Appendix:Dictionary of Mining, Mineral, and Related Terms/K/1

kaemmererite
 * Chromian clinochlore. Alternate spelling of kaemmererite.

kalamin
 * See: calamine.

Kaldo steel process
 * A steelmaking process in which oxygen is fed into a large inclined rotating vessel through water-cooled lances, but at velocities somewhat lower than in the L.D. steel process, so that the jet does not completely or continuously penetrate the slag layer. In some respects, it is like a continuously rotating open hearth. It gives better heat utilization than the L.D. steel process but is slower.

kale
 * Eng. Surface-weathered ironstone or oolite; rottenstone; in Northamptonshire, Rutland, and Lincolnshire. Also spelled keale.

kaliborite
 * A monoclinic mineral, KHMg (sub 2) B (sub 12) O (sub 16) (OH) (sub 10) .4H (sub 2) O ; formerly called heintzite, hintzeite, paternoite. See also: heintzite.

kalicine
 * See: kalicinite.

kalicinite
 * A monoclinic mineral, KHCO (sub 3) ; colorless, white, or yellow. Also spelled kalicine; kalicite.

kalinite
 * A possibly monoclinic mineral, KAl(SO (sub 4) ) (sub 2) .11H (sub 2) O . Syn: potash alum. CF: alum.

kaliophilite
 * A hexagonal mineral, KAlSiO (sub 4) ; polymorphous with kalsilite, panunzite, and trikalsilite. Syn: facellite; phacellite.

kaliphite
 * A mixture of limonite with oxides of manganese and silicates of zinc and lime.

kalistrontite
 * A trigonal mineral, K (sub 2) Sr(SO (sub 4) ) (sub 2) ; occurs in prisms and plates with anhydrite and dolomite in a drill core from Alshtan, Bashkir, Russia.

Kalling's solution
 * An etching reagent for developing the microstructure of chromium steels with more than 5% of chromium. It contains 5 g copper chloride, 100 mL hydrochloric acid, 100 mL alcohol, and 100 mL water.

kalsilite
 * A hexagonal mineral, 2[KAlSiO (sub 4) ] ; polymorphous with kaliophilite, panunzite, and trikalsilite; forms a partial series toward nepheline; in groundmasses of potassium-rich, silica-poor lavas and as an alteration of blast furnace brick.

kamacite
 * A meteorite mineral consisting of the body-centered cubic alpha-phase of a nickel-iron alloy, with a fairly constant composition of 5% to 7% nickel. It occurs in iron meteorites as bars or girders flanked by lamellae of taenite. See also: nickel iron.

kamarezite
 * A grass-green, hydrated, basic copper hydrate and sulfate, Cu (sub 3) (OH) (sub 4) SO (sub 2) .6H (sub 2) O . Syn: brochantite.

kaemmererite
 * A chromian variety of clinochlore.

kammerling furnace
 * A modification of the Belgian zinc smelting furnace wherein there are two combustion chambers separated by a central longitudinal wall. In principle, the furnace is similar to the Hauzeur, a compound furnace.

kanase
 * Burma (Myanmar). A local custom in the gem mines at Mogok that permits women to work without licenses in streambeds, tailraces, and dumps from mines and washeries and to keep any gems they find.

Kanawhan
 * Upper Lower Pennsylvanian.

Kanawha series
 * A group of productive coal measures occurring in the Pennsylvanian of the Appalachian Region and completely developed in Virginia. Sometimes known as the Upper Pottsville series.

kandite
 * See: kaolin.

kankar
 * a. A term used in India for (1) masses or layers of calcium carbonate, usually occurring in nodules, found in the older alluvium or stiff clay of the Indo-Gangetic plain; or (2) precipitated calcium carbonate in the form of cement in porous sediments or as a coating on pebbles.

b. A limestone containing kankar and used for making lime and building roads. Etymol. Hindi. The term is occasionally applied in the United States to a residual calcareous deposit, such as caliche. Also spelled kunkur.

kaoleen
 * A colloquial term used in south-central Missouri for a chalky, porous, weathered chert with a white to tan or buff color. Etymol. corruption of kaolin, to which the material bears a slight resemblance.

kaolin
 * Former name for kaolinite. The aluminous minerals of the kaolinite-serpentine group. Syn: bolus alba; kaoline; kandite; kaolinite; white clay.

kaoline
 * See: kaolin.

kaolinic
 * Of, relating to, or resembling kaolin.

kaolinite
 * a. A monoclinic mineral, 2[Al (sub 2) Si (sub 2) O (sub 5) (OH) (sub 4) ]; kaolinite-serpentine group; kaolinite structure consists of a sheet of tetrahedrally bonded silica and a sheet of octahedrally bonded alumina with little tolerance for cation exchange or expansive hydration; polymorphous with dickite, halloysite, and nacrite; soft; white; formed by hydrothermal alteration or weathering of aluminosilicates, esp. feldspars and feldspathoids; formerly called kaolin.

b. Kandites in general. c. Individual kandites not specif. designated. See also: alum salt; kaolin.

kaolinite-serpentine
 * The mineral group amesite, antigorite, berthierine, brindleyite, clinochrysotile, cronstedite, dickite, endellite, fraiponite, greenalite, halloysite, kaolinite, kellyite, lizardite, manandonite, nacrite, nepouite, orthochrysotile, parachrysotile, and pecoraite. CF: serpentine.

kaolinization
 * Replacement or alteration of minerals, esp. feldspars and micas, to form kaolin as a result of weathering or hydrothermal alteration. CF: argillation; argillization.

kapel
 * See: capel.

kappa carbide
 * A carbide of iron, Fe (sub 23) C (sub 6), in which all or part of the iron may be replaced by chromium, molybdenum, and/or tungsten, (Fe,Cr,Mo,W) (sub 23) C (sub 6).

karang
 * Term used in the Malay States for the pay streaks of cassiterite.

karat
 * One-twenty-fourth part. It is used to designate the fineness of gold; thus, 18-karat gold is 18/24 (or 75%) pure gold and 6/24 (or 25%) other alloying metal or metals. Not to be confused with carat.

karelianite
 * boulders from the Outokumpu orebody in the Karelian schist belt, Finland.

