EG208

PHYSICAL GEOLOGY
DR. RAPIDAH MAT STAFA
+60123213690
rapidahms@gmail.com
rapidah@ucsiuniversity.edu.my
40549@ucsiuniversity.edu.my
 TOPIC 3:
IGNEOUS ROCK
Learning Objectives
After carefully reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering
the questions at the end, you should be able to:
 Use the rock cycle to understand the relationships between igneous, sedimentary,
and metamorphic rocks.
 Classify the most common igneous rock types using their texture and chemical
composition.
 Understand the conditions under which rocks in the Earth’s interior melt to form
magma.
 Describe the magmatic processes that produce igneous rocks of varying
composition.
 Differentiate between the various types of intrusive igneous structures.
 Relate magmatic activity to plate tectonic theory.
Defining the Rocks
 Rocks are classified into three major groups according to how they form. Rocks can be
studied in hand samples that can be moved from their original location, rocks can also be
studied in outcrop - exposed rock formations that are attached to the ground, at the location
where they are found.
 There are 3 types of rocks.
1. Igneous rocks form from cooling magma. Magma that erupts onto Earth’s surface is lava. The
chemical composition of the magma and the rate at which it cools determine what rock forms
as the minerals cool and crystallize.
2. Sedimentary rocks form by the compaction and cementing together of sediments, broken
pieces of rock-like gravel, sand, silt, or clay. Those sediments can be formed from the
weathering and erosion of preexisting rocks. Sedimentary rocks also include chemical
precipitates, the solid materials left behind after a liquid evaporates.
3. Metamorphic rocks form when the minerals in an existing rock are changed by heat or
pressure within the Earth.
The Rock Cycle
 Rocks change as a result of natural processes that are
taking place all the time.
 Most changes happen very slowly; many take place below
the Earth’s surface, so we may not even notice the changes.
 Although we may not see the changes, the physical and
chemical properties of rocks are constantly changing in a
natural, never-ending cycle called the rock cycle.
 The concept of the rock cycle was first developed by James
Hutton, an 18th century scientist often called the “Father of
Geology.”
 Hutton recognized that geologic processes have “no [sign]
of a beginning, and no prospect of an end.”
 The processes involved in the rock cycle often take place
over millions of years.
The Rock Cycle cont.
 In the rock cycle the three main rock types are
igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic.
 Arrows connecting the three rock types show the
processes that change one rock type into
another.
 The cycle has no beginning and no end. Rocks
deep within the Earth are right now becoming
other types of rocks.
 Rocks at the surface are lying in place before
they are next exposed to a process that will
change them.
 It is important to be aware that rock moves from
deep to shallow, and from high to low
temperature and pressure in response to
tectonic forces and isostasy.
 Isostasy - state of gravitational equilibrium
between Earth's crust and mantle such that the
crust "floats" at an elevation that depends on its
thickness and density.
The Rock Cycle cont.
 Magma is molten rock - may contain suspended solid crystals and gas.
 Igneous rocks form when magma solidifies. If the magma is brought to
the surface (lava) by a volcanic eruption, it will solidify into an extrusive
igneous rock.
 Magma may also solidify very slowly beneath the surface.
 The igneous rock may then undergo weathering and erosion,
transported and ultimately deposited as sediment.
 If the unconsolidated sediment becomes lithified (cemented or
otherwise consolidated into a rock), it becomes a sedimentary rock.
 The rock is buried by additional layers of sediment and sedimentary
rock. This process can only bury layered rock in the uppermost crust to a
depth of several kilometers.
 Heat and pressure increase with increasing depth of burial. If the
temperature and pressure become high enough, the original
sedimentary recrystallizes.
 The new rock that forms is called a metamorphic rock. If the
temperature gets very high, the rock partially melts, producing magma
and completing the cycle.
The Rock Cycle & Plate Tectonic
 1 way to relate the rock cycle can be
illustrated at a convergent plate boundary.
 Magma formed within the mantle solidifies as
igneous rock at the volcano.
 Sediment from the eroded volcano collects in
the basin converts to sedimentary rock as it is
buried by more sediment.
 Deeply buried sedimentary rocks are
metamorphosed.
