Acidic rock
acidic rock (noun, pl. acidic rocks;ecology term,Substrate term) – (1) mineralogical (synonym: siliceous rock): a rock with a high content of silica (SiO2 = acidic minerals); (2) chemical: a rock with a low pH. Note: ambiguous term, sometimes imprecisely used to refer only to the pH of a rock substrate; the mineralogical definition should be preferred because it includes the chemical composition of a rock; if the pH reaction needs to be emphasized it should be referred to as "a rock with a low pH" not as an "acidic rock"; the two definitions are often not identical, e. g., the mineralogy of a basalt is basic because it has a low content of SiO2-minerals, nevertheless a basalt has a low (or neutral) but never a high, "basic" pH. In lichenology the definition has often erroneously been used to refer to non-calcareous rocks, i. e., rocks without calcites (testing negative ("not bubbling") if a 10% solution of HCl is applied top the surface).
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