siderite
9.9
A brown mineral that contains iron and is used to make iron or steel
- noun
- /ˈsaɪdəˌraɪt/
- Specialized
:
siderita
- The geologist identified the shiny brown rock as siderite, an important source of iron.
Examples
-
We discovered a deposit of siderite that could be utilized for iron production.
-
Uh, well, I gotta run some tests, but, if I had to guess, I'd say it's a siderite.
-
During the field trip, we collected samples of siderite to study its properties.
Synonyms
9.9
A mineral made of iron that miners mine to make iron metal
is the identical mineral but presented as an alternate name
Surface Forms
Morphology
siderite = iron (semi-transparent) = sider + ite
The suffix '-ite' is a familiar mineral-forming suffix to many learners, but the root 'sider' is a Greek combining form meaning 'iron' that is not transparent to average learners.
Etymology
Siderite comes from the Greek root sider- meaning 'iron'. It names a brown mineral that contains a lot of iron, so miners used siderite as 'iron ore' for making steel.
