Extrusive rock
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Extrusive rock refers to the mode of igneous volcanic rock formation in which hot magma from inside the Earth flows out (extrudes) onto the surface as lava or explodes violently into the atmosphere to fall back as pyroclastics or tuff.cite-ref-1[1] In contrast, intrusive rock refers to rocks formed by magma which cools below the surface.cite-ref-3-2-0[2]
Contents
• Texture
• See also
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Texture
The texture of extrusive rocks is characterized by fine-grained crystals indistinguishable to the human eye, described as aphantic. Crystals in aphantic rocks are small in size due to their rapid formation during eruption.cite-ref-0-3-1[3] Any larger crystals visible to the human eye, called phenocrysts, form earlier while slowly cooling in the magma reservoir.cite-ref-4[4] When igneous rocks contain two distinct grain sizes, the texture is porphyritic, and the finer crystals are called the groundmass.cite-ref-0-3-2[3] The extrusive rocks scoria and pumice have a vesicular, bubble-like, texture due to the presence of vapor bubbles trapped in the magma.cite-ref-1-5-0[5]
Extrusive bodies and rock types
Fissure volcanoes pour out low viscosity basaltic magma from fissure vents to form the extrusive rock basalt.cite-ref-3-2-2[2]
Composite or stratovolcanoes often have andesitic magma and typically form the extrusive rock andesite. Andesitic magma is composed of many gases and melted mantle rocks.cite-ref-3-2-3[2]
Lava domes are formed by high viscosity lava that piles up, forming a dome shape. Domes typically solidify to form the rich in silica extrusive rock obsidian and sometimes dacite domes form the extrusive rock dacite, like in the case of Mount St. Helens.cite-ref-3-2-5[2]
Calderas are volcanic depressions formed after an erupted volcano collapses. Resurgent calderas can refill with an eruption of rhyolitic magma to form the extrusive rock rhyolite like the Yellowstone Caldera.cite-ref-3-2-6[2]
Submarine volcanoes erupt on the ocean floor and produce the extrusive rock pumice.cite-ref-3-2-7[2] Pumice is a light-weight glass with a vesicular texture that differs from scoria in its silicic composition and therefore floats.cite-ref-1-5-1[5]
See also
References
cite-note-11. ↑ "Extrusive rock - geology". Retrieved 21 October 2018.
cite-note-1-55. ↑ citerefn-meth-k-roly2007Németh, Károly, Martin, Ulrike (2007). Practical Volcanology: Lecture Notes for Understanding Volcanic Rocks from Field Based Studies. Geological Institute of Hungary.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
External links
Look up
extrusive
in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
• Igneous and volcanic textures - images
• Vesicular and Amygdaloidal Textures