 The most deeply buried metamorphic rocks
partially melt, and the magma moves upward.
 An alternate way the rock cycle works is shown
on the left of the diagram.
 Sediment from the continent (and volcano)
becomes sedimentary rock, some of which is
carried down the subduction zone.
 It is metamorphosed as it descends. It may
contribute to the magma that forms in the
mantle above the subduction zone.
Magma
 The rock beneath the Earth’s surface is sometimes heated to high enough temperatures that it
melts to create magma.
 Different magmas have different composition and contain whatever elements were in the rock
that melted. Magmas also contain gases.
 The main elements are the same as the elements found in the crust. Whether rock melts to
create magma depends on:
 Temperature: Temperature increases with depth, so melting is more likely to occur at
greater depths.
 Pressure: Pressure increases with depth, but increased pressure raises the melting
temperature, so melting is less likely to occur at higher pressures.
 Water: The addition of water changes the melting point of rock. As the amount of water
increases, the melting point decreases.
 Rock composition: Minerals melt at different temperatures, so the temperature must be
high enough to melt at least some minerals in the rock. The first mineral to melt from a
rock will be quartz (if present) and the last will be olivine (if present).
Type of Magma
 Chemical composition of magma is controlled by the abundance of elements in the Earth. Si,
Al, Fe, Ca, Mg, K, Na, H, and O make up 99.9%.
 Since oxygen is so abundant, chemical analyses are usually given in terms of oxides. SiO2 is
the most abundant oxide.
 1. Mafic or Basaltic - SiO2 45-55 wt%, high in Fe, Mg, Ca, low in K, Na
 2. Intermediate or Andesitic - SiO2 55-65 wt%, intermediate in Fe, Mg, Ca, K, Na
 3. Felsic or Rhyolitic - SiO2 65-75 wt%, low in Fe, Mg, Ca, high in K, Na
 Gases - At depth in the Earth nearly all magmas contain gas. Gas gives magmas their
explosive character, because the gas expands as pressure is reduced.
 Mostly H2O with some CO2
 Minor amounts of Sulfur, Cl , and F
 Felsic magmas usually have higher gas contents than mafic magmas.
 Temperature of Magmas
 Mafic/Basaltic - 1000-1200o C
 Intermediate/Andesitic - 800-1000o C
 Felsic/Rhyolitic - 650-800o C
Type of Magma cont.
 Viscosity of Magmas
 Viscosity is the resistance to flow (opposite of fluidity). Depends on composition, temperature,
& gas content.
 Higher SiO2 content magmas have higher viscosity than lower SiO2 content magma
 Lower Temperature magmas have higher viscosity than higher temperature magmas.
Origin of Magma
 As we have seen the only part of the earth that is liquid is the outer core. But the
core is not likely to be the source of magmas because it does not have the right
chemical composition.
 The outer core is mostly Iron, but magmas are silicate liquids.
 Thus magmas DO NOT COME FROM THE MOLTEN OUTER CORE OF THE EARTH.
 Thus, since the rest of the earth is solid, in order for magmas to form, some part of
the earth must get hot enough to melt the rocks present.
1. Convergent plate boundaries (subduction zones)
2. Divergent plate boundaries (ridges or rifts)
3. Isolated magma plumes (hot spots)
Origin of
Magma
cont.
Igneous Rocks
 Igneous rocks form from the cooling and hardening of molten magma in many different
environments.
 Magma is a mixture of liquid rock, crystals, and gas. Characterized by a wide range of chemical
compositions, with high temperature, and properties of a liquid.
 Magmas are less dense than surrounding rocks, and will therefore move upward.
 If magma makes it to the surface it will erupt and later crystallize to form an extrusive or
volcanic rock.
 If it crystallizes before it reaches the surface it will form an igneous rock at depth called a
plutonic or intrusive igneous rock.
 Igneous Rocks are formed by crystallization from a liquid, or magma. They include two types:
 Volcanic or extrusive igneous rocks form when the magma cools and crystallizes on the
surface of the Earth
 Intrusive or plutonic igneous rocks wherein the magma crystallizes at depth in the Earth.
 These rocks are identified by their composition and texture. More than 700 different types of
igneous rocks are known.
Igneous
Rocks cont.
 Igneous rocks may be either
extrusive if they form at the
Earth’s surface (e.g., basalt)
or intrusive if magma
solidifies underground.
 Granite - a coarse-grained
(the crystals are large enough
to be seen with the naked
eye) rock composed
predominantly of feldspar and
quartz, is an intrusive rock.
 Granite is the most abundant
intrusive rock found in the
continents.
Igneous
Rocks cont.
