ECONOMIC GEOLOGY
for the solutions may have impregnated the wall rock with the
lode minerals.
Lodes consist of earthy minerals or veinstones, of metallic
constituents, and of fragments of country rock. The com-
monest veinstone is quartz. Next in importance is calcite,
which is especially abundant in limestones. Fluorite, barite,
and dolomite are frequent in volcanic regions, and in deep-
seated lodes. Less common are the felspars, rhodonite (a
pyroxene composed of silicate of manganese, MnSiO,), and
garnets. Tourmaline, usually in the black variety known as
schorl, and topaz are common in lodes that have been formed
by superheated acids. Mica of economic value occurs under
similar conditions. The metallic constituents sometimes
form a minute proportion of the lode; but they give it its
special character and value. The metals are sometimes
native, but are usually present as compounds, chiefly sul-
phides, oxides, and carbonates. The fragments of country
in the lode may have fallen into the fissure, or have been
torn from the walls by the faulting, or be parts that resisted
replacement by the lode-forming waters, Large masses of
sountry rock in a lode are known as horses. That terms is
sometimes applied to the country between two arms of a
branching vein, and also to beds of sandstone which have
filled stream channels in coal. The term * horse” is con-
veniently restricted, in connection with alode, to the original
meaning of a mass of country which is completely surrounded
by the lode.
The veinstones and rock debris found in a lode are some-
times grouped together as * gangue,” a French form of the
German word ** gang” which means the whole lode. The
rock debris in a lode is known in Australia as muliock ;
the term has been rejected as miner's slang, but as it was
similarly used by Chaucer, that objection is invalid. Some
lodes consist of a fault-breccia of mullock, with the inter-
spaces filled with veinstones and metalliferous constituents,
True brecciated lodes have been broken into fragments by
faulting or pressure after their formation,
Tae Term Reer—There is much confusion between the
terms reef and lode due to a reversal of the meaning of reef.
Owing to the heaviness of the metallic grains the richest
layer in an alluvial mine js usually at the base. When all