sideromelane

S1I1D2E1R1O1M3E1L1A1N1E1

noun

A basaltic glass often found in palagonite tuff.

Scrabble 15

Meanings

nounsideromelane (plural sideromelanes)

plural sideromelanes

  1. geographyA basaltic glass often found in palagonite tuff.

    In younger deposits, irregular patches of black fresh glassy sideromelane occur as “islands" coated by brownish palagonite envelopes of varying thickness.

    2012, Richard V. Fisher, Pyroclastic Rocks
    2 more examples

    The Korite is a hydrous labradorite; it is in dull brown grains, and is associated with Sideromelane, which has the same composition excepting the absence of water.

    1854, James Dwight Dana, A system of mineralogy, comprising the most recent discoveries

    The crystallization sequences observed in the one-atmosphere melting experiments are summarized in Table 16, where they are compared with the crystallization sequence deduced from petrographic examination of nearly holocrystalline rocks and of naturally occurring materials (which contain 80-95% glass), such as near-vent sideromelanes and dike selvedges.

    1978, Rosalind Tuthill Helz, The petrogenesis of the Ice Harbor member, Columbia Plateau, Washington

Origin

  1. GermanSideromelane
  2. Englishsideromelane

Borrowed from German Sideromelane, coined by Wolfgang Sartorius von Waltershausen in 1853.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

sideromelane. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sideromelane

MLA

“sideromelane.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sideromelane. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sideromelane,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sideromelane.

Source: sideromelane on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.