Karlsbad twin
 * See: Carlsbad twin.

karnasurtite
 * A possibly hexagonal mineral, (Ce,La,Th)(Ti,Nb)(Al,Fe)(Si,P) (sub 2) O (sub 7) (OH) (sub 4) .3H (sub 2) O(?) ; metamict; at Mt. Karnasurt, Kola Peninsula, Russia.

karpatite
 * A monoclinic mineral (coronene), C (sub 24) H (sub 12) . Also spelled carpathite. Syn: pendletonite.

karpinskite
 * A possibly monoclinic mineral, (Mg,Ni) (sub 2) Si (sub 2) O (sub 5) (OH) (sub 2) (?) ; greenish blue; with talc in serpentinite from the Ural Mountains, Russia. (Not karpinskyite.)

karpinskyite
 * A mixture of leifite and a zinc-bearing smectite. (Not karpinskite.)

karst
 * A type of topography that is formed on limestone, gypsum, and other rocks by dissolution, and that is characterized by sinkholes, caves, and underground drainage. Etymol. German, from the Yugoslavian territory Krs; type locality, a limestone plateau in the Dinaric Alps of northwestern Yugoslavia and northeastern Italy. First published on a topographic map, Ducatus Carnioliae, in 1774. Adj. karstic. Syn: karst topography.

karst topography
 * See: karst.

kasoite
 * A potassian variety of celsian.

kasolite
 * A monoclinic mineral, Pb(UO (sub 2) )SiO (sub 4) .H (sub 2) O ; radioactive; an oxidation product of uraninite; at Kasolo, Katanga, Zaire. Formerly called droogmansite.

Kast furnace
 * A small, circular shaft furnace with three or four tuyeres, for lead smelting.

kata-
 * See: cata-.

kataclastic
 * See: cataclastic.

kata cooling power
 * A measure of the cooling effect of the ambient air as determined by the kata thermometer. This instrument may be used wet or dry.

katamorphism
 * Destructive metamorphism in the katamorphic zone, at or near the Earth's surface, in which complex minerals are broken down and altered through oxidation, hydration, solution, and allied processes to produce simpler and less dense minerals. The term was introduced by Van Hise in 1904. Also spelled catamorphism. CF: anamorphism. See also katazone.

kata thermometer
 * A type of alcohol thermometer used to determine the cooling power of the ambient air and sometimes to measure low air velocities.

katazone
 * According to Grubenmann's classification of metamorphic rocks (1904), the lowermost depth zone of metamorphism, which is characterized by high temperatures (500 to 700 degrees C), mostly strong hydrostatic pressure, and low or no shearing stress. It produces rocks such as high-grade schists and gneisses, granulites, eclogites, and amphibolites. The concept includes effects of high-temperature contact metamorphism and metasomatism. Modern usage stresses temperature-pressure conditions (highest metamorphic grade) rather than the likely depth of zone. Also spelled catazone. CF: mesozone; epizone. See also: katamorphism.

katoptrite
 * A monoclinic mineral, (Mn, Mg) (sub 13) (Al, Fe) (sub 4) Sb (sub 2) Si (sub 2) O (sub 28) ; in jet-black crystals in limestone at Nordmark and Laangban, Sweden.

katungite
 * A volcanic rock composed chiefly of melilite, with subordinate olivine and magnetite and minor leucite and perovskite; a pyroxene-free melilitite.

kauk
 * A very heavy substance, common in the mines, Derbyshire, U.K. Also spelled cauk.

kayserite
 * See: diaspore.

K-bentonite
 * See: potassium bentonite.

kearsutite
 * Misspelling of kaersutite.

keatite
 * Synthetic tetragonal silica, SiO (sub 2) ; crystallized hydrothermally at high pressure.

keeleyite
 * See: zinkenite.

keel wedge
 * A long iron wedge for driving over the top of a pick hilt.

keen sand
 * Forest of Dean. Sand forming poor rye soil.

keeper
 * Person in charge of opening and closing the taphole of a blast furnace and who runs iron at cast.

Keewatin
 * A division of the Archeozoic rocks of the Canadian Shield. It is older than the Timiskamian. Also spelled Keewatinian.

keg
 * A cylindrical container made of steel or some other substance, which contains 25 lb (11.4 kg) of blasting powder or gunpowder. Any small cask or barrel having a capacity of 5 to 10 gal (18.9 to 37.9 L).

kehoite
 * Amorphous (Zn,Ca)Al (sub 2) (PO (sub 4) ) (sub 2) .5H (sub 2) O ; a doubtful mineral species.

keldyshite
 * A triclinic mineral, Na (sub 2-2Dx) H (sub x) ZrSi (sub 2) O (sub 7) .nH (sub 2) O ; forms irregular grains in the Lovozero massif, Kola Peninsula, Russia.

kell
 * A variation of kiln.

Keller automatic roaster
 * A six-deck horizontal furnace for calcining sulfide ores.

Keller furnace
 * A multiple-deck roasting furnace for sulfide ore. It is a modification of the Spence furnace.

kellerite
 * A cuprian variety of pentahydrite.

kellow
 * Black lead or wad, Cumberland, U.K.

kelly
 * The rod attached to the top of the drill column in rotary drilling. It passes through the rotary table and is turned by it, but is free to slide down through it as the borehole deepens. Also called grief stem.

kelly bar
 * A hollow bar attached to the top of the drill column in rotary drilling; also called grief joint; kelly joint; kelly stem.

Kelly filter
 * An intermittent, movable pressure filter. The leaves are vertical and are set parallel with the axis of the tank. Pulp is introduced into the tank (a boilerlike affair) under pressure, and the cake is formed. The head is then unlocked, the leaves are run out of the tank chamber by means of a small track, and the cake is dropped. The carriage and leaves are then run back into the tank, and the cycle begins again.

kelp
 * The ashes of seaweeds, formerly the source of soda as used in glassmaking and soapmaking; now a source of potash, iodine, and char.

kelvin
 * a. Board of Trade unit of energy (1 kW/h).

b. See: Kelvin temperature scale.

Kelvin temperature scale
 * The absolute temperature scale in which the temperature measure is based on the average kinetic energy per molecule of a perfect gas. The zero of the Kelvin scale is -273.16 degrees C. The temperature scale adopted by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures is that of the constant volume hydrogen gas thermometer. The magnitude of the degree in both these scales is defined as one one-hundredths the difference between the temperature of melting ice and that of boiling water at 760 mm pressure. See also: temperature. Syn: absolute scale.

kelyphite
 * See: corona.

kelyphitic rim
 * See: corona.

kelyphytic
 * A term applied to the rims or borders consisting of microcrystalline aggregates of pyroxene or amphibole occurring around olivine, where it would otherwise be in contact with plagioclase, or around garnet, where it would otherwise be in contact with olivine or other magnesium-rich minerals.

kelyphytic rim
 * See: corona.

