EARTH MATERIALS V

The Rock Cycle: Igneous Rocks

Professor Peter Doyle

P.doyle@imperial.ac.uk
Profdoyle@btinternet.com
THE ROCK CYCLE
Basic formation
Relative proportions of rock groups

Metamorphic rocks:
smaller proportion of
total
 Rock Cycle I: igneous rocks

• Igneous rocks form by crystallisation from

magmas in the crust or at the surface
• Magmas of different compositions
originate via melting of different source
rocks in the lower crust and mantle
• Melting is controlled by
– source rock compositions, water contents
– pressure, temperature
Settings control igneous rock chemistry
Crustal depth controls crystal size

Extrusives:
rapid cooling

Intrusives: slow
cooling
Extrusive (volcanic) igneous rocks
• Form by rapid crystallisation from magmas at the
surface
• Characterised by volcanic glass (e.g. obsidian)
• And /or fine grained crystals (e.g basalt).
• Two major types -
• Lavas - forming flows
• Pyroclastics - forming deposits of volcanic
fragments
• Both may be found in most volcanic settings
Sites of active volcanoes
PYROCLASTIC ERUPTION

Montserrat - 1998 eruption of Soufriere

Hills volcano
Lava flow

Lava flow on Kilauea volcano Hawaii: a bit hot!

 Volcanic rocks: texture & appearance
• Lavas show a variety of textures
• Escaping gas creates holes or vesicles
• Some lavas contain large crystals
(phenocrysts) formed during slower
cooling produce a porphyritic texture
• Pyroclastics (or tuffs) form from violent
explosive eruptions
• Ash & lava fragments formed compact &
often weld together
Lavas, pyroclasics and intrusives

Lavas &
pyroclastics:
finer grained

Intrusives:
coarser grained
Cindery lava texture LAVA

Ropy lava texture

VESICULAR BASALTS
Textures produced by escaping gas bubbles
some gas bubbles infilled by minerals - amygdales
Basaltic lava showing small white phenocrysts
Porphyritic igneous rock with white phenocrysts
of feldspar
PRODUCTS OF VOLCANIC ERUPTION

Obsidian Pumice

GLASS

Ash
Ash

PYROCLASTICS
WELDED TUFF Volcanic ash flow showing flattened
and deformed volcanic clasts and glass
 Intrusive or plutonic igneous rocks

• Form by slow crystallisation from

magmas below the Earth’s surface
• Composed entirely of interlocking
crystals (holocrystalline)
• - Granite (acidic)
• - Gabbro (basic)
GABBRO

GRANITE
Plutonic rocks Plutonic rocks:
intruded into crust
Larger the body,
coarser the grain
Larger the body,
deeper the crustal
setting

Plutons: deep, large

bodies (e.g. batholiths)
Shallower intrusives:
- Sills
- Dykes
 DYKE

A DYKE OF INTRUSIVE IGNEOUS ROCK

CROSS-CUTTING SEDIMENTARY ROCK LAYERS
 SILL

IGNEOUS SILL INTRUDED BETWEEN LAYERS

OF SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
 Mineralogy of igneous rocks
• Silicate minerals
characterise igneous
rocks
• Most common are:
• quartz, feldspars,
micas, pyroxenes,
amphiboles,
olivines.

ACIDIC BASIC
>65% SiO2 45-55%SiO2
COARSE GRAINED FINE GRAINED

MAFIC

FELSIC
Mineralogy of igneous rocks
Bowen’s Reaction Series I

• Tries to explain how basaltic magma cools & evolves

• Fractional crystallisation creates different mineral
phases producing silica rich magmas
 Bowen’s Reaction Series II
• Assumes all magmas start out basaltic (not true)
• Magmas of varying compositions arise from melting of
mixed source rocks in upper mantle and crust, e.g.
• rocks in upper mantle melt might partially (basaltic
magmas)
• mixtures of sedimentary & basaltic rocks in subduction
zones (intermediate magmas)
• mixtures of sedimentary , igneous & metamorphic rocks
(granitic magmas)
 Igneous rock fabrics
• Crystal/grain size:
– fine <1mm; medium 1-5mm;
– coarse 5 - 30mm; very coarse > 30mm
• Crystals:
– interlocking crystals – holocrystalline
– glass plus crystals hypocrystalline
– glass only – holohyaline
• Crystal shapes:
– Euhedral – well developed crystal shapes with preserved
faces; usually phenocrysts
– Subhedral – some well developed crystal shapes with
preserved faces
– Anhedral – no well developed crystal shapes and no
preserved faces
 Phenocrysts of
euhedral hornblendes

Interlocking anhedral
crystals of minerals
Textures
• Granular – uniform sized medium to coarse crystals
• Aphanitic – uniformly fine grained; cannot
differentiate individual crystals with the naked eye.
• Granitic – irregular granular mixture of euhedral,
subhedral and anhedral crystals
• Porphyritic – large phenocrysts in finer grained
groundmass
• Vesicular – cavities caused by escape of gas
bubbles
• Amygdaloidal – cavites later infilled with crystals
• Poikilitic – later crystallising mineral encloses
smaller earlier formed crystals
PORPHYRITIC

GRANULAR GRANITIC

VESICULAR