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Rocks
- a naturally-occurring aggregate of one or more minerals; may not contain mineraloids (e.g.
opal), natural glass (e.g. obsidian), & organic matter (e.g. coal)
Common Notation:
● Stone - always hard, smooth, restricted to small size
● Rock - could be hard & soft, may be rough, can be small or big
● All rocks are stones but not all stones are rocks.
● “Stone usually connotes either human handling or human use, although it can also be used
to describe naturally produced fragments of rock larger than a cobble.” - Robert Thorson,
Stone by Stone
Types of Rocks
- Vary based on composition, color, texture,
structures, etc.
1) Igneous - from magma/lava
2) Sedimentary - from ocean basins
3) Metamorphic - undergo different processes
Igneous Rocks
- from a Latin word, “ignis” meaning fire
- Formed from solidification of magma (intrusive)
or lava (extrusive) w/c flows out from depth
Magma
- Comprised of molten material composed of varying amounts of
➢ Liquid
○ Silicate (𝑆𝑖𝑂2 ); sometimes carbonates or sulfides
○ Ions of most abundant elements on the Earth’s crust (O, Si, Al, Fe, K, Na, Ca, Mg)
➢ Solid
○ Minerals
○ Rock fragments
➢ Dissolved gas
○ 𝐻2 𝑂vapor, 𝐶𝑂2, 𝑆𝑂2
- Temperature: 600-1200°C
- Classified according to:
● Silica Content - amount of 𝑆𝑖𝑂2
○ Felsic, Silicic, or Acidic (>63% 𝑆𝑖𝑂2) (e.g. Rhyolite & Granite)
○ Intermediate (52-63% 𝑆𝑖𝑂2) (e.g. Andesite, Dacite, & Diorite)
○ Mafic, or basic (45-52% 𝑆𝑖𝑂2) (e.g. Basalt & Gabbro)
○ Ultramafic, or Ultrabasic (<45% 𝑆𝑖𝑂2) (e.g. Peridotite & Komatiite)
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● Viscosity - resistance to flow; controlled by different factors such as temperature, water
content and concentration of 𝑆𝑖𝑂2
- Higher water content, less viscous
● Density
- High ferromagnesian minerals (dark-colored minerals), high density (e.g. biotite,
pyroxene, amphibole, olivine)
- Silicate minerals in which cations of iron and magnesium form essential
chemical components.
- Heavier oceanic crust -> mafic crust
- Lighter continental crust -> felsic crust
● Temperature
- Temperature of melting formation
Formation of Magma
● Melting happens in
○ Upper mantle
○ Lower crust
● Due to
○ Increase in temperature
- Earth’s natural temperature increases with depth (geothermal gradient) is not
sufficient to melt rock at the lower crust and upper mantle.
- Ave crustal T. = 25° C/km
- Base of lithosphere = 1280°C
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- Causes of heat for melting in crust:
a) Original heat of earth at the time of formation - unequal heat
distribution
b) Radioactive decay - some element i.e. Uranium produce heat through r.d.
c) Conduction – heat transfer from a nearby body of magma (heating of
crustal rock)
d) Hot mantle plumes – may up well into the crust (hotspots)
e) Frictional Heat – caused by rock grinding past each other (SZ)
● Decrease in pressure
○ Drop in confining pressure can cause decompression melting
○ Increase in confining pressure causes an increase in melting temperature
○ Lowers the melting temperature;
○ Occurs when rock ascends
○ Melting ∝ pressure
● Addition of volatiles (usually H2O vapor)
○ Cause rock to melt at a lower temperature
○ Play an important role in subducting oceanic plates
○ Experimentally derived
❖ Water trapped in minerals caused the presence of volatiles
MAGMATIC DIFFERENTIATION
- Any process that causes magma composition to change
- Assumption:
● Formation of different igneous rocks from ONE type of magma is not the only way to
form rocks
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1) Fractional Crystallization
● Process of crystal formation and its removal from the magma (by gravity) → buoyancy
● Crystal composition is different from the magma (resulting to chemical change)
● Based on the temperature of formation of minerals
● Fe, Mg, Ca (mafics) are removed in early formed solids; Si, Al, Na and K remain in melt
r 33.33 0 0
g 33.33 50 100
b 33.33 50 0
Where: T2 = after crystallization of R; and T3 = after crystallization of B
2) Partial Melting
● Mafic: 1200°C
● Intermediate: 1000°C
● Felsic: 800°C
● There will be more mafic when felsic were reduced.