Kema plow
 * A scraper-box type of plow for use on longwall faces. See also: scraper box plow.

kempite
 * An orthorhombic mineral, Mn (sub 2) Cl(OH) (sub 3) ; forms minute emerald-green prismatic crystals; at Alum Rock Park, CA.

kennel coal
 * A coal that can be ignited with a match to burn with a bright flame. Syn: candle coal. See also: cannel coal.

kentrolite
 * An orthorhombic mineral, Pb (sub 2) Mn (sub 2) Si (sub 2) O (sub 9) ; forms a series with melanotekite; massive or in sheaflike prismatic crystals; at Laangban and Nordmark, Sweden, and Sassari, Sardinia, Italy.

Kent roller mill
 * A revolving steel ring with three rolls pressing against its inner face. The rolls are supported on springs, and the rings support the roll, so that there is some freedom of motion. The material to be crushed is held against the ring by centrifugal force.

kentsmithite
 * A local name used in the Paradox Valley, Colorado, for a black, vanadium-bearing sandstone. Syn: vanoxite.

kep
 * a. One of the steel supports on which a cage rests at the pithead during unloading or loading so that the rail track is always at the proper level. During this period, the rope is released from the weight of the cage. The ordinary type of kep gear consists of four steel arms, two for each end of the cage, carried on shafts that are connected to and operated by levers. Normally, the cage must be raised from the kep arms before the latter can be withdrawn to allow the cage to descend the shaft. See also: Beien kep gear; cage stop.

b. One of the retractable rests on which the mine cage is supported during its stop at a shaft landing. Also called catch; chair; keep; landing chair; stop. c. One of the bearing-up stops for supporting a cage or load at the beginning or end of hoisting in a shaft.

kepel
 * Corn. Spar or hard stone on each side of the lode.

kerargyrite
 * See: cerargyrite.

keratophyre
 * A name generally applied to all salic extrusive and hypabyssal rocks characterized by the presence of albite or albite-oligoclase and chlorite, epidote, and calcite, generally of secondary origin. Some varieties of keratophyre contain sodic orthoclase, sodic amphiboles, and pyroxenes. Keratophyres commonly are associated with spilitic rocks and interbedded with marine sediments.

kerf
 * a. The undercut usually made in the coal to facilitate its fall.

b. A horizontal cut in a block of coal, as opposed to a shearing, which is a vertical cut. c. Undercut in a coal seam from 3 to 7 in (7.6 to 18 cm) thick and entering the face to a depth of up to 4 ft (1.2 m), made by a mechanical cutter. Also called kirve. d. The undercut made in a coalbed to assist the action of explosives in blasting. e. The annular groove cut into a rock formation by a core bit. See also: kerve. f. The space that was occupied by the material removed during cutting. g. The thickness of the wall of the diamond-insert part of the crown of a core bit. h. Sometimes incorrectly used as a syn. for nose, as applied to a diamond core bit.

kerf stone
 * One of the diamonds inset in the kerf of the crown of a diamond bit. Also called face stone.

kermesite
 * A triclinic mineral, Sb (sub 2) S (sub 2) O ; pseudomonoclinic; occurs as soft tufts of cherry-red capillary crystals with one perfect cleavage; an alteration product of stibnite. Syn: antimony blende; pyrostibite; pyrostibnite; red antimony; pyroantimonite.

kerned stone
 * Corn. Sand blown off the seashore into the country and concreted there.

kernel
 * Atom that has lost the valence electrons of its outermost shell.

kernel roasting
 * See: roasting.

kernite
 * A monoclinic mineral, 4[Na (sub 2) (H (sub 2) O) (sub 3) B (sub 4) O (sub 6) (OH) (sub 2) ] ; soft, colorless to white; in the Mojave Desert and Kern County, CA; a major source of borax and boron compounds in the United States. See also: Rasorite.

kerogen
 * a. A term generally used for organic matter in sedimentary rocks that is insoluble in common organic and inorganic solvents.

b. The solid, organic substance in shales that yields oil when the shales undergo destructive distillation.

kerogen shale
 * See: oil shale.

kerolite
 * A variety of talc with randomly stacked structure; forms a series with nickel-kerolite. Also spelled cerolite.

keronigritite
 * A type of nigritite that is derived from kerogen. CF: polynigritite; humonigritite.

kerosine flotation
 * As sometimes practiced, this method is a combination of bulk oil flotation and froth flotation. By adding large quantities of kerosine to a pulp plus a small amount of frother and agitating vigorously, surfaces of the amenable mineral (coal) are attracted to both the oil and air bubbles, forming heavy flocs. This type of concentrate is more readily dewatered than ordinary froth and therein lies its advantage, plus the fact that coarser particles (6 to 10 mesh) can be handled than in ordinary froth flotation. Also called granulation. Syn: agglomeration.

kerosine shale
 * Substance originally described as a variety of oil shale but later proved to be similar to torbanite. See also: boghead coal; torbanite.

kerrite
 * A variety of vermiculite.

kersantite
 * A lamprophyre containing biotite and plagioclase (usually oligoclase or andesine), with or without clinopyroxene and olivine. Defined by Delesse in 1851; named for the village of Kersanton, France.

kerve
 * N. of Eng. In coal mining, to cut under. See also: kerf. Also spelled kirve.

kesterite
 * A mineral, (Cu,Sn,Zn)S, containing 30.36% copper, 25.25% tin, 11.16% zinc, and 23.40% sulfur. In quartz sulfide ore from Kester, Magadan, Yakutia, northeast Siberia, Russia. Named from locality. Syn: isostannite; khinganite.

kettle
 * A depression in the ground surface formed by the melting of a large, detached block of stagnant ice wholly or partly buried by glacial drift.

kettleback
 * See: horseback; slip.

kettle bottom
 * a. A smooth, rounded piece of rock, cylindrical in shape, which may drop out of the roof of a mine without warning, sometimes causing serious injuries to miners. The surface usually has a scratched, striated, or slickensided appearance and frequently has a slick, soapy, unctuous feel. The origin of this feature is thought to be the remains of the stump of a tree that has been replaced by sediments so that the original form has been rather well preserved. Sometimes spelled kettlebottom. Also called bell; pot; camelback; tortoise. Syn: caldron. See also: clod; pot bottom. CF: black bat.

b. See: horseback; caldron bottom.

kettle dross
 * Skimmings resulting from the desilverization of lead bullion. It consists principally of lead oxides mixed with metallic lead.

kettleman
 * In ore dressing, smelting, and refining, a person who (1) refines lead in a series of oil-fired kettles, and (2) removes silver and copper from black mud in a gas-fired kettle, preparatory to the separation of gold.

kettle operator
 * In ore dressing, smelting, and refining, a person who melts and fumes antimony in oil-fired kettles to make antimony oxide.

kettnerite
 * A tetragonal mineral, CaBi(CO (sub 3) )OF ; in pegmatite from Krupka, Czech Republic.

kevell
 * Calcspar from Derbyshire lead mines, United Kingdom. Also spelled kebble.

kevil
 * a. Derb. A veinstone, consisting of a mixture of calcium carbonate and other minerals.

b. N. of Eng. The amount of coal sent out by the various miners during a certain period.

