Granite Rock Color And Texture
It forms from the slow crystallization of magma below earth s surface.
Granite rock color and texture. Granites can be predominantly white pink or gray in color depending on their mineralogy the word granite comes from the latin granum a grain in reference to the coarse grained structure of such a completely crystalline rock. A coarse grained and generally igneous rock of even texture and light color composed chiefly of quartz and feldspars. Granite ˈ ɡ r æ n ɪ t is a common type of felsic intrusive igneous rock that is granular and phaneritic in texture. It usually contains small quantities of mica or hornblende and sometimes minor accessory minerals.
It is classified as acid plutonic igneous rock and it commonly occurs in batholiths. The thermal history of a granite how fast it cooled and how long it spent at different temperatures dictates the size of the mineral grains and thus the rock texture. Some granite is the oldest known rock on earth. Granite is a light colored igneous rock with grains large enough to be visible with the unaided eye.
Granite also tends to have coarse intergrowths of feldspars and quartz that form a graphic texture. Texture of a rock is the appearance of the rock and how one feels touching it. Crystallized at depth granite masses are exposed at the earth s surface. Textures of igneous rocks.
A prime example is the cathedral peak granodiorite which has unusually large up to 3 inches long crystals of potassium feldspar that are thought to have formed through. The size and shape of the mineral grains or crystals and the pattern of their arrangement give a texture to the rock. Strictly speaking granite is an.