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Basalt (UK: / ˈ b æ s ɒ l t,-ɔː l t,-əl t /; [1] [2] US: / b ə ˈ s ɔː l t, ˈ b eɪ s ɔː l t /) [3] is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon.
Vesicular texture is a volcanic rock texture characterized by a rock being pitted with many cavities (known as vesicles) at its surface and inside. [ 1 ] This texture is common in aphanitic , or glassy, igneous rocks that have come to the surface of the Earth, a process known as extrusion .
Scoria or cinder 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.
The flows occurred between 400,000 years ago and 10,000 years ago. During this period, the glacial flows would run through Fossil Falls and smooth the vesicular basalt. The erosion found at Fossil Falls was formed by the youngest glacial runoff, called the Tioga, from the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range about 20,000 to 10,000 years ago. [3] [5]
Shield volcanoes are large, slow forming volcanoes [6] that erupt fluid basaltic magma that cools to form the extrusive rock basalt. Basalt is composed of minerals readily available in the planet's crust, including feldspars and pyroxenes. [2] Fissure volcanoes pour out low viscosity basaltic magma from fissure vents to form the extrusive rock ...
Tachylite (/ ˈ t æ k ə l aɪ t / TAK-ə-lyte; also spelled tachylyte) is a form of basaltic volcanic glass. This glass is formed naturally by the rapid cooling of molten basalt. It is a type of mafic igneous rock that is decomposable by acids and readily fusible. [citation needed] The color is a black or dark-brown, and it has a greasy ...
Lava flows of the mafic shield-building stage comprise four sub-horizontal units. Initial volcanism produced a 53-metre-thick (174-foot) sequence of columnar-jointed alkali basalt flows and altered grey-green vesicular basalts which form the lowest unit. Subsequent activity deposited the overlying second 107-metre-thick (351-foot) unit.
Volcanic rocks and sediment that form from magma erupted into the air are called "pyroclastics," and these are also technically sedimentary rocks. Volcanic rocks are among the most common rock types on Earth's surface, particularly in the oceans. On land, they are very common at plate boundaries and in flood basalt provinces. It has been ...