Keweenawan
 * A provincial series of the early Proterozoic in Michigan and Wisconsin.

key
 * The pieces of core causing a block in a core barrel, the removal of which allows the rest of the core in the core barrel to slide out. See: legend.

key bed
 * a. A well-defined, easily identifiable stratum or body of strata that has sufficiently distinctive characteristics (such as lithology or fossil content) to facilitate correlation in field mapping or subsurface work.

b. A bed, the top or bottom of which is used as a datum in making structure-contour maps. Syn: key horizon; index bed; marker bed.

key blocks
 * The first blocks that are removed in opening up a new quarry floor.

keyhole slot
 * A slot enlarged at one end to allow entrance of a chain or bolt that can then be held by the narrow end.

key horizon
 * See: key bed.

keystone
 * a. A symmetrically tapered piece at the center or crown of an arch.

b. A filling-in block of cast iron used in some lead smelting furnaces.

keystoneite
 * Blue chalcedony colored by chrysocolla.

K-feldspar
 * The mineral microcline, orthoclase, or sanidine. Syn: potassium feldspar.

K-Fuel process
 * In this process, the feed coal is heated sufficiently to remove all the moisture from the coal and to mildly carbonize it. The carbonized hot coal, in a plastic state, flows to an extruder which agglomerates the product into pellets.

Khari salt
 * A native mineral salt of India, predominantly sodium chloride with large amounts of sodium sulfate, the composition varying greatly with locality where obtained. Synthetic Khari salt has 40% anhydrous sodium sulfate.

khinganite
 * See: kesterite.

khlopinite
 * A titanian variety of samarskite.

kibbal
 * See: kibble.

kibble
 * a. Steel bucket used during shaft sinking.

b. To carry in a hoisting bucket, such as ore. Syn: junket; kibbal.

kibble rope
 * Eng. A rope or chain for hoisting a kibble or bucket.

kick
 * a. Assay with metal values. Also, a geophysical indication of ore. As opposed to background values. (Slang only.)

b. A small sidewise displacement or offset in a borehole caused by the sidewise deviation of a bit when entering a hard, tilted rock stratum underlying a softer stratum. c. A quick snap of the drill stem caused by the core breaking in a blocked core barrel or sudden release of a momentary bind. CF: step.

kick back
 * a. Arkansas. To break the coal on both sides of the auger hole that contains the powder, usually along a joint in the coal.

b. A track arrangement for reversing the direction of travel of cars moving by gravity.

kicker
 * a. Ground left, in first cutting a vein, for support of its sides.

b. Also, a gage stone handset in the outside surface or wall of the metal shank of a diamond bit. Syn: gage stone.

kicker stone
 * See: gage stone.

kicking pieces
 * Short struts to prevent a sill or other member from being pushed out of place.

kickoff point
 * The place in a borehole where the first intentional deviation starts. Sometimes abbreviated KOP.

Kick's law
 * The amount of energy required to crush a given quantity of material to a specified fraction of its original size is the same no matter what the original size. CF: Rittinger's law.

kidney iron ore
 * A reuniform variety of hematite with concentric or radiating structure. Syn: kidney stone; kidney ore. See also: iron ore.

kidney ore
 * See: kidney iron ore.

kidneys
 * A mineral zone that contracts, expands, and again contracts downwards.

kidney stone
 * a. See: nephrite; kidney iron ore; urolith.

b. Any reniform nodule.

kidney sulfur
 * See: lense.

kies
 * A general term for the sulfide ores, adopted into English from the original German.

kieselguhr
 * See: diatomite.

kieserite
 * a. A monoclinic mineral 4[MgSO (sub 4) .H (sub 2) O] ; in evaporite salt deposits from dehydration of epsomite or decomposition of kainite. Syn: martinsite.

b. The mineral group dwornikite, gunningite, kieserite, poitevinite, szmikite, and szomolnokite.

kilbrickenite
 * See: geochronite.

kilchoanite
 * A orthorhombic mineral, Ca (sub 3) Si (sub 2) O (sub 7) ; dimorphous with rankinite, which it replaces at Kilchoan, Ardnamurchan, Scotland.

kilkenny coal
 * See: anthracite.

kill
 * To mix atmospheric air with combustible gases or other gases so as to make them harmless.

killas
 * a. Corn. The slates or schists that form the country rock of the Cornish tin veins.

b. Corn. Term used in the china-clay mines for the altered schistose or hornfelsic rocks in contact with the granite and often considerably modified by emanations from the latter.

killed steel
 * Steel treated with a strong deoxidizing agent, such as silicon or aluminum, to reduce the oxygen content to such a level that no reaction occurs between carbon and oxygen during solidification.

killing
 * a. Allowing the molten steel to remain in the crucible for about 45 min for the escape of the gases.

b. In metallurgy, esp. in foundry terminology, a term for deoxidation.

kiln
 * a. A large furnace used for baking, drying, or burning firebrick or refractories, or for calcining ores or other substances.

b. A furnace or oven, which is usually made from refractory brick, used to dry and fire various types of ceramic ware.

kiln burner
 * A worker who is responsible for firing kilns to produce ceramic products. Type of product produced is often attached to the term as, brick kiln burner, tile burner, pipe burner, etc. Also called kiln fireman; kiln operator; baker; kiln tender; kiln firer, etc.

kiln-burner helper
 * Person who assists kiln burner in firing kiln, supplying coal and wood to fireboxes, and cleaning ashes from ashpits.

kiln-car unloader
 * A worker who removes fired ceramic ware from kiln cars.

kiln cleaner
 * Person who prepares kilns for burning.

kiln-dry
 * To dry in a kiln.

kilneye
 * An opening for removal of lime from a vertical lime kiln.

kilnman
 * A worker who tends a kiln.

kiln placer
 * A worker who places clayware in kiln for drying or firing. Also called kiln setter; sagger filler; kiln loader; kiln stacker.

kilo-
 * One thousand units. The kilodyne is 1,000 dyn; kilogram is 2.2046 lb avoirdupois; kilometer is 1,093.6 yd; kilowatt is 1.341 hp.

kilocusec
 * A unit of volumetric rate of air flow, expressed in thousands of cubic feet per second.

kilocycle
 * One thousand cycles. Abbrev. kc.

kilometer
 * A length of 1,000 m; equals 3,280.8 ft or 0.621 mile. The chief unit for long distances in the metric system. Abbrev. km.

kiloton
 * A unit for measuring the energy of a nuclear explosion. A 1-kiloton explosion releases energy equal to that in the explosion of 1,000 st (907 t) of TNT. Abbrev. kton.

kilowatt-hour
 * A unit of work or energy equal to that expended in 1 h at a steady rate of 1 kW or 3.6 x 10 (super 6) J.

