves the cavity into which the metal is poured, cores being inserted to leave cavities where desired in the casting.
- A machine for mixing sand and binders by a kneading and squeezing action for use in sand molds. The mixture is usually sand, clay, and water, but synthetic chemical binders may be used.
- A pipe formed in sedimentary rocks, filled with sand. See also: pipe.
- a. A pump, usually a centrifugal type, capable of handling sand- and gravel-laden liquids without clogging or wearing unduly. Syn: sandhog; suction bailer. See also: gravel pump; sludge pump; swab.
b. A pump for lifting tailings at ore-dressing plants. c. A cylinder with a valve at the bottom, lowered into a drill hole from time to time to take out the accumulated slime resulting from the action of the drill on the rock. Also called shell pump; sludger. d. A piston-type bailer. Also called American pump.
- A long pipe reaching down from a vessel into the sand, the latter being raised under the suction of a centrifugal pump and discharged into the vessel itself or an attendant barge. Also called a suction dredger. See also: dredger.
- A sand sampler made and used in the same manner as an American pump or sand pump, a.
- See: sandbar.
- The normal method of measuring soil density. In its simplest form, the measurement requires only a container full of dry sand of known density, a balance and apparatus for determination of soil moisture content.
- a. A field term for a sandstone that is not firmly cemented.
b. A term used in southern England for a sandstone that crumbles between the fingers. c. See: sandstone.
- A metal roll cast in a mold of sand; distinguished from a chilled roll, which is cast in an iron mold or chill.
- a. The coarser and heavier portions of the crushed ore in a mill.
b. Tailings from the stamp mills of certain copper mines. c. Particles of crushed ore of such a size that they settle readily in water and may be leached by allowing the solution to percolate.
- Any cyanidation process for gold ores that involves separation of two portions in a classifier, and separate treatment of sands by percolation and slimes by agitation.
- A quarry term for a more or less minute vein or dike of muscovite (white mica) with some quartz, in cases also with feldspar.
- a. A medium-grained clastic sedimentary rock composed of fragments of sand size set in a fine-grained matrix (silt or clay) and more or less firmly united by a cementing material (commonly silica, iron oxide, or calcium carbonate); the consolidated equivalent of sand. The sand particles usually consist of quartz, and the term sandstone, when used without qualification, indicates a rock containing about 85% to 90% quartz. The rock varies in color, may be deposited by water or wind, and contains numerous primary features (sedimentary structures and fossils). Sandstones may be classified according to composition of particles, mineralogic or textural maturity, fluidity index, diastrophism, primary structures, and type of cement.
b. A field term for any clastic rock containing individual particles that are visible to the unaided eye or slightly larger. Syn: sandrock.
- a. A clastic dike composed of sandstone or lithified sand; a lithified sand dike.
b. Stone intrusion. See also: horseback.
- In geology, a coarse, angular-grained sandstone.
- A variety of opal occurring in boulders between layers of sandstone and soft clay in the form of pipes in thickness from 1 mm to 3 cm.
- See: cylindrical structure.
- a. A device for separating sand and other heavy or coarse particles from a cuttings-laden; drill-circulation fluid overflowing the collar of a borehole. CF: shaker.
b. A device, often a simple enlargement, in a conduit for arresting the sand, silt, etc., carried by the water, and generally including means of ejecting them from the conduit.
- A temporary independent wall separated from a slag-pocket wall by a thickness of sand for the purpose of easy slag removal and the protection of the permanent wall.
- An apparatus for separating sand from earthy substances.
- See: arenaceous.
- Coarse-grained, porous, granular textured alumina that has not been calcined to the alpha alumina stage (artificial corundum). Resembles fine sand, hence free-flowing, with nondusting qualities. The relatively large surface area of sandy alumina permits its use as an absorbent in dry scrubber units at primary aluminum smelters.
- a. Sp. Dark green bloodstone variegated by red spots.
b. Sp. Hematite.
- A monoclinic mineral, (K,Na)AlSi (sub 3) O (sub 8) ; feldspar group; forms a series with albite; prismatic cleavage; colorless; forms phenocrysts in felsic volcanic rocks. See also: ice spar. Syn: rhyacolite. CF: feldspar; glassy feldspar.
- A monoclinic mineral (Zn,Fe)WO (sub 4) ; resembles wolframite; at San Martin, San Luis Province, Argentina. See also: huebnerite.
- An orthorhombic mineral, (Na,Ca,Sr) (sub 3) (Mn,Fe) (sub 2) Mn (sub 2) (VO (sub 4) ) (sub 4) (OH,O) (sub 5) .2H (sub 2) O ; forms black needles on limestone in New Mexico.
- A pozzolana from the Greek island of Santorin. A quoted composition is 64% SiO (sub 2) , 13% Al (sub 2) O (sub 3) , 5.5% Fe (sub 2) O (sub 3) , 1% TiO (sub 2) , 3.5% CaO, 2% MgO, 6.5% alkalies, and 4% loss on ignition.
- The part of the rock in a quarry that is next to the surface or to joints and crevices and has been somewhat stained and softened by weathering.
