duniten.
/ˈdʌnʌɪt/, U.S. /ˈdəˌnaɪt/ Geology.
A coarse-grained plutonic igneous rock, typically green or greenish-brown, consisting largely of olivine with minor amounts of chromite and other minerals.
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the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > rock > igneous rock > [noun] > plutonic rocks > other plutonics
dunite1859
napoleonite1866
corsite1876
tonalite1879
trout-stone1892
granodiorite1893
adamellite1896
syenodiorite1917
microdiorite1920
trondhjemite1922
1859 F. Hochstetter in Nelson Examiner 1 Oct. Suppl. 1/6 The rock of the Dun Mountain proper is a variety of serpentine, of so novel and peculiar a character, that I am obliged to apply to it a new term, and call it ‘Dunnite’.
1868 J. D. Dana Syst. Mineral. (ed. 5) 258 Dunyte..has a grayish-green color, and greasy and vitreous lustre.
1874 W. B. Dawkins in Ess. & Addr. Owens Coll. Manch. v. 137 The peridot rock of New Zealand known as dunite.
1940 F. F. Grout Kemp's Handbk. Rocks (ed. 6) v. 88 At the extreme of peridotites we have nearly pure olivine rocks, called dunites, ranging from pale green to dark greenish brown.
1990 P. Kearey & F. J. Vine Global Tectonics vi. 105 The first minerals to crystallize in the magma chamber, olivine and chrome spinel, fall through the magma and form a basal layer of dunite.
2015 W. B. Hamilton in G. R. Foulger et al. Interdisciplinary Earth 123 On Earth, the protocrust lay directly above refractory dunite, in turn above denser fractionates.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1859