Kimberley method
 * See: combined top slicing and shrinkage stoping.

kimberlite
 * A highly serpentinized porphyritic peridotite, commonly brecciated, which occurs in vertical pipes, dikes, and sills. It is the principal original environment of diamond, but only a small percentage of the known kimberlite occurrences are diamondiferous. See also: blue ground; yellow ground. The name is derived from Kimberley, South Africa.

kimzeyite
 * An isometric mineral, Ca (sub 3) (Zr,Ti) (sub 2) (Si,Al,Fe) (sub 3) O (sub 12) ; garnet group.

kind
 * Eng. Generally signifies tender, soft, or easy to work; said of certain ores.

Kind-Chaudron process
 * A method of sinking a deep shaft of large diameter in which a pilot bore of smaller diameter is first cut, after which the cut is enlarged to the final diameter, the debris falling into the pilot bore. When water is encountered, a lining with a moss box at the bottom is forced into place. CF: Triger process.

kindly
 * See: likely.

kindly ground
 * Eng. Those rocks in which lodes become productive of mineral of value.

kindred
 * See: rock association.

kinematic viscosity
 * Ratio of absolute viscosity to mass density. Measured in square meters per second.

kinetic energy
 * The form of mechanical energy a body possesses by virtue of its velocity. The kinetic energy of a body, or the energy of motion, is the work done by it, or against it, in coming to rest. Water flowing through pipes or air flowing through a mine roadway possesses kinetic energy. See also: velocity head.

kinetic head
 * The energy of flowing water that is a function of its velocity.

kinetic metamorphism
 * A type of metamorphism that produces deformation of rocks without chemical reconstitution or recrystallization to form new minerals.

kingbolt
 * supports the suspended cage.

b. A large bolt that holds the upper end of the tripod legs together and from which the sheave-wheel clevis is suspended.

king brick
 * Special, hollow, cylindrical fireclay brick, between the bottom fountain brick and the first lateral brick in a bottom-pour ingot assembly. See also: bottom-pour ingot assembly.

king pile
 * In a wide excavation where strutting is required, this is a long pile driven at the strut spacing in the center of the trench before excavation is started.

king post
 * A vertical member of a stamp battery frame that carries the camshaft.

king screen
 * A drum-type screen in which the pulp to be screened is delivered on the outside, the undersize passing through the screen and discharging through the open end.

kink
 * a. A sharp angular deflection in a borehole.

b. A deflection in a vein or lode that does not interrupt its continuity. c. Scot. A twist in a rope; a doubling and interlocking of several links in a chain.

kink bands
 * Microscopic to macroscopic deformation lamellae in mineral grains; e.g., quartz, pyroxene, mica, kyanite, resulting from plastic flow under tectonic strain. Also called translation gliding.

kinradite
 * Orbicular jasper containing spherical inclusions of colorless or nearly colorless quartz.

kinzigite
 * A coarse-grained metamorphic rock of pelitic composition occurring in the granulite facies. Essential minerals are garnet and biotite, with which occur varying amounts of quartz, K-feldspar, oligoclase, muscovite, cordierite, and sillimanite. The name is from Kinzig, Schwarzwald, Germany.

kip
 * a. N. of Eng. A level or gently sloping roadway, at the extremity of an engine plane, upon which the full cars stand ready to be sent up the shaft. The tubs, or cars, usually go to the shaft by gravity.

b. A load of 1,000 lb (454 kg).

kir
 * Natural asphalt at the surface, Russia.

Kirkup table
 * A machine for dry cleaning coal. Raw coal is fed onto a perforated plate inclined at 12.5 degrees to 15 degrees to the horizontal. A pulsating air current is applied to the underside of the inclined plate, which stratifies the material, the coal forming the upper layer with the dirt below, which then passes into separate compartments. The Kirkup table gives a three-product separation; i.e., coal, middling, and reject. See also: pneumatic jig; pneumatic table; S.J. table.

kirovite
 * A magnesian variety of melanterite. CF: jarosite.

Kiruna method
 * A borehole-inclination survey method whereby the electrolytic deposition of copper from a solution is used to make a mark on the inside of a metal container. CF: acid-dip survey.

kirve
 * N. of Eng. To undercut. See also: kerve; kerf.

kirving
 * a. Newc. The cutting made at the bottom of the coal by the miner. See also: holing.

b. Eng. Undercutting the coal horizontally, usually by hand. Also called laying-in; ligging-in; holing.

kirvings
 * N. of Eng. Small coal, fragments, or cuttings lying in the undercut made by a cutting machine jib.

kish
 * Free graphite that forms and floats out of molten hypereutectic cast iron as it cools.

kishly
 * York. Hard, dry vein matter, poor in ore; in lead mines.

kist
 * a. Eng. The wooden box or chest in which the deputy keeps tools at the flat or inspection station; the station is said to be at the kist.

b. N. of Eng. The meeting place in a district where workers assemble. (Strictly, the box in which the deputy keeps papers, etc.)

kit
 * A wooden vessel.

kladnoite
 * A monoclinic mineral (phthalimide), C (sub 6) H (sub 4) (CO) (sub 2) NH ; results from burning waste at the Kladno coal basin, Czech Republic.

klaprothine
 * See: lazulite.

klaprothite
 * A discredited mineral since it is a mixture of wittichenite and emplectite.

klebelsbergite
 * An orthorhombic mineral, Sb (sub 4) O (sub 4) (OH) (sub 2) (SO (sub 4) ) ; forms pale-yellow to orange-yellow platy or acicular crystals on stibnite; at Baia Sprie, Romania.

kleinite
 * A hexagonal mineral, Hg (sub 2) N(Cl,SO (sub 4) ).nH (sub 2) O ; yellow to orange; occurs as short prisms darkening on exposure; sp gr, 8.0; in Brewster County, TX.

