An augitite is an undersaturated porphyritic volcanic rock consisting of phenocrysts of augite and iron ore, with or without biotite or hornblende, in a brown glassy (usually Na-rich) groundmass. It was first described by Doelter in 1882 (Holmes, 1928) from the Cape Verde Islands. Hatch et al. (1951) placed augitite in their “fine-grained ultramafite” group formerly known as “magma basalts,” along with limburgite, olivine melilitite, and related rocks, but did not mention augitite in the 13th edition (1972).
Tröger (1935) gives the mode of augitite from the original Cape Verde Islands as 40% titanaugite, 55% glassy groundmass containing plagioclase and nepheline microlites, with accessory iron ores, apatite, and biotite.
Although probably as close to being a monomineralic lava as any rock, so far as its crystalline part is concerned, augitite is an unfortunate misnomer for a rock consisting of only 40% augite, as it suggests rather a pyroxenite consisting wholly of augite.
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Bibliography
Hatch, F. H., A. K. Wells, and M. K. Wells, 1951, The Petrology of the Igneous Rocks, 10th edn. London: Murby.
Holmes, A., 1928, The Nomenclature of Petrology, 2nd edn. London: Murby.
Tröger, W. E., 1935, Spezielle Petrographie der Eruptivgesteine. Ein Nomenlkatur-Kompendium. Berlin: Deutsch. Min. Gesell.
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© 1989 Van Nostrand Reinhold
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Prider, R.T. (1989). Augitite . In: Petrology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30845-8_21
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