Lecture 4

Rocks in nature
Rock or stone is naturally formed, consolidated material usually composed of grains of
one or more minerals, and its associated in construct the essential part of earth crust.

The scientific study of rocks is called Petrology.

Rocks in nature have been categorized to three major types:

Igneous rocks (Primary): forms from magma or lava that cools and solidifies in a process
called crystallization.

Sedimentary rocks (Secondary): forms from the lithification of sediments in general.

Metamorphic rocks (Secondary): forms from rock that has been subjected to great
pressure and heat in a process called metamorphism.

The relationship between these three types is called "Rock cycle" which represents a
model that illustrates the origin of major rock types and the changing relationships of
earth's materials and their processes as well (see Fig. 1).

1- Igneous Rocks
Igneous rock: rocks are formed by the cooling and crystallization of molten material
(Magma or Lava) within or at the surface of the earth.

Magma: a body of molten rock found at depth, containing of dissolved gases and crystals.
This molten material consists mainly of the elements usually rich in silicate minerals.
Silicon and oxygen are the main constituents in magma, with lesser amount of aluminum,
iron, calcium, sodium, potassium, magnesium and other elements.

Magma is generated within the earth’s mantle layer (Asthenosphere).

Lava: is a magma that reaches the earth’s surface.

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 Figure 1: The sketch shows the origin of three rock types in nature, and the relationship between them

Occurrence of Igneous rocks

A- Extrusive rock (volcanic): Igneous rock that form when molten rock solidifies at the
surface.

B- Intrusive rock (plutonic): Igneous rock that formed below earth’s surface.

Crystallization: the formation and growth of crystalline solid from a liquid or gas.

Melt: the liquid portion of magma, excluding the solid crystals.

Melting: the change of state from a solid to a liquid.

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Texture of Igneous rocks
Texture: the size, shape, and distribution of particles that collectively constitute a rock.
The six igneous rock textures are:

1- Fine grained texture (Aphanitic): A texture of igneous rocks in which the crystals are
too small for individual minerals to be distinguished with the naked eye.
2- Coarse-grained texture (Phaneritic): An igneous rock texture in which the crystals
are roughly equal in size and large enough so that individual minerals can be
identified with the unaided eye.
3- Porphyritic texture: an igneous texture consisted of large crystals embedded in a
matrix of much smaller crystals.
4- Glassy texture: A term used to describe the texture of a certain igneous rock, which
cools so quickly and forms a black glass, called Obsidian.
5- Vesicular Texture: describes the igneous rock which holes are trapped in a rock,
resulting from gas bubbles that were in lava, then these trapped gases are released
during an eruption.
6- Pyroclastic texture: forms when pyroclastic material (ash, pumice, or crystalline rock
fragments) accumulates and is cemented or otherwise consolidated, the new rock
is called tuff, or volcanic breccia, depending on the size of the fragments.

Figure 2: Shows the main textures of igneous rocks

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Classification of Igneous rocks
Igneous rocks are classified based on texture, chemistry their mineral composition.

The chemistry of an igneous rock tells you about the origin of the magma and how it
evolved before finally solidifying. According to the mineral composition which Based
on the amount of silica, Igneous rocks are classified into four groups (see Fig. 4):

I. Felsic: Igneous rocks composed primarily of feldspar and quartz, which contain
relatively high amounts of silicon, sodium, aluminum, potassium (Si, Na, Al, and K) and
relatively low amounts of iron, magnesium, and calcium (Fe, Mg, Ca).
Granitic composition: A compositional group of igneous rocks that composed almost
entirely of light-colored silicates. Obsidian: A volcanic glass of felsic composition.

II. Intermediate composition: the composition of igneous rocks lying between felsic
and mafic groups.

III. Mafic: Igneous rock with a low silica content and a high-magnesium content, so it
contains relatively low amounts of silicon, sodium, aluminum, potassium (Si, Na, Al, and
K) and relatively high amounts of iron, magnesium, and calcium (Fe, Mg, Ca).

Basaltic composition: A compositional group of igneous rocks indicating that the rock
contains substantial dark silicate minerals and calcium-rich plagioclase feldspar.

Basalt: A fine-grained igneous rock of mafic composition group.

IIII. Ultramafic group: Igneous rocks composed mainly of iron and magnesium-rich
minerals, so are typically composed almost entirely of the ferromagnesian minerals
olivine and pyroxene. No feldspars are present and, of course, no quartz.

Peridotite: An igneous rock of ultramafic composition thought to be abundant in the

upper mantel.

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Bowmen’s reaction series:
A concept proposed by N L. Bowen that illustrates the relationship between magma
cooling and mineral crystallizations from the magma during the form of igneous rocks.
Bowen’s experiments showed that the crystallization sequence in a cooling magma,
certain minerals are stable at higher melting temperatures and crystallize before
those that are stable at lower temperatures. At higher temperatures, the sequence is
broken into two branches, the continuous and discontinuous one.

Figure 3: Diagram shows the identification and classification of Igneous rocks based on chemical
composition, mineral content and texture (After Plummer et al., 2016)