Guidelines

What are the names of intrusive rocks?

What are the names of intrusive rocks?

Typical intrusive bodies are batholiths, stocks, laccoliths, sills and dikes. Common intrusive rocks are granite, gabbro, or diorite. The central cores of major mountain ranges consist of intrusive igneous rocks. When exposed by erosion, these cores (called batholiths) may occupy huge areas of the Earth’s surface.

Who are the plutonic rocks named after?

Plutonic Igneous Rocks. Intrusive igneous rocks, formed by the slow solidification of magma deep below the surface and characterized by large crystals. Named after Pluto, the Roman god of the underworld. Examples include granite, gabbro and peridotite.

What are examples of plutonic rocks?

Examples of plutonic rocks are granite, gabbro, and granodiorite. In general igneous rocks are named depending on their minerals and hence chemistry.

What are the 3 types of intrusive rock?

Igneous intrusions form when magma cools and solidifies before it reaches the surface. Three common types of intrusion are sills, dykes, and batholiths (see image below).

What are the names of intrusive and extrusive rocks?

1) Intrusive rocks or Plutonic rocks When magma never reaches the surface and cools to form intrusions (dykes, sills etc) the resulting rocks are called plutonic. Depending on their silica content, they are called (in ascending order of silica content) gabbro, diorite, granite and pegmatite.

Why are igneous rocks called intrusive or plutonic?

Igneous rocks are called intrusive or plutonic when they cool and solidify beneath the surface. Because they form within the Earth, cooling occurs slowly. Such slow cooling allows time for large crystals to form, therefore, intrusive or plutonic igneous rocks have relatively large mineral crystals that are easy to see.

Which is an example of a plutonic rock?

As an example, a rock with the same composition could be called ​gabbro if it were plutonic, diabase if it were intrusive, or basalt if it were extrusive. Whereas plutonic rocks form continents, basalt lies in the crust underneath the oceans. The name for a particular plutonic rock depends on the mix of minerals in it.

Which is an intrusive rock similar to a basalt?

(Wikimedia Commons) Gabbro is a silica-poor intrusive igneous (plutonic) rock chemically equivalent to basalt. It is normally coarse-grained, dark and typically contains feldspar, augite and sometimes olivine.