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Wacke is a soft, earthy, dark-coloured rock or clay derived from the alteration of basalt.
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Wagnerite is a fluophosphate of magnesia, occurring in yellowish crystals, and also in massive forms.
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Warwickite is a dark brown or black mineral, occurring in prismatic crystals imbedded in limestone near Warwick, New York. It consists of the borate and titanate of magnesia and iron.
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In geology the term wash describes gravel and other rock debris transported and deposited by running water.
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Water sapphire is a deep blue variety of iolite, sometimes used as a gem.
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Wavellite, named after its discoverer William Wavel who found it in clay near Barnstaple, Devon, England, is a rare mineral of secondary origin confirmed as a distinct species of mineral in 1805. It is a hydrous phosphate of alumina, occurring usually in hemispherical radiated forms varying in colour from white to yellow, green, or black. It is found frequently in small amounts in crevices in aluminous, low-grade metamorphic rocks and in limonite and phosphorite deposits. It has a relative hardness of 4.
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Wealden is the lowest division of the Cretaceous formation in England and on the Continent, which overlies the Oolitic series.
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Websterite (also known as aluminite, hallite) is a white or grey nodular hydrous mineral named after the geologist Webster, is a hydrous sulphate of alumina occurring in white reniform masses. Websterite forms monoclinic crystals, generally too small to see with the naked eye.
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The Wenlock group is the middle subdivision of the Upper Silurian in Great Britain. It is so named from the typical locality in Shropshire.
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Wernerite is the common greyish or white coloured variety of soapolite.
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Wheel ore is a variety of bournonite so named from the shape of its twin crystals.
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Whet slate (whetstone slate or oilstone) is a variety of slate used for sharpening cutting instruments.
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Whewellite, named after Professor William Whewell of Cambridge, England, is calcium oxalate, occurring in colourless or white monoclinic crystals.
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Whitneyite, after the American geologist J.D. Whitney, is an arsenide of copper from Lake Superior.
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Willemite (troostite), named after Willem I, king of the Netherlands, is a mineral first confirmed as a distinct species of mineral in 1830. It is an ore of zinc found in crystallized limestone and associated with calcite, zincite, franklentie. It is a silicate of zinc, usually occurring massive and of a greenish yellow colour, also in reddish crystals containing manganese. It has a relative hardness of 6.
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Withamite, named after its discoverer, H. Witham, is a variety of epidote, of a reddish colour, found in Scotland.
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Witherite, named after Dr. Wiliam Withering, is a somewhat rare mineral found most often in veins associated with galena. Witherite was confirmed as a distinct mineral in 1789 and is a barium carbonate occurring in white or grey six-sided twin crystals, and also in columnar or granular masses and is a minor source of barium. It has the formulae BaCO3 and a relative hardness of 4.
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Wolframite is tungstate of iron and manganese, generally of a brownish or greyish black colour, sub-metallic lustre, and high specific gravity. It occurs in cleavable masses, and also crystallized. It is the most important tungsten ore and has a relative hardness of 5.
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Wollastonite, named after the English chemist William Wollaston, is a silicate of lime of a white to grey, red, or yellow colour, occurring generally in cleavable masses, and rarely in tabular crystals, mainly as a contact metamorphic mineral in crystalline limestones. It has the formulae CaSiO3 and a relative hardness of 5. It is used in the manufacture of tiles.
Wollastonite was confirmed as a distinct species of mineral in 1818.
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Wood opal is a striped variety of coarse opal, having some resemblance to wood.
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Wulfenite (Yellow lead ore), named after F. X. Wulfen, an Australian mineralogist, is native lead molybdate occurring in tetragonal crystals, usually tabular, and of a bright orange-yellow to red, grey, or brown colour. It has the formulae PbMoO4 and a relative hardness of 3. It is a minor source of molybdenum and is found in the oxidized portion of lead veins with other secondary lead minerals.
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Wurtzite is a rare mineral formed mainly with other sulphide ores in hydrothermal veins. It is sometimes also found in concretions in sedimentary rocks such as clay and ironstone and in contact metamorphosed limestone.
Wurtzite has an unusual crystal symmetry which can be either hexagonal or trigonal depending upon how the specimen formed. Wurtzite is a minor ore of zinc and was confirmed as a distinct species of mineral in 1861 and named after Karl Wurtz, the French chemist.
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Abbreviations
Rocks & Minerals
