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ROCK CYCLE and IGNEOUS ROCKS

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

Most Common Type of Magma

➢ Basaltic (Mafic)
○ Relatively low silicon content
○ Low viscosity
○ Crystallizes at high temperature (1000°C -1200°C)
○ High density
➢ Granitic (Felsic)
○ High silicon content
○ High viscosity
○ Crystallizes at 600°C
○ Low density

❖ mantle is made of ultramafic rocks; crust is made up of mafic rock

❖ magma differs in composition as it rises on the surface
❖ basaltic magma account for about 80% of all magmas erupted
❖ Rhyolitic and Andesitic magma account to 10%

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

❖ Subduction Zone - (O to O) intrusive, Mafic to Intermediate: (C to O) mafic to felsic

❖ Mid-Oceanic Ridge - Basaltic magma/constructive plate boundary
❖ Rift Valley - similar to SFS, except on land. (i.e. Iceland)
❖ Hotspots
- Basaltic
- Abnormally hot regions where the mantle rises up through lithosphere
- Can occur on, or near plate boundaries
- Hawaii arises in middle of oceanic plate
- Iceland occurs at plate boundary
- YellowStone Caldera - continental

FROM MAGMA TO ROCK

1) Magma rises towards the surface
● Density difference with surrounding rocks
● When surface is reached, magma becomes lava
2) Drop in temperature and pressure
● Formation of minerals or glass from the melt
● Reaction of minerals with the melt to form other minerals
● Dissolved gases escape from rocks: exsolution
3) End product: Igneous Rock

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

❖ Bowen’s Reaction Series

➢ Continuous Series means Plagioclase
Feldspar is formed throughout; that the amount
of Na and Ca is alternately conversing
➢ Olivine and Quartz will never be together due
to different temperature need to form; also
Olivine has consumed all 𝑆𝑖𝑂2, thus there will be
no more 𝑆𝑖𝑂2used to form Quartz
➢ Felsic can’t form ultramafic due to low
temperature

❖ Concept: Relative enrichment and depletion

𝑇1 𝑇2 𝑇3

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)

Intrusive Igneous Landforms: PLUTONS

● underground igneous body
● classified based on:
a) Shape
- Tabular (sheet-like)
- Massive
b) Orientation with respect to host rock
- Discordant – cuts across existing
structures
- Examples:
➢ Stock - small massive
discordant pluton
➢ Batholith - more than
100𝑘𝑚2 in outcrop area
➢ Dike - tabular body cutting
across bedding
- Concordant – parallel to features
such as sedimentary strata
- Examples:
➢ Sill - concordant tabular body
➢ Laccolith - blister-shaped sill; magma injected between layers & force is
high enough to raise the overlying rocks
➢ Lopolith - large ventricular sill; flat concordant on top w/ funnel-shaped
dike at the bottom; floor depression

CLASSIFICATION OF IGNEOUS ROCKS

1) Based on Texture
- size, shape, interrelationship and nature of component grains in a rock
- determined by formation history of rock
- Size of ejecta (for pyroclastics)
● Crystal Size
○ Phaneritic - Coarse-grained (mineral grains visible to naked eye; intrusive) due to
magma cooling at depth
○ Aphanitic - Fine grained (mineral grains not visible to naked eye; extrusive) due to rapid
cooling at the surface
○ Porphyritic - Coarse- and fine-grained (Visible mineral grains (phenocrysts)
surrounded by glass or fine mineral grains (groundmass); has two cooling stages which
starts at slow to fast cooling.

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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

Resources of Igneous Rocks

● Aggregates
○ Lahar/ Tuff/ Basalt/Andesite
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● Dimension stones
○ Basalt, Granite, Gabbro, Diorite
● Sulfide groups of minerals
○ Ore deposits (Porphyry Cu-Au, Volcanogenic Massive Sulfides) such as galena,
sphalerite, chromitite

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)

Why do volcanoes erupt?

● Influx of magma
● Melting of surrounding rock
● Exsolution of Gas – Vesiculation or Degassing
● Contact with water

Volcanic Explosivity Index or VEI

- is based on a number of things (e.g. plume height, volume, etc.) that can be
observed during an eruption.
- Proposed by Chris Newhall & Stephen Self in 1982.
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- Logarithmic scale similar to Richter Magnitude Scale

- Largest eruption reached up to VEI=8 (Taupo Volcano, Yellowstone)
❖ Large explosive eruptions occur much less frequently than small ones.

