Cleavage
In mineralogy, the tendency of crystalline materials to split along definite planes, creating smooth surfaces, of which there are several named types:
- Basal cleavage: cleavage parallel to the base of a crystal, or to the plane of the lateral axes.
- Cubic cleavage: cleavage parallel to the faces of a cube.
- Diagonal cleavage: cleavage parallel to a diagonal plane.
- Lateral cleavage: cleavage parallel to the lateral planes.
- Octahedral, Dodecahedral, or Rhombohedral cleavage: cleavage parallel to the faces of an octahedron, dodecahedron, or rhombohedron.
- Prismatic cleavage, cleavage parallel to a vertical Prism.
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