- French water sapphire. An intense-blue variety of the mineral cordierite, occurring in waterworn masses in the river gravels of Ceylon; used as a gem stone.
- a. The hydrolysis of esters into acids and alcohols by the action of alkalies or acids--by boiling with water or by the action of superheated steam. It is the reverse process to esterification.
b. Conversion into soap; the process in which fatty substances form soap, by combination with an alkali. A term used in the flotation process.
- Any compound, as a caustic alkali, used in soapmaking to convert the fatty acids into soap. A term used in the flotation process.
- Complex polyhydroxy carboxylic flotation reagent used as depressant. It destroys bubble adhesion to collector-coated minerals.
- A monoclinic mineral, (Ca/2,Na) (sub 0.3) (Mg,Fe) (sub 3) (Si,Al) (sub 4) O (sub 10) (OH) (sub 2) .4H (sub 2) O ; smectite group; soft; massive; plastic; unctuous; in veins and cavities in serpentinite and basalt. Syn: bowlingite; mountain soap; piotine; soapstone. Etymol: Greek "sapon" soap.
- a. See: sapphire.
b. See: kyanite. Also spelled sapper.
- a. A blue gem variety of corundum. Syn: sappare.
b. Any gem-quality corundum other than ruby (fancy sapphire). c. Synthetic alumina single-crystal boules made by the Verneuil process for use as bearings and thread guides.
- A girasol sapphire with a chatoyant effect. CF: ruby cat's eye.
- Sapphire-blue glass.
- a. An opaque blue variety of quartz colored by nonparallel fibers of silicified crocidolite. Syn: azure quartz; blue quartz. See also: siderite.
b. Light to pale sapphire-blue quartz in the Western United States.
- a. A rare aluminosilicate of magnesium occurring as disseminated blue chalcedony. Syn: hauynite; blue chalcedony.
b. A monoclinic or triclinic mineral, (Mg,Al) (sub 8) (Al,Si) (sub 6) O (sub 20) ; light- to dark-blue to green; in Greenland, Madagascar, and Quebec.
- Indurated sapropel.
- A soft, earthy, typically clay-rich, thoroughly decomposed rock, formed in place by chemical weathering of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks. It often forms a layer or cover as much as 100 m thick, esp. in humid and tropical or subtropical climates; the color is commonly some shade of red or brown, but it may be white or gray. Saprolite is characterized by preservation of structures that were present in the unweathered rock. Syn: saprolith; sathrolith. CF: geest; laterite.
- See: saprolite.
- a. An aquatic ooze or sludge rich in organic (carbonaceous or bituminous) matter.
b. A fluid organic slime originating in swamps as a product of putrification. In its chemical composition, it contains more hydrocarbon than peat. When dry, it is a lusterless, dull, dark, and extremely tough mass that is hard to break up.
- A sedimentary deposit in which the amount of clay exceeds that of sapropel.
- a. Designation of coal of which the original plant material was more or less transformed by putrefaction. Complete seams of sapropelic coals are rare, but layers or bands of varying thickness within seams are more frequent. This type coal is not abundant and proves troublesome in cleaning processes with jig and dense medium washers because of its lower density relative to humic coals of the same rank and the same ash content.
b. A group of coals, including the cannel and torbanite types, which are largely composed of the indurated jellylike slime derived from macerated organic debris, and known as sapropel, and also of remains of spores and algae. They are typically massive, unbanded coals, which break with a conchoidal fracture and do not show, as a rule, jointing. c. See: cannel coal.
- An organism living on dead or decaying organic material.
- Sapropel rich in sand.
- A translucent brown variety of chalcedony. Syn: sardius; sardine. See also: carnelian; sardonyx.
- A variety of agate with reddish bands of carnelian; carnelian agate.
- See: sard.
- See: sard.
- a. A variety of chalcedonic quartz. See also: onyx; sard.
b. A banded gem variety of chalcedony with straight parallel reddish bands of sard alternating with white or colored bands of another mineral.
- See: acid-etch tube.
- A monoclinic mineral, Fe (sub 2) (AsO (sub 4) )(SO (sub 4) )(OH).5H (sub 2) O ; forms minute lemon-yellow crystals in Argentina.
- See: graywether; druid stone.
- A monoclinic mineral. PbAs (sub 2) S (sub 4) ; metallic; dark gray; conchoidal fracture; in sugary dolomite of the Binnental at Lengenbach, Valais, Switzerland.
- A tetragonal mineral, (Ca,Y,Th) (sub 2) Al (sub 4) (SiO (sub 4) ,PO (sub 4) ) (sub 4) (OH).9H (sub 2) O or Ca(Y,Th)Al (sub 5) (SiO (sub 4) ) (sub 2) (PO (sub 4) ) (sub 2) (OH) (sub 7) .6H (sub 2) O .
- See: sassolite.
- A triclinic mineral, H (sub 3) BO (sub 3) ; forms small pearly scales as an incrustation, or as tabular crystals around fumaroles or vents of sulfurous emanations. Syn: sassoline.
