microcline
/ˈmʌɪkrə(ʊ)klʌɪn
/noun [mass noun]
A green, pink, or brown crystalline mineral consisting of potassium-rich feldspar, characteristic of granite and pegmatites.They collected several pegmatite pockets in which topaz was associated with both clear and smoky quartz, microcline, albite, muscovite, fluorite, and cassiterite....
- Also associated with smoky quartz are microcline, fluorite, goethite (some as ‘onegite’), and topaz.
- The pegmatite is composed of microcline, plagioclase and quartz with minor amounts of clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene, ilmenite and zircon.
Origin
Mid 19th century: from German Microklin, from Greek mikros 'small' + klinein 'to lean' (because its angle of cleavage differs only slightly from 90 degrees).