Is Basalt Granite

Granite counter tops in a new kitchen.

Is basalt granite.

As it turns out most of the ocean floor is basalt and most of the continents are granite. Strictly speaking granite is an. Earth contains three kinds of rocks namely igneous rocks sedimentary rocks and metamorphic rocks. Granite and basalt both have large amounts of.

Basalt is common on both earth and other solar system bodies such as the moon and mars while granite is only common on earth and rare elsewhere in the solar system. The difference between basalt and gabbro is that basalt is a fine grained rock while gabbro is a coarse grained rock. Under this definition gabbro basalt pegmatite schist gneiss syenite monzonite anorthosite granodiorite diabase diorite and many other rocks will be called granite granite counter tops. Magma breaks through the crust of the earth and erupts on the surface.

Felsic rocks are less dense than mafic and ultramafic rocks and thus they tend to escape subduction whereas basaltic or gabbroic rocks tend to sink into the mantle beneath the granitic rocks of the continental cratons. Granites can be predominantly white pink or gray in color depending on their mineralogy the word granite comes from the latin granum a grain in reference to the coarse grained structure of such a completely crystalline rock. Basalt and granite are two types of igneous rocks. This shield volcano is composed of basalt and has enormous calderas at the summit.

The magma was trapped deep in the crust took a long time to cool down and crystallize into solid rock. Basaltic crust is dark and thin and heavy while granite is light and accumulates into continent sized rafts which bob about like corks in this sea of basalt. Granite is a very hard granular crystalline igneous rock which consists mainly of quartz mica and feldspar and is often used as building stone. Granite ˈ ɡ r æ n ɪ t is a common type of felsic intrusive igneous rock that is granular and phaneritic in texture.

Basalt is mafic while granite is felsic. Granite has a felsic composition and is more common in recent geologic time in contrast to earth s ultramafic ancient igneous history. Basalt is volcanic or extrusive forming at the surface while granite is plutonic or intrusive forming beneath the surface.