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  2. Extrusive rock - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extrusive_rock

    The texture of extrusive rocks is characterized by fine-grained crystals indistinguishable to the human eye, described as aphantic. Crystals in aphantic rocks are small in size due to their rapid formation during eruption. [3] Any larger crystals visible to the human eye, called phenocrysts, form earlier while slowly cooling in the magma ...

  3. Igneous rock - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igneous_rock

    Extrusive igneous rock, also known as volcanic rock, is formed by the cooling of molten magma on the earth's surface. The magma, which is brought to the surface through fissures or volcanic eruptions, rapidly solidifies. Hence such rocks are fine-grained or even glassy. Basalt is the most common extrusive igneous rock [9] and forms lava flows ...

  4. Matrix (geology) - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix_(geology)

    Also in South Africa, diamonds are often mined from a matrix of weathered clay-like rock called "yellow ground". The matrix of sedimentary rocks is finer-grained sedimentary material, such as clay or silt, in which larger grains or clasts are embedded. It is also used to describe the rock material in which a fossil is embedded.

  5. Glossary of geology - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_geology

    Also called Indianite. A mineral from the lime-rich end of the plagioclase group of minerals. Anorthites are usually silicates of calcium and aluminium occurring in some basic igneous rocks, typically those produced by the contact metamorphism of impure calcareous sediments. anticline An arched fold in which the layers usually dip away from the fold axis. Contrast syncline. aphanic Having the ...

  6. Water politics - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_politics

    Water politics, sometimes called hydropolitics, is politics affected by the availability of water and water resources, a necessity for all life forms and human development. Arun P. Elhance's definition of hydropolitics is "the systematic study of conflict and cooperation between states over water resources that transcend international borders ...

  7. List of rock formations - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rock_formations

    The term rock formation can also refer to specific sedimentary strata or other rock unit in stratigraphic and petrologic studies. A rock structure can be created in any rock type or combination: Igneous rocks are created when molten rock cools and solidifies, with or without crystallisation. They may be either plutonic bodies or volcanic ...

  8. Scoria - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoria

    Scoria is a pyroclastic, highly vesicular, dark-colored volcanic rock formed by ejection from a volcano as a molten blob and cooled in the air to form discrete grains called clasts. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] It is typically dark in color (brown, black or purplish-red), and basaltic or andesitic in composition.

  9. Fractional crystallization (geology) - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_crystallization...

    One example concerns crystallization of melts that form mafic and ultramafic rocks. MgO and SiO 2 concentrations in melts are among the variables that determine whether forsterite olivine or enstatite pyroxene is precipitated, [11] but the water content and pressure are also important. In some compositions, at high pressures without water ...