Klein solution
 * A solution of cadmium borotungstate; sp gr, 3.6; used as a "heavy liquid" for mineral separation. CF: Clerici solution; methylene iodide; Sonstadt solution.

kliachite
 * See: cliachite.

klinkstone
 * See: phonolite.

klintite
 * A reef limestone, particularly the massive core.

klippe
 * An isolated rock unit that is an erosional remnant or outlier of a nappe. The original sense of the term was merely descriptive; i.e., included any isolated rock mass, such as an erosional remnant. Plural, klippen. See also: nappe. Etymol. German; rock protruding from a sea or lake floor.

klockmannite
 * A hexagonal mineral, CuSe ; slate gray to reddish violet, tarnishing to blue-black; basal cleavage. Occurs at Sierra de Umango, Argentina; Harz Mountains, Germany; and Skrikerum, Sweden.

kloof
 * S. Afr. A mountain pass or cleft; a gorge or narrow valley.

kmaite
 * A former name for celadonite. See: celadonite.

Knapp bottom pressure gage
 * An instrument designed for studying harbor surging. A strain gage unit, used in connection with pressure sensitive bellows, comprises the transducer of the pressure head. The four strain gages in the unit are connected to form a bridge circuit that is linked to the recorder by an electrical cable. A direct current voltage is applied to the bridge, and the record is obtained by recording the unbalanced current from a magnetic oscillograph. Any standard strain gage recorder can be used for the recording system.

knapping machine
 * An instantaneous stonecrushing machine; a stonebreaker.

kneading
 * A filling material composed of clayey rock from which balls are made by a special machine. These balls are driven by an air current through a tube resembling a gun barrel into the excavated area to be filled. By impact and weight, the soft balls are squashed and perfectly fill the excavation.

knebelite
 * A manganoan variety of fayalite.

knee brace
 * A stiffener between a stanchion or column and a roof truss, to ensure greater rigidity in a building frame under wind load.

kneeler
 * a. The triangular connection by which a horizontal motion is changed to a vertical one, as in certain mine pumps.

b. A stone cut to provide a change of direction. c. The return of the dripstone at the spring of an arch.

knee pad
 * A protective cushion, usually made of sponge rubber, that can be strapped to the miner's knee.

knee piece
 * a. A bent piece of piping.

b. An angular piece of timber used in a roof (mine) to strengthen a joint where two timbers meet.

knee timber
 * a. Timber with natural knees or angles in it.

b. A piece of timber with an angle or knee in it.

knell stone
 * N. of Eng. Freestone (sandstone).

knife dog
 * A tool that fits around and grips drill rods or any tubular drilling equipment so they can be pulled or lifted from a borehole where workspace in narrow underground openings is too confined to allow the use of a hoisting plug.

knife edge
 * a. The girdle of a brilliant, cut to a sharp edge and polished.

b. A narrow ridge of rock or sand. Syn: feather edge.

knife switch
 * A switch that opens or closes a circuit by the contact of one or more blades between two or more flat surfaces or contact blades.

knipovichite
 * A chromian variety of alumohydrocalcite.

knistersalze
 * Crystals of salt mined at Wieliczka, Poland, that decrepitate violently upon heating, due to excessive enclosed water or gases.

knitted texture
 * A texture typical of the mineral serpentine in rocks where it replaces a clinopyroxene. CF: lattice texture.

knobbing
 * The act of roughdressing stone in the quarry by knocking off the projections and points.

knobbing fire
 * A bloomery for refining cast iron.

knobellite
 * An intergrowth of galena with bismuthinite or stibnite.

knock
 * To sound the mine roof for competence by rapping.

knockbark
 * Crushed lead ore.

knocking
 * a. S. Wales. Signals made underground by knocking on the coal.

b. Eng. Ore broken with a hammer, esp. the large lumps.

knockoff bit
 * See: detachable bit.

knockout man
 * A laborer who frees solidified metal castings from inverted molds of a casting wheel by prying the castings from the molds with a long steel bar to drop them into a water pit (bosh) for cooling.

knockstone
 * Eng. Stone bench on which lead ore is buckered or broken small for the hotching tubs; Yorkshire lead mines. Also called binkstone.

knogging
 * Eng. Small refuse stones used for the inside of walls; Northamptonshire and Worcestershire.

Knoop hardness
 * Microhardness determined from the resistance of metal to indentation by a pyramidal diamond indenter, having edge angles of 172 degrees 30' and 130 degrees, and making a rhombohedral impression with one long and one short diagonal. CF: Mohs scale.

knot
 * A small concretion; e.g., of galena in sandstone, or a segregation of darker minerals in granite and gneiss.

knots
 * a. Nodules or concretions of pyrite.

b. Any hard inclusions in a rock. c. Quarrymen's term for dark gray to black masses, more or less oval or circular in cross section, which are segregations of biotite or hornblende in granite. English quarrymen call them heathen. d. Diamonds with included small diamond crystals that cause trouble in cutting.

knotted schist
 * See: spotted slate.

knotted slate
 * See: spotted slate.

known mine
 * Land cannot be held to be a "known mine" unless at the time the rights of the purchaser accrued, there was upon the ground an actual and open mine that either had been worked or was capable of being worked.

known to exist
 * A vein or lode is known to exist when it could be discovered by anyone making a reasonable and fair inspection of the premises for the purpose of a location.

known vein
 * A vein or lode is known to exist within the meaning of the mining act when it could be discovered by or is obvious to anyone making a reasonable and fair inspection of the premises for the purpose of making a location of a placer mining claim. This term is not to be taken as synonymous with located vein and refers to a vein or lode whose existence is known as distinguished from one that has been appropriated by location. Hence, a regular location is not necessary before a vein or lode can be a known vein or lode. The time at which a vein or lode must be known to exist to except it from a placer patent is the time at which the application for a patent is made and to contain minerals in such quantity and quality as to justify expenditure for the purpose of extracting them.

knox hole
 * A circular drill hole with two opposite vertical grooves that direct the explosive power of the blast.

knox system
 * A system of separating masses of rock by blasting with black blasting powder in reamed drill holes, a considerable air space being left between the charge and the stemming.

knoxvillite
 * See: copiapite.

knuckle
 * The place on an incline where there is a sudden change in grade. The top of a grade or hill on a track over which mine cars are hauled.

knuckle joint
 * A mechanism consisting of some form of two forks coupled together by means of a cube or sphere provided with projecting pins extending through holes provided in the outer end of each branch of the fork. When inserted between the bit and the drill rods, the mechanism can be used to deflect a borehole. A similar mechanism often is used as a connection between two shafts on a machine when the ends of the shafts are placed at an angle to each other.

knuckle man
 * In bituminous coal mining, a person who works at the knuckle (top) of a haulage slope, coupling trains of cars and attaching and detaching cars to and from a haulage cable by which they are raised or lowered. Also called knuckle boy.

knurs and fundlers
 * Eng. Two words always used together and applied to lumps of gypsum in marl, Nottinghamshire.

knurs and knots
 * The stony nodules found lodged in the strata; commonly harder than the rest of the mass of the strata.

kobeite
 * An amorphous mineral, (Y,U)(Ti,Nb) (sub 2) (O,OH) (sub 6) (?) ; forms black metamict crystals at Kobe, Japan.

kobellite
 * An orthorhombic mineral, Pb (sub 22) Cu (sub 4) (Bi,Sb) (sub 30) S (sub 69) ; forms a series with tintinaite.

kochenite
 * A fossil resin, like amber. From Kochenthal, Tirol, Austria.

