Is Basalt More Common Than Granite

The tholeiitic and the alkali basalts.

Is basalt more common than granite.

Although basalt is much less common on continents lava flows and flood basalts underlie several percent of earth s land surface. 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. Basalt is the most common continental crustal rock. Basalts may be broadly classified on a chemical and petrographic basis into two main groups.

Compared to the familiar granite of the continents basalt ba salt is darker denser and finer grained. It is mostly made out of quartz mica and feldspar. Basalt is an igneous volcanic rock that forms commonly in oceanic crust and parts of continental crust. Earth contains three kinds of rocks namely igneous rocks sedimentary rocks and metamorphic rocks basalt and granite are two types of igneous rocks.

Lava is magma on the earth surface. The fine grained equivalent of gabbro is basalt. Excluding the rocks between my ears i d have to say that basalt and granite have the honor of being the most important rocks in the crust. Most areas within earth s ocean basins are underlain by basalt.

Rhyolite is considerably more common than granite. Some of it erupts on land too but to a first approximation basalt is an oceanic rock. All rocks of igneous origin consist of magma or molten earth that finds its way up to. Mafic magmas crystallize to form relatively simple atomic structures isolated tetrahedra and single chains and therefore flow easily the higher mafic temperatures also contribute to this ease of.

Basalt underlies more of earth s surface than any other rock type. Basalt is a common extrusive igneous rock formed by the rapid cooling of basaltic lava exposed at or very near the surface of earth. Therefore more basalt than gabbro and more granite than rhyolite. Summary of basalt vs.

You can also know more about granite and basalt reserves. Extrusive rocks cool slowly creating coarse grained igneous rocks. Basalt and granite actually have quite a bit in common. Its high iron content gives it magnetic properties and it may show signs of rust when exposed to air.

It forms from lava flows which extrude onto the surface and cool. Learn more about basalt in this article. Basalt as a mafic rock contains more calcium oxide manganese oxide and iron compounds than granite. Basalt extrusive igneous volcanic rock that is low in silica content dark in color and comparatively rich in iron and magnesium.

Basalt is more common in oceanic crust while granite is more common in continental crust. Granite is a very hard granular crystalline igneous rock which consists mainly of quartz mica and feldspar and is often used as building stone. Basalt is a very important rock. Both are igneous rocks which means that they cooled from a magma the earth gets very hot just below the surface and there is lots of liquid rock.