Bauchite : a New Variety in the Quartz Monzonitic Series

Abstract

THE name ‘bauchite’ is proposed for a coarse plutonic fayalite-bearing rock which was first described by me from Bauchi in northern Nigeria¹. I share the reluctance of modern petrologists to propose new variety names for rocks. There are, however, cases in which a variety name is justifiable to imply a significant physical, chemical or petrological characteristic not adequately conveyed by the general or group name. The case of charnockite is an example: to have simply described a charnockite as a hypersthene granite would never have conveyed the petrological peculiarities of the rock.