Is Basalt Or Granite Denser

The day after the lab is a good time to question the students about the significance of rock densities.

Is basalt or granite denser.

The key difference between basalt and granite is that basalt is mostly occurring on ocean floors while granite is in the crust of the earth in all continents. Compared to the familiar granite of the continents basalt ba salt is darker denser and finer grained. Granite is available in black grey orange pink white colors whereas basalt is available in black brown light to dark grey. As you can see rocks of the same type can have a range of densities.

Basaltic crust is dark and thin and heavy while granite is light and accumulates into continent sized rafts which bob about like corks in this sea of basalt when a continent runs into a piece of seafloor it s much like a mac truck. Gabbro s density ranges from 2 7 3 3 g cm 3. And if you know your igneouspetrology you will see that the more mafic rich in magnesium and iron a rock is the greater its density. Its principle minerals include pyroxene feldspar and olivine.

When we have to compare granite vs basalt the texture color and appearance plays an important role in determining the type of rock. It is common both on earth and other planetary bodies. Basalt is denser than granite because basalt is a an oceanic type of rock so it has had more pressure from the ocean making it denser than granite because granite is a continental type of rock. Since gabbro and basalt are made of the same minerals their densities are similar.

Basalt is an igneous volcanic rock that forms commonly in oceanic crust and parts of continental crust. Basalt is denser than granite because basalt is a an oceanic type of rock so it has had more pressure from the ocean making it denser than granite because granite is a continental type of rock. It forms from lava flows which extrude onto the surface and cool. Earth contains three kinds of rocks namely igneous rocks sedimentary rocks and metamorphic rocks basalt and granite are two types of igneous rocks.

It s dark and dense because it s richer in the dark heavy minerals bearing magnesium and iron that is more mafic and poorer in silicon and aluminum bearing minerals. Of the continents are granite.