Wiktionary
n. (context chemistry geology English) in the Goldschmidt classification, an element that forms silicates or oxides and is concentrated in the minerals of the Earth's crust.
Wikipedia
Lithophiles are micro-organisms that can live within the pore interstices of sedimentary and even fractured igneous rocks to depths of several kilometers.
Some are known to live in surface rocks, and make use of photosynthesis for energy.
Those that live in deeper rocks cannot use photosynthesis to gather energy, but instead extract energy from minerals around them. They live in cracks in the rock where water seeps down. The water contains dissolved carbon dioxide (CO) which the organisms use for their carbon needs. They have been detected in rocks down to depths of nearly three km, where the temperature is approximately 75 °C.
Usage examples of "lithophile".
The lithophiles consumed water and carbon dioxide (mostly dissolved) to make carbohydrates and oxygen (mostly undis-solved)-and because they manufactured "oxygen-deficient" carbohydrates (like deoxyribose), they released more oxygen than they took in carbon dioxide, adding to the net increase in pressure.
The militia sent divers to the edge of the guyot, and pumped in primer to make the lithophiles degass the reef-rock just above the basalt.