Appendix:Dictionary of Mining, Mineral, and Related Terms/U/2

upcast
 * removed. Ant: downcast; intake. See also: air shaft.

b. An upward current of air passing through a shaft, or the like. c. Material that has been thrown up, such as by digging. d. Same as upthrow, such as the upcast side of a fault; opposite of downthrow or downcast. e. The lifting of a seam or bed by a dike. Syn: uptake.

upcast shaft
 * a. A shaft through which air leaves the mine.

b. The shaft up which the ventilating current of air returns to the surface or to the fan. The term corresponds to main return or return drift in drift mining. Also called fan shaft. Syn: uptake. See also: downcast shaft.

upconing
 * See: coning.

upgrade
 * a. To increase the commercial value of a coal by appropriate treatment.

b. To increase the quality rating of diamonds beyond or above the rating implied by their particular classification. c. To increase the quality of grades.

upgrading
 * See: aggradation.

uphill shaker conveyor
 * Any shaker conveyor that is so designed as to have the proper stroke for shaking the maximum amount of coal up a grade. On certain types of shaker conveyors, this requires the replacement of certain parts of the drive to secure the desired stroke, rather than replacing the entire drive unit.

up hole
 * a. A borehole collared in an underground working place and drilled in a direction pointed above the horizontal plane of the drill-machine swivel head.

b. A shothole drilled in rock at an upward angle.

uphole shooting
 * In seismic exploration, the setting off of successive shots in a shothole at varying depths to determine velocities and velocity variation of the materials forming the walls of the hole.

uphole time
 * Used to denote the observed travel time of a seismic wave from the point of generation at a given depth in a shothole to a detector at the surface; the observed time equivalent of the corresponding shot depth. Syn: time at shot point.

uplift
 * a. Any force that tends to raise an engineering structure and its foundation relative to its surroundings. It may be caused by pressure of subjacent ground, surface water, expansive soil under the base of the structure, or lateral forces such as wind.

b. A structurally high area in the crust, produced by positive movements that raise or upthrust the rocks, as in a dome or arch. CF: depression.

up-over
 * Designating a method of shaft excavation by drifting to a point below and then raising.

upper
 * a. Pertaining to rocks or strata that are normally above those of earlier formations of the same subdivision of rocks. The adjective is applied to the name of a chronostratigraphic unit (system, series, stage) to indicate position in the geologic column and corresponds to late as applied to the name of the equivalent geologic-time unit; e.g., rocks of the Upper Jurassic System were formed during the Late Jurassic Period. The initial letter of the term is capitalized to indicate a formal subdivision (e.g., "Upper Devonian") and is lowercased to indicate an informal subdivision (e.g., "upper Miocene"). The informal term may be used where there is no formal subdivision of a system or series (counterpart of lower). CF: lower; middle.

b. See: up hole.

Upper Barren Coal Measures
 * The part of the Carboniferous strata of the Appalachian field that is now assigned to the Dunkard group of the Permian series. Obsolete.

upper break
 * The upper bend of a terrace or monocline. Also called head.

upper explosive limit of flammability
 * The highest quantity of combustible gases that, when mixed with a given quantity of air (or oxygen), will just support a self-propagating flame.

Upper Productive Coal Measures
 * The part of the Carboniferous strata of the Appalachian field that is now assigned to the Monongahela group of the Pennsylvanian series. Obsolete.

upraise
 * An auxiliary shaft, a mill hole, carried from one level up toward another. See also: rise; raise. (These are better terms.)

upright
 * See: post.

upright fold
 * A fold having an essentially vertical axial surface. Syn: vertical fold.

upright joints
 * Eng. Vertical joints. See also: thorough joints.

upset
 * a. A narrow passage driven on a slope, leaving a wider pillar which is to be mined by slabbing or otherwise.

b. A narrow working place driven from one pair of entries to another for the development of a long face in semilongwall or longwall mining. c. A tubular part such as a drill rod, the wall thickness of which has been increased by hot forging for a short distance on one or both ends, thereby reinforcing the area in which screw threads are cut. See also: inside upset; outside upset. d. To increase the diameter of a rock drill by blunting the end.

upsetting
 * A means of increasing the diameter of a red-hot steel bar during forging by striking it on the end, a state that also occurs in riveting.

uptake
 * See: upcast; upcast shaft.

upthrow
 * a. The upthrown side of a fault.

b. The amount of upward vertical displacement of a fault. CF: downthrow; heave.

upward-current washer
 * A washer in which separation takes place under the influence of an upward current of water or dense medium.

uraconite
 * A name used for amorphous, yellow, hydrous uranium sulfates of unknown composition. Syn: uranic ocher.

uralborite
 * A monoclinic mineral, CaB (sub 2) O (sub 2) (OH) (sub 4) ; dimorphous with vimsite; forms radiating fibrous aggregates; at a skarn deposit in the Turinsk area of the Urals, Russia.