Koch freezing process
 * A freezing method of shaft sinking, in which a solution of magnesium chloride, MgCl (sub 2), is circulated through the freezing tubes instead of brine. The magnesium chloride is cooled to about -30 degrees C at the refrigerating plant, and this temperature is capable of freezing the ground without the solution itself freezing and choking the tubes. Anhydrous ammonia, carbon dioxide, or sulphur dioxide is used as the refrigerating agent.

koechlinite
 * An orthorhombic mineral, Bi (sub 2) MoO (sub 6) ; forms minute tabular crystals; at Schneeberg, Saxony, Germany.

koehler lamp
 * A naphtha-burning flame safety lamp for use in gaseous mines.

Koepe hoist
 * Winding system in which both cages in a mine shaft are connected to the same rope, via the drum.

Koepe sheave
 * The wheel that is used in the Koepe winder instead of a winding drum. It usually consists of a cast-steel hub with steel arms and rim of welded construction. The diameter of the sheave varies from about 16 to 26 ft (4.9 to 7.9 m), depending on the size and type of winding rope and the total load. It is recommended that the ratio of the diameter of the sheave to the diameter of the rope should be 100:1 and that of the sheave to the largest wire in the rope, 2,000:1. A Koepe sheave is fitted with renewable friction linings. See also: sheave; winding sheave.

Koepe system
 * a. A system of hoisting without using drums, the rope being endless and passing over pulleys instead of around a drum.

b. In this system, the hoisting drum is replaced by a large driving sheave 15 to 20 ft (4.6 to 6.1 m) in diameter. The angle of contact of the rope with the sheave is from 190 degrees to 200 degrees or a little over a half circle. Driving is done through the friction grip of the sheave on the rope; therefore, a tail rope is used around a sheave at the bottom of the shaft to give the necessary pull on the slack side.

Koepe winder
 * A system where the winding drum is replaced by a large wheel or sheave. Both cages are connected to the same rope, which passes around some 200 degrees of the sheave in a groove of friction material. The Koepe sheave may be mounted on the ground adjacent to the headgear or in a tower over the shaft. The drive to the rope is the frictional resistance between the rope and the sheave. It requires the use of a balance rope. It is often used for hoisting heavy loads from deep shafts and has the advantage that the large inertia of the ordinary winding drum is avoided. The system has been widely used in Europe for many years, and some large projects in Great Britain are being equipped with winders of this type. See also: multirope friction winder.

Koepe winder brake
 * A brake which acts directly on the Koepe sheave and can be applied by the winding engine operator's brake lever and the other safety devices.

koettigite
 * See: koettigite.

kohlenhobel
 * See: coal plow.

kolbeckite
 * A monoclinic mineral, ScPO (sub 4) .2H (sub 2) O ; blue to gray. Syn: sterrettite.

Kollen garnet
 * Almandine from Kollen, Bohemia, Czech Republic. See also: Bohemian garnet.

kolm
 * a. A variety of cannel coal occurring locally as lenticles in Swedish alum shales and containing 30% of ash rich in rare metals, including uranium and radium.

b. See: culm. c. A variety of anthraxolite; a hydrocarbon that resembles oil shale. d. A shale impregnated with asphaltite.

kolovraite
 * The mineral hydrous vanadate of Ni and Zn; in yellow botryoidal crusts; at Ferghana, Uzbekistan.

komatiite
 * Magnesium-rich ultramafic volcanic rock of high temperature origin. The term was originally applied by Viljoen and Viljoen (1969) to basaltic and ultramafic lavas near the Komati river, Barberton Mountain Land, Transvaal, South Africa. Nickel-copper sulfide mineral deposits may be associated with komatiites.

kong
 * Barren bedrock underlying tin-bearing gravel.

konimeter
 * Apparatus used to measure dust in mine atmosphere. A measured volume of air is drawn through a jet so as to impinge on a glass surface coated with glycerin jelly. The adherent dust is then examined and the particles are counted under the microscope. Also called Zeiss konimeter. See also: dust sampling.

koninckite
 * A tetragonal mineral, FePO (sub 4) .3H (sub 2) O(?) ; occurs in yellow spheroidal aggregates; at Liege, Belgium.

Kootenai series
 * Part of the Comanchean, of the continental facies, including coal seams, occurring in western Canada.

Korfmann arch saver
 * A machine for withdrawing steel arches by means of a controlled hydraulic system instead of drawing them by hand or winches.

Korfmann power loader
 * A double-ended cutter loader; i.e., it can cut and load in both directions. It consists of four milling heads and one cutter chain surrounding them; guided by armored conveyor; rope-hauled; cuts at 2.3 ft/s (0.7 m/s) and flits at 10 ft/s (3.0 m/s). The minimum workable seam thickness is 26 in (66 cm) on gradients from 0 degrees to 12 degrees ; maximum length of face is 165 yd (151 m); takes 3-1/2 ft (1.07 m) per cut, continuous mining.

kornelite
 * A monoclinic mineral, Fe (sub 2) (SO (sub 4) ) (sub 3) .7H (sub 2) O ; forms rose to violet prisms; an alteration of pyrite.

kornerupine
 * An orthorhombic mineral, Mg (sub 4) (Al,Fe) (sub 6) (Si,B) (sub 4) O (sub 21) (OH) ; forms columnar crystals with prismatic cleavage; in high-grade metamorphic aluminous rocks.

korzhinskite
 * A mineral, CaB (sub 2) O (sub 4) .H (sub 2) O ; in skarns with other calcium borate minerals.

koettigite
 * A monoclinic mineral, Zn (sub 3) (AsO (sub 4) ) (sub 2) .8H (sub 2) O ; vivianite group; forms a series with parasymplesite; carmine-red with one perfect cleavage; occurs with smaltite at Schneeberg, Saxony, Germany. Also spelled koettigite.

kotulskite
 * A hexagonal mineral, Pd(Te,Bi).