3) Magma Mixing or Mingling
● two or more magmas with different compositions could mix with each other to produce
compositions intermediate between the end members.
● Scenarios:
- The two magmas that formed the rock may have come into contact via the
eruption process or they may have occupied the same chamber prior to the
eruption.
- There may have been two separate, but physically connected chambers.
4) Assimilation
● When a molten body moves up through "country rock“, it assimilates rock (melts and
incorporates elements from the surrounding rock). This changes the magma
composition.
● Xenoliths (chunks of rocks) and xenocrysts (minerals & crystals)
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Types of Igneous Rocks:
1) Extrusive (volcanic) – molten rock solidified at the surface. (Ex. Basalt, Andesite, Rhyolite)
● Pyroclastic rocks - form from the explosive eruption of volcanoes (Ex. Pumice, Fuff, Scoria)
2) Intrusive (plutonic) – igneous rocks formed at depth. (Ex. Gabbro, Diorite, Granite)
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● Other textures
○ Vesicular – has tiny holes called vesicles w/c formed due to gas bubbles in the lava or
magma
○ Amygdaloidal - vesicles are filled up by some other minerals called amygdules; circular
holes & crystals; crystals are last to form
○ Pegmatitic – interlocking crystals > 3cm
○ Pyroclastic – made up of fragmented grains; formed when volcanic materials are
extruded violently
○ Glassy – no minerals, all glass; formed by quenching
● Shape of Crystal Faces
○ Euhedral – well-defined crystal faces
○ Subhedral – intermediate faces
○ Anhedral – no well-formed crystal faces
● Origin of textures
○ Cooling history
- Slow cooling: coarse crystals
- Fast cooling: fine crystals
- Very fast cooling: glass
○ Degassing processes
- Exsolution of gases produce vesicles
- Explosive eruptions (high amount of gases) produce fragmental (pyroclastic)
texture
● Interpretation of textures
○ Phaneritic – formation below surface at slow cooling rates
○ Aphanitic, glassy – formation at surface with fast to very fast cooling rates
○ Porphyritic – formed by slow, then fast cooling rates
○ Vesicular – non-violent degassing
○ Pyroclastic – violent, explosive eruption
2) Based on Mineral Composition
● Color Index
-Percentage of dark minerals in the rock
-Gives us an insight on the composition of
igneous rocks
3) Based on Size of Ejecta (for Pyroclastics)
○ Ash (Tuff) - <2 mm in diameter
○ Lapilli (Lapilli Stone) - 2-64 mm in diameter
○ Block or Bomb (Volcanic Breccia/ Agglomerate) - >64
mm; block is extruded in a solid state while bomb is
partially or wholly molten
❖ Special Pyroclastic Names: Pumice, Scoria, Ignimbrite,
Obsidian
VOLCANISM
Volcano
- From the Roman God of Fire, Vulcan, who was said to have had a forge (a place to melt &
shape iron) on Vulcano, an active volcano on the Lipari Island in Italy.
- A protrusion or reg of relatively high elevation created by a series of lava flows, pyroclastic
deposition & other volcanic activity.
- Fissure: where lava flows
Parts of Volcano
● Sill ● Crater - central depressed area
● Dike ● Volcanic pipe - connects crater &
● Laccolith magma chamber
● Magma Chamber ● Volcanic neck - remnant of
● Vents - all openings volcano when it eroded; intrusive
● Flank - sides of volcano rocks
Distribution of Volcanoes
● Pacific Ring of Fire
○ along Subduction zones and plate boundaries
● Hot spots
○ Deep mantle plumes and flood basalts ex. Hawai
● Spreading centers
○ Mid-oceanic ridges and rifts (ex. Iceland, Mid-Atlantic ridge)
Types of Volcanoes
1) Shield Volcano (largest)
- Made up of successive basaltic lava flow
- gentle slopes (15° or less)
- Shape resembles a Roman shield lying on the ground
- E.g. Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa
2) Cinder Cone (smallest, steepest)
- relatively small (<300 m high) w/ steep slopes (30°– 40°)
- Made up of pyroclastic materials (frequent occurs in groups)
- Short duration of activity; May be monogenetic; once to erupt.
