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  2. Magma - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magma

    Petrologists routinely express the composition of a silicate magma in terms of the weight or molar mass fraction of the oxides of the major elements (other than oxygen) present in the magma. [19] Because many of the properties of a magma (such as its viscosity and temperature) are observed to correlate with silica content, silicate magmas are ...

  3. Magmatism - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magmatism

    Magmatism. Geological map showing the Gangdese batholith, which is a product of magmatic activity about 100 million years ago. Magmatism is the emplacement of magma within and at the surface of the outer layers of a terrestrial planet, which solidifies as igneous rocks. It does so through magmatic activity or igneous activity, the production ...

  4. Igneous differentiation - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igneous_differentiation

    Igneous differentiation. In geology, igneous differentiation, or magmatic differentiation, is an umbrella term for the various processes by which magmas undergo bulk chemical change during the partial melting process, cooling, emplacement, or eruption. The sequence of (usually increasingly silicic) magmas produced by igneous differentiation is ...

  5. Igneous rock - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igneous_rock

    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.

  6. Metamorphic rock - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamorphic_rock

    The changes that occur are greatest wherever the magma comes into contact with the rock because the temperatures are highest at this boundary and decrease with distance from it. Around the igneous rock that forms from the cooling magma is a metamorphosed zone called a contact aureole. Aureoles may show all degrees of metamorphism from the ...

  7. Oceanic crust - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceanic_crust

    The lines represent tectonic plate boundaries. Oceanic crust is the uppermost layer of the oceanic portion of the tectonic plates. It is composed of the upper oceanic crust, with pillow lavas and a dike complex, and the lower oceanic crust, composed of troctolite, gabbro and ultramafic cumulates. [1][2] The crust overlies the rigid uppermost ...

  8. Extrusive rock - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extrusive_rock

    A volcanic rock from Italy with a relatively large six-sided phenocryst (diameter about 1 mm) surrounded by a fine-grained groundmass, as seen in thin section under a petrographic microscope. Extrusive rock refers to the mode of igneous volcanic rock formation in which hot magma from inside the Earth flows out (extrudes) onto the surface as ...

  9. Dike (geology) - Wikipedia

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

    In geology, a dike or dyke is a sheet of rock that is formed in a fracture of a pre-existing rock body. Dikes can be either magmatic or sedimentary in origin. Magmatic dikes form when magma flows into a crack then solidifies as a sheet intrusion, either cutting across layers of rock or through a contiguous mass of rock.