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Darker andesite can be challenging to distinguish from basalt, but a common rule of thumb, used away from the laboratory, is that andesite has a color index less than 35. [9] The plagioclase in andesite varies widely in sodium content, from anorthite to oligoclase, but is typically andesine, in which anorthite makes up about 40 mol% of
It has a fine-grained to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyolite. It is composed predominantly of plagioclase feldspar and quartz . Dacite is relatively common, occurring in many tectonic settings.
Since they are primarily composed of plagioclase feldspar, most of Proterozoic anorthosites appear, in outcrop, to be grey or bluish. Individual plagioclase crystals may be black, white, blue, or grey, and may exhibit an iridescence known as labradorescence on fresh surfaces. The feldspar variety labradorite is commonly present in anorthosites.
The tholeiitic magma series (/ ˌ θ oʊ l eɪ ˈ ɪ t ɪ k /) is one of two main magma series in subalkaline igneous rocks, the other being the calc-alkaline series. A magma series is a chemically distinct range of magma compositions that describes the evolution of a mafic magma into a more evolved, silica rich end member.
Fifes Peaks Formation consists of flows that are vesicular, basaltic andesite. Weathering the rock creates shades of dark brown. The newly fractured blocks are medium- to dark-gray colors. Some flows are fine grained, most are porphyritic and contain glassy phenocrysts of plagioclase that weather to chalky-appearing
Igneous rock, with gray groundmass and white phenocrysts marked. Orthoclase phenocrysts within a finer-grained matrix of a granite porphyry. The matrix or groundmass of a rock is the finer-grained mass of material in which larger grains, crystals, or clasts are embedded.
The cumulate rock is a plagioclase-pyroxene cumulate (a gabbro) and the melt is now more felsic and aluminous in composition (trending towards andesite compositions). In the above example, the plagioclase and pyroxene need not be pure end-member compositions (anorthite-enstatite), and thus the effect of depletion of elements can be complex.
Sanukite rocks are an andesite characterized by orthopyroxene as the mafic mineral, andesine as the plagioclase, and a glassy groundmass. Rocks formed by processes similar to those of sanukite may have compositions outside the sanukitoid field.