Uralian emerald
 * a. Emerald from near Sverdlovsk in the Ural Mountains, Russia.

b. A green variety of andradite garnet (demantoid), occurring as nodules in ultramafic rocks in the Nizhniy-Tagilsk district of the Ural Mountains; may be of semiprecious gem quality, although rather soft. Also known as Bobrovska garnet.

uralite
 * A fibrous amphibole pseudomorphous after pyroxene. A trade name for a fireproof material, chiefly of asbestos.

uralitization
 * The development of amphibole from pyroxene; specif. a late-magmatic or metamorphic process of replacement whereby uralitic amphibole results from alteration of primary pyroxene. Also, the alteration of an igneous rock in which pyroxene is changed to amphibole; e.g., the alteration of gabbro to greenstone by pressure metamorphism.

uramphite
 * An orthorhombic(?) mineral, (NH (sub 4) )(UO (sub 2) )(PO (sub 4) ).3H (sub 2) O ; meta-autunite group; forms bottle-green flakes in the oxidation zone of a uranium-coal deposit.

uran
 * Combining form meaning containing uranium; e.g., uranothorite. Syn: urano-.

urania ceramics
 * Ceramic products containing appreciable amounts of UO (sub 2) (or thorium) that are used in atomic reactors. They are stable against corrosion.

uranian opal
 * A variety of opal having an apple-green fluorescence reputedly caused by the presence of minute amounts of uranium.

uranic ocher
 * See: uraconite.

uraninite
 * An isometric mineral, UO (sub 2), commonly impure with actinide and lanthanide rare earths, radium, helium, and zirconium; strongly radioactive; metamict; generally black; sp gr, 10.9; in pegmatites and veins with lead, tin, and copper minerals; a source of uranium called pitchblende where massive and metamict. See also: pitchblende. Syn: ulrichite; coracite.

uranite
 * A general term for any mineral consisting of uranyl phosphate and arsenate of the autunite, meta-autunite, and torbernite groups.

uranium
 * A radioactive, silvery-white, metallic element. Symbol, U. Occurs in numerous minerals such as pitchblende, uraninite, carnotite, autunite, uranophane, davidite, and tobernite. It is also found in phosphate rock, lignite, and monazite sands. Uranium and its compounds are highly toxic, both chemically and radiologically. Uranium is of great importance as a nuclear fuel; it is used as ballast for missile reentry vehicles, as a shielding material, and for production of high-energy X-rays.

uranium borides
 * Three borides are known: UBr (sub 2), UBr (sub 3) , and UBr (sub 4) . The most attention has been paid to the tetraboride, the properties of which are: melting point, >2,100 degrees C (but oxidizes rapidly above 600 degrees C); sp gr# = 9.38 g/mL; thermal expansion, 7.1 X 10 (super -6) (20 to 1,000 degrees C); modulus of rupture (20 degrees C), 60,000 psi (414 MPa); electrical resistivity, 3 X 10 (super -5) ohm.cm.

uranium disintegration series
 * The series of nuclides resulting from the decay of uranium-238. The mass numbers of all members of the series are given by 4n+2, where n is an integer; therefore, the sequence is also known as the 4n+2 series. It is also known as the uranium-radium series.

uranium galena
 * Galena containing Pb 206, the lead isotope produced by radioactive decay of U 238.

uranium-lead
 * See: radium G.

uranium minerals
 * More than 150 uranium-bearing minerals are known to exist, but only a few are common. The five primary uranium-ore minerals are pitchblende, uraninite, davidite, coffinite, and brannerite. These were formed by deep-seated hot solutions and are most commonly found in veins or pegmatites. The secondary uranium ore minerals, altered from the primary minerals by weathering or other natural processes, are carnotite, tyuyamunite and metatyuyamunite (both very similar to carnotite), torbemite and metatorbernite, autunite and metaautunite, and uranophane.

uranium oxide
 * The important oxides of uranium are UO (sub 2), UO (sub 3) , and U (sub 3) O (sub 8) . The dioxide (melting point 2,880 degrees C) is used as a nuclear-fuel element. Uranium oxide has been used to produce red and yellow glazes and ceramic colors.

uranium trioxide
 * Red, orange, and yellow; UO (sub 3) ; an intermediate product in the refining of uranium.

uranmica
 * See: torbernite; uranite.

urano-
 * See: uran.

uranocircite
 * A tetragonal mineral, Ba(UO (sub 2) ) (sub 2) (PO (sub 4) ) (sub 2) .10H (sub 2) O ; autunite group; yellow-green.

uranolite
 * A meteorite.

uranophane
 * A monoclinic mineral, Ca(UO (sub 2) ) (sub 2) [(SiO (sub 3) )(OH)] (sub 2) .5H (sub 2) O ; dimorphous with uranophane-beta; radioactive; soft; yellow; as secondary coatings, commonly associated with autunite and torbernite around uranium deposits; a source of uranium.

uranopilite
 * A monoclinic mineral, (UO (sub 2) ) (sub 6) (SO (sub 4) )(OH) (sub 10) .13H (sub 2) O ; radioactive; yellow; secondary on uraninite; associated with gypsum and metauranopilite.

uranorthorite
 * A variety of thorium silicate; thorite containing a small percentage of oxide of uranium.

