A dark, fine-grained igneous rock, a variety of basalt; also spelled dolerite in more modern usage.
From French dolérite, from Greek dolos (deceitful, deceptive) + -ite (stone suffix), so named because the rock's appearance can be deceptive or because it's difficult to distinguish from similar rocks under certain conditions.
Early geologists named this rock 'deceptive stone' because it looks so similar to other dark rocks that miners and prospectors kept mistaking it for more valuable minerals—a name born from geological fraud!
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