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rhyolite

(Encyclopedia)rhyolite, fine-grained light-colored acidic volcanic rock. Rhyolite is chemically the equivalent of granite, and is thus composed primarily of quartz and orthoclase feldspar with subordinate amounts o...

Great Artesian Basin

(Encyclopedia)Great Artesian Basin, c.670,000 sq mi (1,735,300 sq km), between the Eastern Highlands and the Western Plateau, E central Australia, extending S from the Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland, to NE South A...

Janesville

(Encyclopedia)Janesville, city (1990 pop. 52,133), seat of Rock co., S central Wis., on the Rock River; inc. 1853. It is an industrial and commercial center in a grain, dairy farm, and tobacco area. Manufactures in...

Who, The

(Encyclopedia) Who, The, English rock music group formed in 1964. The members were Peter Dennis Blanford Townshend, 1945–, Chiswick, London, U.K., guitar, ...

joint, in geology

(Encyclopedia)joint, in geology, fracture in rocks along which no appreciable movement has occurred (see fault). Nearly vertical, or sheet, joints that result from shrinkage during cooling are commonly found in ign...

silt

(Encyclopedia)silt, predominantly quartz mineral particles that are between sand size and clay size, i.e., between 1⁄16 and 1⁄256 mm (1⁄406 –1⁄6502 in.) in diameter. Silt, like clay and sand, is a product...

sandstone

(Encyclopedia)sandstone, sedimentary rock formed by the cementing together of grains of sand. The usual cementing material in sandstone is calcium carbonate, iron oxides, or silica, and the hardness of sandstone va...

Albert I, king of the Belgians

(Encyclopedia)Albert I, 1875–1934, king of the Belgians (1909–34), nephew and successor of Leopold II. He married (1900) Elizabeth, a Bavarian princess. In World War I his heroic resistance (1914) to the German...

Wight, Isle of

(Encyclopedia)Wight, Isle of wīt [key], island and county (1991 pop. 126,600), 147 sq mi (381 sq km), S England, across the Solent and Spithead channels from Hampshire. The administrative center is Newport. The is...

Catawba, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Catawba kətôˈbə [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). They have for centuries occupied a r...