The Igneous Rock Granite

What are igneous rocks.

The igneous rock granite.

Granite is a light colored igneous rock with grains large enough to be visible with the unaided eye. Granite is composed mainly of quartz and feldspar with minor amounts of mica amphiboles and other minerals this mineral composition usually gives granite a red pink gray or white color with dark mineral. Strictly speaking granite is an. Photo by eva didonato.

Granite is a type of igneous rock that consists of quartz gray plagioclase feldspar white and alkali feldspar beige plus dark minerals such as biotite and hornblende. Granite is an intrusive igneous rock. Granite ˈ ɡ r æ n ɪ t is a common type of felsic intrusive igneous rock that is granular and phaneritic in texture. Granite boulders at joshua tree national park california.

Granite is used by the public as a catchall name for any light colored coarse grained igneous rock. It forms from the slow crystallization of magma below earth s surface. The two best known igneous rock types are basalt and granite which have distinctly different compositions and textures. Igneous rocks can have many different compositions depending on the magma they cool from.

Granite is the most widespread of igneous rocks underlying much of the continental crust. All magma develops underground in the lower crust or upper mantle because of the intense heat there. Granite coarse or medium grained intrusive igneous rock that is rich in quartz and feldspar. Feldspar quartz amphiboles and pyroxenes together called dark minerals by geologists as well as olivine along with the softer mineral mica.

There are two basic types. Intrusive igneous rocks crystallize below earth s surface and the slow cooling that occurs there allows large crystals to form. Eventually the overlying rocks are removed exposing the granite. Magma originates deep within the earth near active plate boundaries or hot spots.

Intrusive rocks form from molten material magma that flows and solidifies underground where magma cools slowly. Examples of intrusive igneous rocks are diabase diorite gabbro granite pegmatite and peridotite. The main minerals in igneous rocks are hard primary ones. Learn more about the properties and uses of granite in this article.

It is the most common plutonic rock of the earth s crust forming by the cooling of magma silicate melt at depth. Magma that rises to the surface is called lava. Granite is an igneous intrusive rock crystallized at depth with felsic composition rich in silica and predominately quartz plus potassium rich feldspar plus sodium rich plagioclase and phaneritic subeuhedral texture minerals are visible to the unaided eye and commonly some of them retain original crystallographic shapes. Igneous rocks from the greek word for fire form when hot molten rock magma crystallizes and solidifies.