petrographyn.
/pᵻˈtrɒɡrəfi/, U.S. /pəˈtrɑɡrəfi/ The branch of geology concerned with the description and systematic classification of rocks, esp. by means of microscopic examination of specimens. Cf. petrology n.
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the world > the earth > earth sciences > geology > [noun] > petrology or petrography
petrography1651
lithography1708
lithology1716
petrology1811
1651 N. Biggs Matæotechnia Medicinæ Praxeωs 99 They who have written hitherto of this stone [sc. Bezoar-stone],..have steer'd by the compasse or Lant-skip only of others petragraphy and description.
1858 R. G. Mayne Expos. Lexicon Med. Sci. (1860) 922/2 Petrographia, term for a history or description of rocks: petrography.
1885 Nature 12 Mar. 444/2 Descriptive petrography..concerns itself with the chemical, mineralogical and physical characters of the individual rocks.
1916 J. Murdoch Microsc. Determination Opaque Minerals p. iii This new method [sc. using the reflecting microscope]..opens an entire new field of geologic science that promises to do for the ores what petrography has done for the rocks; for this the name of ‘Mineralography’ is proposed.
1972 Nature 25 Feb. p. ix/1 (advt.) Petrography of carbonate grains: oöids, pisolites, peloids and other micritic fabrics.
1991 Ann. Rep. Brit. Geol. Surv. 1990–91 (BNC) 18 The groundmass mineralogy of lateritised Permian volcanics from Devon cannot be determined by optical petrography.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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