uranosphaerite
 * A monoclinic mineral, BiUO (sub 3) (OH) (sub 3) ; radioactive; orange to red; an oxidation product of pitchblende. Also spelled uranospherite.

uranotantalite
 * See: samarskite.

uranothallite
 * See: liebigite.

uranothorianite
 * Thorianite with uranium in partial substitution for thorium.

uranothorite
 * A uranian variety of thorite.

uranotile
 * See: uranophane.

uranphyllite
 * See: torbernite.

uranpyrochlore
 * An isometric mineral, (U,Ca,Ce) (sub 2) (Nb,Ta) (sub 2) O (sub 6) (OH,F) ; pyrochlore group; radioactive; yellow-brown; with samarskite in pegmatites in Mitchell County, NC, and at Hybla, ON, Canada. Formerly called hatchettolite. CF: betafite.

urao
 * A mixture of trona and thermonatrite. See also: sodium sesquicarbonate.

urea
 * A tetragonal mineral, CO(NH (sub 2) ) (sub 2) . Carbonyl diamide; also called carbamide.

Ure's process
 * The treatment of quicksilver ores by heating in iron retorts with admixture of lime.

Urgonian
 * A division of the European Lower Cretaceous characteristically developed in certain parts of France and Belgium.

urnel
 * Eng. Kentish term for ragstone. Also spelled urnell or ournal.

urolith
 * A pathogenic precipitate occurring in humans and other animals. They are very complex and include numerous biominerals, chiefly phosphates and oxalates. Syn: kidney stone.

urtite
 * A light-colored member of the ijolite series that is composed chiefly of nepheline and 0% to 30% mafic minerals, esp. acmite and apatite. CF: melteigite. The name, given by Ramsay in 1896, is for Lujavr-Urt (now Lovozero), Kola Peninsula, Russia.

Uruguay amethyst
 * a. A deep violet, very transparent amethyst.

b. Any amethyst originating along the border between Uruguay and Brazil.

usable diamond
 * A resettable salvage diamond. See also: usable stone; usables.

usable iron ore
 * The product of a mine, or of a beneficiating or agglomerating plant, which is shipped without further processing to the consumer.

usables
 * Salvaged diamonds considered as being fit for resetting and reuse in another bit or tool. See also: usable diamond.

usable stone
 * See: usable diamond.

used bit
 * A diamond bit so dulled by use that it is no longer of any value as a cutting tool.

useful area
 * Working area of a screen. The nominal area, less any area occupied by fixings or supports that obstruct the passage of material over or through the screen deck.

useful pressure
 * For a mine fan, the natural ventilation pressure deducted from the total ventilation pressure required to circulate air through the mine.

Usspurwies arch
 * An articulated yielding arch, provided by a single bolted joint at the crown. The joint is so designed that the bolt is not subjected to shear stress. The yield element is a rectangular box in which the foot of the arch rests. The resistance to yield is by means of a piece of crushing timber placed in the box from the bottom before setting. See also: steel arch; steel support; Toussaint-Heintzmann arch.

U-stage
 * See: universal stage.

ustarasite
 * A mineral, Pb(Bi,Sb) (sub 6) S (sub 10) ; forms gray prismatic crystals in bismuth ore at the Ustarasaisk deposit in western Tyan-shan, Siberia.

usual mining privileges
 * By this term in a deed, the grantee has and may enjoy the right to go upon the land and explore for, open, and operate mines, take out and sell the products, and do all things incident to that work.

utahite
 * A discredited term for jarosite or natrojarosite. See also: natrojarosite.

utahlite
 * A compact, nodular variscite from Lewiston, Cedar Valley, UT.

U-tube manometer
 * The vertical U-tube is the simplest type of pressure gage and consists either of a single U-shaped glass tube having a uniform bore with vertical arms or two separate glass tubes connected to a cistern. The level of the liquid in the vertical U-gage can be read easily to 0.1 in (2.5 mm) and in well-made instruments to 0.05 in (1.3 mm) water gage. See also: manometer.

uvanite
 * An orthorhombic(?) mineral, (UO (sub 3) ) (sub 2) V (sub 6) O (sub 15) .15H (sub 2) O(?) ; radioactive; brownish-yellow; in asphaltic sandstone with carnotite, rauvite, hewettite, metatorbernite, hyalite, and gypsum; from Utah; resembles carnotite.

uvarovite
 * An isometric mineral, Ca (sub 3) Cr (sub 2) Si (sub 3) O (sub 12) ; garnet group; crystallizes in emerald green dodecahedra and trapezohedra; in serpentinite and in skarns. Also spelled ouvarovite or uwarowit. Syn: chrome garnet; chromium garnet.

uvite
 * The trigonal mineral, (Ca,Na)(Mg,Fe) (sub 3) Al (sub 5) Mg(BO (sub 3) ) (sub 3) Si (sub 6) O (sub 18) (OH,F) (sub 4), of the tourmaline group.

uwarowit
 * See: uvarovite.

uzbekite
 * See: volborthite.