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Today, diorite is uncommon in construction, although it shares similar physical properties with granite. Diorite is often sold commercially as "black granite". [45] Diorite's modern uses include construction aggregate, curbing, usage as dimension stones, cobblestone, and facing stones.
In the construction industry, black rocks that share the hardness and strength of granitic rocks are known as black granite. In geological terms, black granite might be gabbro , diabase , basalt , diorite , norite , or anorthosite .
Diabase also serves as local building stone. In Tasmania, where it is one of the most common rocks found, [ 23 ] it is used for building, for landscaping and to erect dry-stone farm walls. In northern County Down , Northern Ireland, "dolerite" is used in buildings such as Mount Stewart together with Scrabo Sandstone as both are quarried at ...
It is also used as construction material, building facade, and paving, and as an ornamental stone. [8] The Rosetta Stone is a stele made from granodiorite. [ 9 ] The portico columns of the Pantheon in Rome are formed from single shafts of granodiorite, each 12 metres tall by 1.5 metres in diameter.
Granite is a hard stone and requires skill to carve by hand. Until the early 18th century, in the Western world, granite could be carved only by hand tools with generally poor results. A key breakthrough was the invention of steam-powered cutting and dressing tools by Alexander MacDonald of Aberdeen , inspired by seeing ancient Egyptian granite ...
Quartz diorite is an igneous, plutonic rock, of felsic composition, with phaneritic texture. Feldspar is present as plagioclase (typically oligoclase or andesine ) with 10% or less potassium feldspar.
Napoleonite is a variety of diorite which is characterized by orbicular structure. The grey matrix of the stone has the normal appearance of a diorite, but contains many rounded lumps 1 or 2 inches in diameter, which show concentric zones of light and dark colors.
Gabbro is known in the construction industry by the trade name of black granite. [31] However, gabbro is hard and difficult to work, which limits its use. [32] The term "indigo gabbro" is used as a common name for a mineralogically complex rock type often found in mottled tones of black and lilac-grey.