 Preexisting solid rock - country rock, appears to have
been forcibly broken by an intruding liquid, with the
magma flowing into the fractures.
 Country rock - term for any older rock into which an
igneous body intruded.
 Close examination of the country rock adjacent to the
intrusive rock usually indicates that it appears
“baked,” or metamorphosed, close to the contact
with the intrusive rock.
 Rock types of the country rock often match xenoliths,
fragments of rock that are distinct from the body of
igneous rocks in which they are enclosed.
 In the intrusive rock adjacent to contacts with country
rock - chill zones - finer-grained rocks that indicate
magma solidified more quickly because of the rapid
loss of heat to cooler rock.
Classification of Igneous Rock
 Igneous rocks are named based on their texture and chemical composition. The texture (e.g.
grain size and presence of gas bubbles ) gives you information on where that rock formed,
whether beneath the surface as an intrusive igneous rock or on the surface as an extrusive
igneous rock.
 The chemistry of an igneous rock tells you about the origin of the magma and how it evolved
before finally solidifying.
 Because magma can either cool slowly in a magma chamber (forming an intrusive rock), or
cool rapidly on the surface (forming an extrusive rock), one name is given to the coarse-
grained intrusive version and another to the fine-grained extrusive version.
 For example - granite, a coarse-grained rock composed predominantly of feldspar and quartz.
If a magma of the same composition as granite were to erupt onto the surface and cool
rapidly, it would still form a rock composed predominantly of feldspar and quartz, but it would
be fine-grained. This fine-grained rock would be called rhyolite.
 Some rocks have a very distinctive texture and are named for that texture. For example, some
rhyolite cools so quickly it forms a black glass - known as obsidian.
Classification of
Igneous Rock
cont.
 Figure 3.5 shows the
relationship between texture,
chemistry, mineral content,
and igneous rock names.
 Pictures of the most common
igneous rocks are shown.
 Discuss further on igneous
rock textures, the chemistry
of igneous rocks, and
identifying igneous rocks.
Igneous Rock Texture
 Texture refers to a rock’s appearance with respect to the size, shape, and
arrangement of its grains or other constituents.
 Igneous textures can be divided into four groups:
1. Crystalline rocks are made up of interlocking crystals (for instance, the
minerals quartz and feldspar);
2. Glassy rocks are composed primarily of glass and contain few of any crystals;
3. Trapped gas rocks are composed cavities in extrusive rock resulting from gas
bubbles;
4. Fragmental rocks are composed of fragments of igneous material.
 As you will see, the texture of an igneous rock can tell you a lot about where and how
it formed.
Igneous Rock Texture cont.
 Most igneous rocks form from the cooling and solidification of magma.
 Crystals form and grow as the melt cools, and the result is a crystalline texture.
 The most significant aspect of texture in crystalline igneous rocks is grain (or crystal)
size.
 Two critical factors determine grain size during the solidification of igneous rocks:
rate of cooling and viscosity.
 The grain size of mineral fragments in rock and depends on the cooling rate of
magma:
 smaller in rock if magma cools fast
 larger in rock if magma cools slower
Igneous Rock Texture cont.
 Different kinds of textures:
 Crystalline texture:
a) Phaneritic (coarse grained)—intrusive: their crystals are large enough to be seen easily with the naked
eye.
b) Aphanitic (fine grained)—extrusive: their crystals are too small to see easily with the naked eye. The
grains are small because magma cools rapidly at the Earth’s surface, so they have less time to form.
c) Porphyritic—more than 1 size mineral fragment present—phenocrysts and matrix (phenocrysts - larger
crystals that are enclosed in a groundmass of finer-grained crystals or glass)
d) Pegmatitic—intrusive: An extremely coarse-grained (crystals ranging in size from a few centimeters to
several meters in length)
 Glassy texture
a) Glassy—extrusive. For example : Obsidian (dark volcanic glass, is one of the few rocks that is not
composed of minerals.
 Trapped gas texture
a) Vesicular – Extrusive (comprised of many holes called vesicles: cavities in extrusive rock resulting from
gas bubbles that were in lava, and the texture is called vesicular)
 Fragmental texture
a) Pyroclastic—extrusive: When trapped gases are released during an eruption, it can lead to lava being
blasted out of the vent as fragments of rock known as pyroclasts.
 Igneous Rock Textures

