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Porphyry vs Phenocryst - What's the difference?

porphyry | phenocryst |

As nouns the difference between porphyry and phenocryst

is that porphyry is a hard igneous rock consisting of large crystals in a fine-grained matrix while phenocryst is any relatively large crystal embedded in a more fine-grained or glassy igneous rock.

porphyry

English

Noun

  • (geology) a hard igneous rock consisting of large crystals in a fine-grained matrix
  • # A purple-red rock of this kind.
  • #*

    • Derived terms

    * porphyry shell

    phenocryst

    English

    Noun

    (wikipedia phenocryst) (en noun)
  • (mineralogy) any relatively large crystal embedded in a more fine-grained or glassy igneous rock