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Intrusive rock. Intrusive rock is formed when magma penetrates existing rock, crystallizes, and solidifies underground to form intrusions, such as batholiths, dikes, sills, laccoliths, and volcanic necks. [1][2][3] Intrusion is one of the two ways igneous rock can form. The other is extrusion, such as a volcanic eruption or similar event.
In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body[1] or simply intrusion[2]) is a body of intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety of forms and compositions, illustrated by examples like the Palisades Sill of New York and New Jersey; [3] the ...
Igneous rock (igneous from Latin igneus 'fiery'), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rocks are formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava. The magma can be derived from partial melts of existing rocks in either a planet 's mantle or crust.
Granite (/ ˈ ɡ r æ n ɪ t / GRAN-it) is a coarse-grained intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies underground. It is common in the continental crust of Earth, where it is found in igneous ...
Carbonatite (/ kɑːrˈbɒnəˌtaɪt /) is a type of intrusive or extrusive igneous rock defined by mineralogic composition consisting of greater than 50% carbonate minerals. [1] Carbonatites may be confused with marble and may require geochemical verification. Carbonatites usually occur as small plugs within zoned alkalic intrusive complexes ...
Mineral assemblage of igneous rocks. Diorite (/ ˈdaɪ.əraɪt / DY-ə-ryte) [1][2] is an intrusive igneous rock formed by the slow cooling underground of magma (molten rock) that has a moderate content of silica and a relatively low content of alkali metals. It is intermediate in composition between low-silica (mafic) gabbro and high-silica ...
A layered intrusion is a large sill -like body of igneous rock which exhibits vertical layering or differences in composition and texture. These intrusions can be many kilometres in area covering from around 100 km 2 (39 sq mi) to over 50,000 km 2 (19,000 sq mi) and several hundred metres to over one kilometre (3,300 ft) in thickness. [1]
Dunite (/ ˈduːnaɪt, ˈdʌnaɪt /), also known as olivinite (not to be confused with the mineral olivenite), is an intrusive igneous rock of ultramafic composition and with phaneritic (coarse-grained) texture. The mineral assemblage is greater than 90% olivine, with minor amounts of other minerals such as pyroxene, chromite, magnetite, and ...