Phaneritic

Aphanitic
 Igneous Rock Textures

Porphyritic

Pegmatitic
 Igneous Rock Textures

Glassy

Vesicular
 Igneous Rock Textures

Pyroclastic
 Chemistry of Igneous Rocks
 The chemical composition of magma determines which minerals and how much of each
will crystallize when an igneous rock forms.
 Because magma contains quite a lot of silicon and oxygen, igneous rocks are composed
primarily of the silicate minerals quartz, plagioclase feldspar, potassium feldspar,
amphibole, pyroxene, biotite, and olivine.
 A magma that is rich in silica, aluminium, potassium, and sodium will crystallize
minerals that contain those elements (feldspar and quartz).
 A magma that is rich in iron and magnesium and calcium will contain a lot of the dark-
colored ferromagnesian minerals (pyroxene, amphibole, olivine, and biotite).

Chemistry of Igneous Rocks cont.
 Chemical analyses of rocks are
reported as weight percentages
of oxides
 1. Felsic or Rhyolitic - SiO2
65-75 wt%, low in Fe, Mg,
Ca, high in K, Na
 2. Intermediate or Andesitic -
SiO2 55-65 wt%,
intermediate in Fe, Mg, Ca,
K, Na
 3. Mafic or Basaltic - SiO2
45-55 wt%, high in Fe, Mg,
Ca, low in K, Na
Chemistry of Igneous Rocks cont.
 Based on the amount of silica, igneous rocks are classified into four groups, which
are, in order of decreasing silica content, felsic, intermediate, mafic, and ultramafic.
Chemistry of Igneous Rocks cont.
 Felsic Rocks
 Rocks with a silica content of 65% or more (by weight) are considered to be silica-rich. The remaining
25% to 35% of these rocks is mostly aluminum oxide (Al2O3) and oxides of sodium (Na2 O) and
potassium (K2O), and they tend to contain only very small amounts of the oxides of calcium CaO),
magnesium (MgO), and iron (FeO and Fe2O3).
 These are called felsic rocks—silica-rich igneous rocks with a relatively high content of potassium
and sodium (the fel part of the name comes from feldspar, which crystallizes from the potassium,
sodium, aluminum, and silicon oxides; si in felsic is for silica).
 Rhyolite is a fine-grained, extrusive felsic rock.
 Granite is the coarse-grained intrusive equivalent of rhyolite.
 Felsic rocks tend to be dominated by the light-colored minerals quartz, potassium feldspar, and
plagioclase feldspar, with only small amounts of the dark ferromagnesian minerals.
 Because of this, felsic rocks are commonly light in color. A notable exception to this rule is the black
glassy volcanic rock obsidian. So why is obsidian black—a color we usually associate with mafic
rocks, such as basalt? If you look at a very thin edge of obsidian, it is transparent.
Felsic Rocks

Rhyolite Granite Obsidian

Chemistry of Igneous Rocks cont.
 Intermediate Rocks
 Rocks with a silica content of between 55% and 65% are classified as intermediate rocks.
 Intermediate rocks contain significant amounts (30–50%) of dark ferromagnesian
minerals like pyroxene and amphibole as well as light-colored plagioclase feldspar and
small amounts of quartz.
 These can easily be discerned in diorite, the coarse-grained intermediate rock.
 Andesite the fine-grained intermediate rock, is typically medium-gray or greenish-gray in
color.
Intermediate Rocks

Diorite Andesite Andesite

Chemistry of Igneous Rocks cont.
 Mafic Rocks
 Rocks with a silica content of between 45% and 55% (by weight) are considered silica-
poor, even though SiO2 is, by far, the most abundant constituent.
 The remainder is composed mostly of the oxides of aluminum, calcium, magnesium, and
iron.
 Rocks in this group are called mafic— silica-deficient igneous rocks with a relatively high
content of magnesium, iron, and calcium.
 Mafic rocks are made up predominantly of gray plagioclase feldspar and the
ferromagnesian minerals pyroxene and olivine and tend to be dark in color.
 Mafic magma that cools slowly beneath the surface forms the coarse-grained, intrusive
rock gabbro.
 If mafic magma erupts on the surface, it forms the dark, fine-grained, extrusive rock
basalt.
Mafic Rocks

Gabbro Basalt
Chemistry of Igneous Rocks cont.
 Ultramafic Rocks
 An ultramafic rock is one that contains less than 45% silica and is rich in iron,
magnesium, and calcium.
 Ultramafic rocks are typically composed almost entirely of the ferromagnesian minerals
olivine and pyroxene. No feldspars are present and, of course, no quartz.
 Peridotite, the coarse-grained intrusive rock, is composed of olivine and pyroxene and is
the most abundant ultramafic rock.
 Most ultramafic rocks come from the mantle rather than from the Earth’s crust.
 In some cases, ultramafic rocks can form when ferromagnesian minerals crystallize in a
mafic magma and settle down to the base of the magma chamber where they
accumulate.
 This process, called crystal settling- discussed later in this chapter.
Ultramafic Rocks

Peridotite Dunite
Igneous Rock Examples
Igneous Rock
Examples
Igneous
Rock
Examples