Sinter

(sin'tür.) [Ger., a scale.] (Miner.) A substance which appears under different forms and is variously designated. Calcareous S. is a variety of carbonate of lime, composed of succe ive layers, concentric, plane, or undulated. Silicious S. is of a dull grayish-white color, and of a light, brittle, and fibrous texture. These two species of S. are deposited by hot mineral waters when they come to the surface of the earth. Opaline silicious S. is whitish, with brown, black, or bluish spots, and its fragments appear to be dendritic. Pearl S., or flo rite, has a gray hue, and occurs in cylindrical, stalactitic, and globular ma es. [s. 829]