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Intrusive rocks are characterized by large crystal sizes, and as the individual crystals are visible, the rock is called phaneritic. [8] There are few indications of flow in intrusive rocks, since their texture and structure mostly develops in the final stages of crystallization, when flow has ended. [ 9 ]
Intrusive igneous rocks are classified separately from extrusive igneous rocks, generally on the basis of their mineral content. The relative amounts of quartz, alkali feldspar, plagioclase, and feldspathoid is particularly important in classifying intrusive igneous rocks. [9] [10] Intrusions must displace existing country rock to make room for ...
Quartzolite – Extremely rare igneous rock made mostly of quartz – An intrusive rock composed mostly of quartz; Rhyodacite – Volcanic rock rich in silica and low in alkali metal oxides – A felsic volcanic rock which is intermediate between a rhyolite and a dacite; Rhyolite – Igneous, volcanic rock, of felsic (silica-rich) composition
Bodies of intrusive rock are known as intrusions and are surrounded by pre-existing rock (called country rock). The country rock is an excellent thermal insulator, so the magma cools slowly, and intrusive rocks are coarse-grained . The mineral grains in such rocks can generally be identified with the naked eye.
Half Dome, a quartz monzonite monolith in Yosemite National Park and part of the Sierra Nevada Batholith. A batholith (from Ancient Greek bathos 'depth' and lithos 'rock') is a large mass of intrusive igneous rock (also called plutonic rock), larger than 100 km 2 (40 sq mi) in area, [1] that forms from cooled magma deep in the Earth's crust.
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.
Phaneritic (phaner = visible) textures are typical of intrusive igneous rocks, these rocks crystallized slowly below Earth's surface. As magma cools slowly the minerals have time to grow and form large crystals. The minerals in a phaneritic igneous rock are sufficiently large to see each individual crystal with the naked eye.
Igneous rocks include rocks that have solidified from a melt either below the surface of a planet or natural satellite as intrusives or on the surface as extrusives or volcanic eruptions. The main article for this category is Igneous rock .