Igneous Rocks

Chapter 4
 Granite

Igneous Rocks
Rocks formed by solidi-
fication and crystallization of
cooling magma or lava
Volcanic (Extrusive, Fine Basalt

grained)
Plutonic (Intrusive, coarse

grained)
Porphyry: coarse crystals in a

fine grained ‘groundmass’

 Memorize all of this, real well!
Classification of Igneous Rocks
Ultramafic Mafic Intermediate Felsic
SiO2% <45% 45-55 55-67 >67%
Plutonic Peridotite Gabbro Diorite Granite

Volcanic Komatiite Basalt Andesite Rhyolite

Minerals Olivine + Ca-Plagioclase Plagioclase + Quartz +

Pyroxene + Pyroxene Amphibole Feldspar

Tectonic Mantle Oceanic Crust Convergent Margins

Setting

Fe, Mg, Ca, Melting Temperature

SiO2, Al, Na, K, Viscosity

 Granite Diorite Gabbro Peridotite

Rhyolite Andesite Basalt Komatiite

Igneous rocks can also be classified by mineral content. The intersects

on the vertical line gives the relative proportion of different minerals.
Just slide the vertical line left or right when the intersects match the
mineral proportions in your sample.
 Magma
How Magma is produced
 Increase of temperature
 Decrease of Pressure
 Introduction of water
 Where magma is produced (Fig 4.8)
 Divergent boundaries: Basalt
 Convergent boundaries: Andesite or Rhyolite
 Hot spots: Alkaline Basalt
 Flood Basalt
 Meteorite Impact sites?
Melting Rocks 1

Solid

Pressure tends
to hold lattice
together

Increasing temperature Liquid

vibrates atoms and can
break bonds

How could changing temperature or pressure cause melting? 05.05.a

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Melting Rocks 2

Observe conditions
where rocks are
liquid and solid

Line slopes
because
increased
pressure acts to
keep rocks solid
(pressure
increases w/
depth)

How could changing How could changing

conditions cause a rock conditions cause a rock
starting at point A to melt? starting at point C to melt? 05.05.b1

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Melting Rocks 3

Observe what happens when a rock at point A is heated,

with or without an increase in pressure

05.05.c1

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Melting Rocks 4

Observe what happens when a hot rock at point C is

uplifted so rapidly it does not have time to cool off

05.05.c2
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Melting Rocks 5

Adding water
lowers melting
temperature of
rocks

Consider what happens to a rock at point E if a small

amount of water is added to hot, dry rocks?
05.05.c3
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 Where magma forms?

Reduction of pressure
Increase of temp (hot spot)
Introduction of water
Igneous Rocks in Oceanic Crust 2

How could
melting
occur in a
continental
rift?

Decompression Crustal heating

05.09.c
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Magmatic Differentiation
 Processes by which uniform parent magma
forms rocks of different compositions
 Partial Melting: melting of small part of the
rock – each batch has a different composition
 Fractional Crystallization: Process by which
early formed crystals are separated from the
rest of the magma
 Contamination
 Magma Mixing
 A chocolate chip cookie. When heated the chips will melt first
producing a chocolate melt and sold plain cookie. A rock is like a
chocolate chip cookie.

A rock is made of different

minerals which have different
melting points. This is a picture
of a diorite made of plagioclase
(felsic) and amphibole (mafic).
When heated plagioclase will
melt first and produce a felsic
magma leaving behind a rock
made solely of amphibole. So by
partially melting an intermediate
rock we end up with a felsic
magma, and a mafic rock. This
is an example of partial melting
process by which magmas of
different composition can be
produced.
Fractional Crystallization
 Schematic diagrams showing the
principles behind fractional
crystallisation in a magma. While
cooling, the magma evolves in
composition because different minerals
crystallize at different temperatures
from the melt. 1: olivine crystallizes first
because olivine has highest melting
point. 2: olivine and pyroxene
crystallize; 3: pyroxene and plagioclase
crystallize; 4: plagioclase crystallizes
last. At the bottom of the magma
reservoir, a cumulate rock forms. Thus
from the same magma we get rocks of
four different composition. This is an
example of Fractional Crystallization
process
(from Wikipedia)
Plutons:
•Large bodies of intrusive igneous rocks
•Concordant: margins of pluton parallel to the layering in country rock:
•Sill(tabular)

•Discordant: margins cutting across the layering in country rock:

•Dike (tabular),

•Batholith (irregular,>100 sq km),

•Stock (irregular, <100 sq km)