- Fibrous serpentine with a slight chatoyant effect, being pseudomorphous after asbestiform tremolite that has been silicified, in Tulare County, CA. Syn: serpentine cat's-eye.
- The counterpart of an object produced from a satellite by the reflection or re-representation of an object produced by optical, electro optical, optical mechanical, or electronic means.
- Certain minerals usually associated with diamond, such as ilmenite, garnet, zircon, rutile, corundum, spinel, olivine, and gorceixite.
- See: saprolite.
- a. A white, translucent, fine fibrous variety of gypsum, characterized by chatoyancy or a silky luster.
b. A term used incorrectly for a fine fibrous or silky variety of calcite or aragonite. Syn: atlas spar; feather gypsum; satin stone.
- See: satin spar.
- A possibly orthorhombic mineral, Al (sub 12) V (sub 8) O (sub 37) .30H (sub 2) O ; forms weakly pleochroic yellow flakes in argillaceous anthraxolitic vanadiferous deposits of Kurumsak and Balasanskandyk, Karatau, Kazakhstan.
- a. A rock or soil is saturated with respect to water if all its interstices are filled with water.
b. In petrology, applied to minerals capable of crystallizing from rock magmas in the presence of an excess of silica. Such minerals are said to be saturated with regard to silica and include the feldspars, pyroxenes, amphiboles, micas, tourmaline, fayalite, spessartite, almandine, and accessory minerals, such as sphene, zircon, topaz, apatite, magnetite, and ilmenite. Also applied to igneous rocks composed wholly of saturated minerals. CF: undersaturated. c. In fatty acids and other organic compounds, a structure in which each carbon valence is combined either with a distinct atom or by polylinkages. d. A term describing a membrane that is filled as completely as practicable with bituminous material.
- Air that contains the maximum possible amount of water vapor at that temperature. The amount of water vapor that will saturate a given volume of air increases with the temperature. Therefore, if saturated air is cooled, the excess water vapor condenses in the form of mist. See also: absolute humidity.
- A mineral that can form in the presence of free silica, i.e., one that contains the maximum amount of combined silica.
- a. A rock having quartz in its norm.
b. An igneous rock composed chiefly of saturated minerals. CF: oversaturated rock; undersaturated; unsaturated.
- See: water table.
- The wet unit weight of a soil mass when saturated. See also: unit weight.
- See: zone of saturation.
- See: zero air voids curve.
- That pressure for a given temperature at which the vapor and the liquid can exist in stable equilibrium.
- A monoclinic mineral, Na (sub 0.3) Zn (sub 3) (Si,Al) (sub 4) O (sub 10) (OH) (sub 2) .4H (sub 2) O ; smectite group.
- A former name for cadmian metacinnabar.
- A tough, compact, and white, greenish, or grayish mineral aggregate consisting of a mixture of albite (or oligoclase) and zoisite or epidote, together with variable amounts of calcite, sericite, prehnite, and calcium-aluminum silicates other than those of the epidote group. It is an alteration product of plagioclase; once thought to be a mineral species.
- A tough, compact, white, greenish, or grayish mineral aggregate, resulting from the alteration of feldspars, and consisting of albite, prehnite, zoisite, epidote, and other calcium-aluminum silicates and calcite.
- The replacement, esp. of plagioclase in basalts and gabbros, by a fine-grained aggregate of zoisite, epidote, albite, calcite, sericite, and zeolites. It is a metamorphic or deuteric process and is frequently accompanied by chloritization of the ferromagnesian minerals.
- See: blast roasting.
- A frame provided with a number of parallel iron bars that are employed to saw stone. See also: stone saw.
- In stonework industry, one who maintains stone cutting saws in operating condition, replacing broken and bent saw blades from gang saws. Also called sawmaker.
- See: overhand stoping.
- See: basket.
- The blasting of oblique, horizontal holes along a face and so cutting a series of slabs that, in plan, resemble saw teeth.
- See: serrate.
- A method of channeling inclined beds of marble by removing right-angle blocks in succession from the various beds, thus giving the floor a zigzag or sawtooth appearance.
- In the United States, a form of overhand stoping in which the general line of advance is up the dip. The benches are advanced in a line parallel with the drift. The method permits a large number of machines to be used but requires the miners to work under a comparatively dangerous back.
- A process for converting beryl to beryllium oxide, based on quenching the melted beryl in cold water. The resultant frit reacts with concentrated sulfuric acid, and is steamed and agitated. The liquid, containing soluble beryllium and aluminum sulfates, is filtered and pumped to a tank where ammonium hydroxide is added. The resulting filtrate is further treated with a chelating agent to prevent impurities from precipitating upon subsequent addition of caustic soda. Hydrolysis follows, and the precipitate, beryllium hydroxide, is filtered off. This precipitate is ignited in an electric furnace to form beryllium oxide.
- a. In stonework industry, a general term applied to workers engaged in cutting stone with power driven saws.
b. A timber cutter.
- A slate-cutter's knifelike chopping tool for trimming roof slates, having a pointed pick at the back to make nail holes. Also called slate ax.
- A pale wine-yellow topaz.