Kotze konimeter
 * A dust-sampling instrument consisting of an air cylinder and piston actuated by a spring, and so arranged that on release of the piston a known volume of air is impinged at high velocity against a plate coated with vaseline. The dust spot so produced is examined under the microscope, and a count is made of the number of particles.

Kourbatoff's reagent
 * An etchant for steel; it consists of seven parts of a solution containing 20% methyl alcohol, 20% ethyl alcohol, 20% iso-amyl alcohol, and 10% butyl alcohol added to three parts of a solution of 4% nitric acid in acetic anhydride. This etchant colors sorbite and troostite, leaving the other constituents unaffected.

koutekite
 * A hexagonal mineral, Cu (sub 5) As (sub 2).

kramerite
 * See: probertite.

krantzite
 * A fossil resin resembling amber and found in small yellowish grains disseminated in brown coal.

kratochvilite
 * An orthorhombic mineral, C (sub 13) H (sub 10).

kraurite
 * See: dufrenite.

krausite
 * A monoclinic mineral, KFe(SO (sub 4) ) (sub 2) .H (sub 2) O ; forms soft yellowish-green prismatic crystals and crusts.

kremersite
 * An orthorhombic mineral, (NH (sub 4) ,K) (sub 2) FeCl (sub 5) .H (sub 2) O; forms red pseudo-octahedra around fumaroles in Sicily, Italy.

krennerite
 * One of the gold telluride group of minerals, (Au,Ag)Te (sub 2) ; corresponds to the same general formula as sylvanite and calaverite. Silver-white to pale yellow color; sp gr, 8.35. Found in Colorado and Romania. Syn: white tellurium.

kriging
 * a. A weighted, moving-average interpolation method in which the set of weights assigned to samples minimizes the estimation variance, which is computed as a function of the variogram model and locations of the samples relative to each other, and to the point or block being estimated.

b. In the estimation of ore reserves by geostatistical methods, the use of a weighted, moving-average approach both to account for the estimated values of spatially distributed variables, and also to assess the probable error associated with the estimates.

kriging standard deviation
 * The standard error of estimation computed for a kriged estimate. By definition, kriging is the weighted linear estimate with the particular set of weights that minimizes the computed estimation variance (standard error squared). The relationship of the kriging standard deviation to the actual error of estimation is very dependent on the variogram model used and the validity of the underlying assumptions; therefore, kriging standard deviations should be interpreted with caution.

Krohnke process
 * The treatment of silver ores preparatory to amalgamation, by humid chloridization with copper dichloride.

kroehnkite
 * A monoclinic mineral, Na (sub 2) Cu(SO (sub 4) ) (sub 2) .2H (sub 2) O ; azure; in Chilean copper deposits. Also spelled kroehnkite.

Kroll process
 * Process in which purified titanium tetrachloride is reduced to the metallic state with magnesium in an inert atmosphere of helium or argon.

Krupp process
 * a. See: Krupp washing process. Also called Bell-Krupp process.

b. A cementation process designed for the hardening of surface steel, as for armor plates, where the object is to strengthen the outer portion of the mass from the surface toward the interior.

Krupp-Renn
 * The process for the production of iron and steel from medium-grade ores, such as those containing 44% to 57% iron and having a high silicon content. The process involves a continuous reduction and is carried out in a revolving tube furnace, which is designed for the production of iron. The iron is reduced into a sponge and then converted into low-carbon metallic grains, which are called pellets.

Krupp washing process
 * The removal of silicon and phosphorus from molten pig iron by running it into a Pernot furnace lined with iron oxides. Iron ore may also be added, and the bath is agitated by rotation for 5 to 8 min only. See: Krupp process. See also: Bell's dephosphorizing process.

kryptomere
 * See: aphanite. Also spelled cryptomere.

kryzhanovskite
 * An orthorhombic mineral, MnFe (sub 2) (PO (sub 4) ) (sub 2) (OH) (sub 2) .H (sub 2) O ; an oxidation product of phosphoferrite; forms a series with garyansellite.

K-spar
 * See: potassium feldspar.

K.T.A.M. auger tube
 * See: K.T.A.M. double-tube auger.

K.T.A.M. double-tube auger
 * A double-tube soil-sampling device designed to be rotated by hand to obtain soil samples from relatively shallow depths. The inner tube is a swivel type, and its cutting end leads the bottom of the spiral on the outside of the outer tube.

kua
 * Specially shaped hoe used for working gravel in the sluice in Japan.

kulm
 * See: culm.

kundaite
 * A variety of grahamite from Estonia. Distinguished by the brown color of its powder and its greater solubility in turpentine and chloroform.

kunkur
 * See: kankar.

kunzite
 * A gem variety of spodumene; lilac, transparent. Syn: lithia amethyst.

kupferschiefer
 * A dark-colored shale once worked for copper in Germany.

kupletskite
 * A triclinic mineral, (K,Na) (sub 3) (Mn,Fe) (sub 7) (Ti,Nb) (sub 2) Si (sub 8) O (sub 24) (O,OH) (sub 7) ; astrophyllite group; forms series with astrophyllite and with cesium kupletskite.

kuprojarosit
 * See: cuprojarosite.

kurnakovite
 * A triclinic mineral, MbB (sub 3) O (sub 3) (OH) (sub 5) .5H (sub 2) O ; dimorphous with inderite.

kuroko
 * In Japan, black ore. The kuroko deposits consist of intimately mixed zincblende, galena, and barite, associated (in places) with large masses of pyrite and gypsum.

kurtosis
 * In statistics, the technical name describing peakedness of a frequency distribution. It is statistically measured as the coefficient of quartile kurtosis.

kutnohorite
 * A trigonal mineral, 2[Ca(Mn,Mg,Ca,Fe)(CO (sub 3) ) (sub 2) ] ; dolomite group; in carbonate veins. Also spelled kutnahorite.

kyack
 * A packsack to be swung on either side of a packsaddle.

kyanite
 * A triclinic mineral, 4[Al (sub 2) SiO (sub 5) ] ; trimorphous with andalusite and sillimanite; in blades that are distinctly harder across than along; a common rock-forming mineral in schist and gneiss. Also spelled cyanite. Syn: disthene; sappare.

kyanophyllite
 * A mixture of paragonite plus muscovite.

kyrosite
 * A variety of marcasite. Syn: white copper ore.