Is Granite A Common Igneous Rock

Granite is the best known igneous rock.

Is granite a common igneous rock.

Granite is an intrusive igneous rock. Granites can be predominantly white pink or gray in color depending on their mineralogy. What are igneous rocks. These include counter tops floor tiles paving stone curbing stair treads building veneer and cemetery monuments.

Many people recognize granite because it is the most common igneous rock found at earth s surface and because granite is used to make many objects that we encounter in daily life. The word granite comes from the latin granum a grain in reference to the coarse grained structure of such a holocrystalline rock. Intrusive igneous rocks crystallize below earth s surface and the slow cooling that occurs there allows large crystals to form. Plutonic means that it is magma that does not reach the surface of the earth and so cools very slowly underground.

Granite has a felsic composition and is more common in recent geologic time in contrast to earth s ultramafic ancient igneous history. Because it cools slowly crystals have time to form. Granite is the most widespread of igneous rocks underlying much of the continental crust. Intrusive means that it has moved into other rocks by force coming up from the mantle.

Granite which is named for its granular or phaneritic texture has crystals that tend to be easily seen although they are generally small. Granite is the most common intrusive plutonic igneous rock. Igneous rocks are formed from the solidification of molten rock material. Examples of intrusive igneous rocks are diabase diorite gabbro granite pegmatite and peridotite.

Granite is possibly the most common igneous rock type known to the general public. Felsic rocks are less dense than mafic and ultramafic rocks and thus they tend to escape subduction whereas basaltic or gabbroic rocks tend to sink into the mantle beneath the granitic rocks of the continental cratons. Eventually the overlying rocks are removed exposing the granite. Granite is a common type of felsic intrusive igneous rock that is granular and phaneritic in texture.