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gneiss

(Encyclopedia)gneiss nīs [key], coarse-grained, imperfectly foliated, or layered, metamorphic rock. Gneiss is characterized by alternating light and dark bands differing in mineral composition and having coarser g...

Moline

(Encyclopedia)Moline mōlēnˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 43,202), Rock Island co., NW Ill., on the Mississippi River, in a coal area; inc. 1848. It is a transportation and industrial center, and has been a major produ...

Fontana, Lucio

(Encyclopedia)Fontana, Lucio, 1899–1968, Italian artist, b. Argentina. He lived (1905–22) in Milan, then several times moved from Italy to Argentina and back, remaining in Italy after 1947. Much of his early wo...

shale

(Encyclopedia)shale, sedimentary rock formed by the consolidation of mud or clay, having the property of splitting into thin layers parallel to its bedding planes. Shale tends to be fissile, i.e., it tends to split...

Saint Helier

(Encyclopedia)Saint Helier sānt hĕlˈyər, Fr. săNtālyāˈ [key], town (1991 pop. 24,941), capital of Jersey, Channel Islands, Great Britain, on St. Aubin's Bay. The administrative and cultural center of Jersey...

Botero, Fernando

(Encyclopedia)Botero, Fernando, 1932–, Colombian figurative painter and sculptor, b. Medellín, one of the most celebrated contemporary Latin American artists. He attended his native city's university (grad. 1950...

Ryder, Albert Pinkham

(Encyclopedia)Ryder, Albert Pinkham, 1847–1917, American painter, b. New Bedford, Mass. In 1867 his family moved to New York City. There he studied with W. E. Marshall, the engraver, and at the National Academy o...

Cambrian period

(Encyclopedia)Cambrian period [Lat. Cambria=Wales], first period of the Paleozoic geologic era (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table) extending from approximately 570 to 505 million years ago. It ...

Bancroft

(Encyclopedia)Bancroft, village, SE Ont., Canada, on the York River. Its industries include milling, quarrying, dairying, lumbering, and tourism. The Bancroft Gembore...

Springsteen, Bruce Frederick

(Encyclopedia)Springsteen, Bruce Frederick, 1949–, American singer, guitarist, and songwriter, nicknamed “The Boss,” b. Long Branch, N.J. Springsteen established himself as a singer and songwriter, as well as...