- E.g. Taal Volcano (Binintiang Malaki - one volcanic island), Paricutin
(monogenetic)
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3) Composite/Strata
- Also known as stratovolcano
- Andesitic, layered structure (tephra and lava flows)
- Some of the most beautiful & well-formed volcanoes
- Most violent type of activity
- E.g. Mt. Fuji, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Mayon
Volcanic Features
1) Lava dome
- Larger than cinder
- Roughly circular mound-shaped protrusion resulting from a slow
protrusion of viscous, quick-cooling lava from a volcano
- Inside crater of composite volcano
- E.g. Mt. St. Helens, Chaitten (Chile), Mt. Mayon (formed a dome last
09/2014)
2) Lava lake - Molten lava (usually basaltic) bounded w/in a crater.
3) Lava Fall - high to low elevation
4) Fissure: fluid, basaltic
5) Volcanic Tubes - cave
6) Caldera
- Crater > 1km
- produced from collapse
- When an erupting volcano empties a shallow-level magma chamber, the
edifice of the volcano may collapse into the voided reservoir, thus
forming a sleep, bowl-shaped depression (Spanish for kettle or cauldron)
- E.g. Crater Lake (Oregon, Yellowstone), Olympus Mons (Mars), Taal
(includes Tagaytay, Batangas, & Laguna), Santorini Caldera (Greece),
Kaguyak Volcano (Alaska), Pinatubo Caldera
❖ Vulcan Point - world’s largest island w/in a lake on an island w/in a
lake on an island
7) Columnar Basalts
- E.g. Svartifoss Waterfall (Iceland), Giant’s Causeway (Northern Island)
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Philippine Volcanoes
- 23 active (most active is Mayon Volcano w/ 52 eruptions, 01/2018 is its last
eruption), 27 potentially active & more than 400 inactive volcanoes
- Out of 23, 21 historic eruptions
- 8 Active volcanoes are being monitored by PHIVOLCS
● Bulusan ● Pinatubo
● Hibok-hibok ● Taal
● Kanlaon ● Matutum
● Mayon ● Parker
- Most volcanoes are subduction related (trench-magmatic/volcanic arc
correlation); exotic types also exist (e.g. Amoguis Volcano, Palawan)
- Cabalian, Southern Leyte & Leonard Kniaseff, Davao Del Norte - no volcanic
eruption history
❖ Mt. Pinatubo
➢ 15 June 1991
➢ Plinian eruption
➢ VEI=6
➢ 800 are killed
➢ 8000 houses destroyed
➢ 800,000 livestock and poultry killed
➢ 17M tons of 𝑆𝑖𝑂2 , injected into the atmosphere, global temperature drops
by about 1°C
➢ Tyhoon Yunya came on June 14, combining w/ the ash from the eruption
& compounding the hazards from the volcanoes by inducing mud & lahar
flows.
❖ Taal Volcano
➢ “Decade Volcano”
➢ One of only 16 in the world, designated as ideal for study
➢ Qualified due to the volcano: posing various hazards & proximity to
population areas
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Volcanic Hazards
1) Lava flows
- esp. low viscosity high velocity flows of some basaltic volcanoes)
- Not as dangerous as other volcanic products
❖ Types of Lava
➢ Aa: jagged, stony rough or rubbly surface composed of broken lava
blocks; due to high viscosity
➢ Pahoehoe: smooth, billowy, undulating, ropes, least viscous; described as
ropy/undulating; due to low viscosity
➢ Pillow: fluffy, pillowy; formed when lava emerges from an underwater vent;
rounded due to rapid quenching; non-explosive due to underwater
volcanic vent, too deep, pressure, w/c increases as you go deep, stops
the eruption
❖ Flood Basalts
➢ Large volcanic outpourings of basaltic magma from fissure vents
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Importance of Volcanoes
● Fertile agricultural lands
● Source of geothermal energy - benign source of electricity
● Source of minable volcanic material
● Scenic beauty
● Contributed to balancing the early atmosphere (delivery of gases from the
Earth’s interior to the surface)
● Assisted in creating life
● Contributed to extinctions and climate change
● Formed archipelagos