Factors that determine the violence of eruption

1) Composition of magma
2) Temperature of magma
3) Dissolved gasses in magma
4) Viscosity

GENERAL Types of eruption

● Effusive
○ Magma rises through the surface and flows out of the volcano as a
viscous liquid called lava; Gases escape easily
● Explosive
○ Magma is torn apart as it rises and reaches the surface in pieces known
as pyroclasts.
○ Dissolved gases cannot escape as easily pressure build up

SPECIFIC Types of eruption

- names based on volcanoes where eruption type was observed
● Hawaiian – lava fountains (curtain of fire) and flows, calmest type
● Strombolian – intermittent ejection of partially molten rocks (Short-lived, explosive
outbursts of pasty lava)
● Vulcanian – Discrete ejection of mostly solid materials and gases from more
viscous magmas
● Plinian – Sustained eruption of large amounts of pyroclastic materials and gases
that produces high eruption columns; biggest type
● Pelean – large quantity of volcanic materials blown out of a central crater, fall
back, and form tongue-like, glowing avalanches
● Phreatomagmatic – contact between magma and surface/ground water, caused by
thermal contraction
● Phreatic – caused by vaporization of surface/ground waters with no magma-
water contact; no lava

Classification based on Activity

● Active Volcanoes
○ Eruption during historic times (~600 years) with local seismic activity (may
be oral or folkloric history)

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○ Erupted <10,000 years ago based on geologic evidence (analyses of

material from young volcanic deposits)
● Inactive Volcanoes
○ No record of eruption and its form is beginning to change by the agents
of weathering and erosion
● Potentially Active
○ Geologically young (possibly erupted < 10,000 years and for calderas and
large systems - possibly < 25,000 years) with young-looking
geomorphology (thin soil cover/sparse vegetation; low degree of erosion)
and suspected seismic activity + Documented local ground deformation

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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How do we monitor volcanoes?

1) Gas Emission
- 𝐶𝑂2 & 𝑆𝑂2 tend to increase in concentration on prior to & during volcanic
activity
2) Geophysical Measurements (+GPS Satellite/Seismicity)
- Precursor volcanic quakes may not be detectable by humans, & so
constant monitoring of seismic waves allows for earlier detection of
possible eruptions.
- Volcanic eruptions tend to be associated w/ localized seismic activity
often detected as an increase in frequency of volcanic earthquakes.
3) Ground and Volcano Deformation (inflation of the ground)
- Magma rises into reservoir beneath volcano
- Rising magma & volcanic gases exert pressure
- Volcanoes change shape before and during eruption
- Volcano deformation is measured using electronic distance
4) Remote Sensing
- Satellite technology has given us the ability to monitor minute changes &
deformation, possible precursors of an eruption
5) Hydrology (more acidic waters, higher temperature)
- Volcanic activity is typically associated w/ increased gas pressure, w/c is
detected as a rapid increase in water levels followed by a sudden drop
6) Other signs
a) Crater Glow
b) Drying of Vegetation
c) Acidic Spring Waters

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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➢ E.g. Laki eruption in Iceland (biggest/most extensive lava flow eruption in

recorded history), Columbia River Plateau (Washington, Oregon)
2) Volcanic Gases
- High in 𝐶𝑂2 & 𝑆𝑂2, w/c are toxic; 𝐶𝑂2- invisible and heavier than air
- E.g. Lake Nios, Cameroon, 1986: slow release of 𝐶𝑂2suffocated the people
3) Pyroclastic flow/surge
- Very high velocity (200km/hr)
- Hot solids & liquids are carried rapidly due to gas dispersion
- Considered as the most lethal
- Capable of quickly burying people/residences
- Asphyxiation
- E.g. St. Pierre, Martinique (Mt. Pelee, 1902): only one survived (a prisoner)
4) Lahar
- Like pyroclastic flow but w/ the aid of significant amount of water
- Destruction in direct path
- e.g. Pinatubo
5) Tephra Fall
- Airborne disposal of pyroclastic materials
- Becomes dangerous at high accumulated amount = roof collapse
6) Secondary Hazards
- Landslide/Debris Avalanche induced by volcano flank collapse (e.g. Mt.
St. Helens, Mt. Iriga)
- Associated tsunami (Krakatau and Anak Krakatau) and seiche (Taal lake)
❖ Seiche: vibrations/waves in large bodies of water

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