![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4d/Peridotite_Olivine-Orthopyroxene-Clinopyroxene_Wehrlite_highlighted.svg/300px-Peridotite_Olivine-Orthopyroxene-Clinopyroxene_Wehrlite_highlighted.svg.png)
Wehrlite is an ultramafic and ultrabasic rock that is a mixture of olivine and clinopyroxene. It is a subdivision of the peridotites.
The nomenclature allows up to a few percent of orthopyroxene. Accessory minerals include ilmenite, chromite, magnetite and an aluminium-bearing mineral (plagioclase, spinel or garnet).[1]
Wehrlites occur as mantle xenoliths and in ophiolites. Another occurrence is as cumulate in gabbro and norite layered intrusions.[1] Some meteorites can also be classified as wehrlites (e.g. NWA 4797).[2]
Wehrlite is named after Alois Wehrle.[3] He was born 1791 in Kroměříž, Czech Republic (then Kremsier in Mähren) and was a professor at the "Ungarische Bergakademie" (Hungarian Mining School) in Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia (then Schemnitz, Kingdom of Hungary).[4]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Glossary: Wehrlite". Imperial College. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
- ^ "NWA 4797" (PDF). curator.jsc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
- ^ "Department of Mineralogy and Petrography". uni-miskolc.hu. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
- ^ "ADB:Wehrle, Alois". WikiSource. Retrieved 12 January 2013.