China stone is a medium grained, feldspar-rich partially decomposed granite characterized by the absence of iron-bearing minerals. Its mineral content includes quartz, feldspar and mica; accessory minerals include kaolinite and fluorspar. It is found in one area of Cornwall in the United Kingdom and is the UK’s only indigenous source of feldspathic material currently being commercially extracted. Production levels in the four years up to 2003 averaged 2,800 tonnes per year.
Other names include Cornish or Cornwall stone. It is sometimes confused with petuntse, which although somewhat similar, is a different rock.
Famous quotes containing the words china and/or stone:
“Riot in Algeria, in Cyprus, in Alabama;
Aged in wrong, the empires are declining,
And China gathers, soundlessly, like evidence.
What shall I say to the young on such a morning?—
Mind is the one salvation?—also grammar?—
No; my little ones lean not toward revolt.”
—William Dewitt Snodgrass (b. 1926)
“You see, in a world where elephants are pursued by flying men, people are just naturally going to want to get high.”
—Judith Rascoe, U.S. screenwriter, Robert Stone (b. 1939)