Igneous rock (etymology from Latin ignis, fire) is one of the three main rock types (the others

being sedimentary and metamorphic rock). Igneous rock is formed by magma (molten rock)
being cooled and becoming solid. They may form with or without crystallization, either below
the surface as intrusive (plutonic) rocks or on the surface as extrusive (volcanic) rocks. This
magma can be derived from partial melts of pre-existing rocks in either a planet's mantle or crust.
Typically, the melting is caused by one or more of three processes: an increase in temperature, a
decrease in pressure, or a change in composition. Over 700 types of igneous rocks have been
described, most of them formed beneath the surface of Earth's crust. These have diverse
properties, depending on their composition and how they were formed.

Contents
[hide]

· 1 Geologic significance

· 2 Morphology and setting

· 2.1 Intrusive igneous rocks

· 2.2 Extrusive igneous rocks

· 2.3 Hypabyssal igneous rocks

· 3 Classification

· 3.1 Texture

· 3.2 Chemical classification

· 3.3 History of classification

· 4 Mineralogical classification

· 4.1 Example of classification

· 5 Magma origination

· 5.1 Decompression

· 5.2 Effects of water and carbon dioxide

· 5.3 Temperature increase

· 5.4 Magma evolution

· 6 Etymology

· 7 See also
 · 8 Footnotes

· 9 References

· 10 External links

[edit] Geologic significance

Igneous rocks make up approximately 95% of the upper part of the Earth's crust, but their great
abundance is hidden on the Earth's surface by a relatively thin but widespread layer of
sedimentary and metamorphic rocks.
Igneous rocks are geologically important because:

· their minerals and global chemistry give information about the composition of the
mantle, from which some igneous rocks are extracted, and the temperature and pressure
conditions that allowed this extraction, and/or of other pre-existing rock that melted;

· their absolute ages can be obtained from various forms of radiometric dating and thus can
be compared to adjacent geological strata, allowing a time sequence of events;

· their features are usually characteristic of a specific tectonic environment, allowing

tectonic reconstitutions (see plate tectonics);

· in some special circumstances they host important mineral deposits (ores): for example,
tungsten, tin, and uranium are commonly associated with granites and diorites, whereas
ores of chromium and platinum are commonly associated with gabbros.

[edit] Morphology and setting

In terms of modes of occurrence, igneous rocks can be either intrusive (plutonic), extrusive
(volcanic) or hypabyssal.

[edit] Intrusive igneous rocks

Gabbro specimen showing phaneritic texture; Rock Creek Canyon, eastern Sierra Nevada,
California; scale bar is 2.0 cm.
Main article: Rock microstructure
Texture is an important criterion for the naming of volcanic rocks. The texture of volcanic rocks,
including the size, shape, orientation, and distribution of mineral grains and the intergrain
relationships, will determine whether the rock is termed a tuff, a pyroclastic lava or a simple
lava.
However, the texture is only a subordinate part of classifying volcanic rocks, as most often there
needs to be chemical information gleaned from rocks with extremely fine-grained groundmass or
from airfall tuffs, which may be formed from volcanic ash.
Textural criteria are less critical in classifying intrusive rocks where the majority of minerals will
be visible to the naked eye or at least using a hand lens, magnifying glass or microscope.
Plutonic rocks tend also to be less texturally varied and less prone to gaining structural fabrics.
Textural terms can be used to differentiate different intrusive phases of large plutons, for instance
porphyritic margins to large intrusive bodies, porphyry stocks and subvolcanic dikes
(apophyses). Mineralogical classification is used most often to classify plutonic rocks. Chemical
classifications are preferred to classify volcanic rocks, with phenocryst species used as a prefix,
e.g. "olivine-bearing picrite" or "orthoclase-phyric rhyolite".

· see also List of rock textures and Igneous textures

Basic classification scheme for igneous rocks on their mineralogy. If the approximate volume
fractions of minerals in the rock are known the rock name and silica content can be read off the
diagram. This is not an exact method because the classification of igneous rocks also depends on
other components than silica, yet in most cases it is a good first guess.

[edit] Chemical classification

Igneous rocks can be classified according to chemical or mineralogical parameters:
Chemical: total alkali-silica content (TAS diagram) for volcanic rock classification used when
modal or mineralogic data is unavailable:

· acid igneous rocks containing a high silica content, greater than 63% SiO2 (examples
 granite and rhyolite)

· intermediate igneous rocks containing between 52 - 63% SiO2 (example andesite and
dacite)

· basic igneous rocks have low silica 45 - 52% and typically high iron - magnesium
content (example gabbro and basalt)

· ultrabasic igneous rocks with less than 45% silica. (examples picrite and komatiite)

· alkalic igneous rocks with 5 - 15% alkali (K2O + Na2O) content or with a molar ratio of
alkali to silica greater than 1:6. (examples phonolite and trachyte)
Note: the acid-basic terminology is used more broadly in older (generally British) geological
literature. In current literature felsic-mafic roughly substitutes for acid-basic.
Chemical classification also extends to differentiating rocks which are chemically similar
according to the TAS diagram, for instance;

· Ultrapotassic; rocks containing molar K2O/Na2O >3

· Peralkaline; rocks containing molar (K2O + Na2O)/ Al2O3 >1

· Peraluminous; rocks containing molar (K2O + Na2O)/ Al2O3 <1

An idealized mineralogy (the normative mineralogy) can be calculated from the chemical
composition, and the calculation is useful for rocks too fine-grained or too altered for
identification of minerals that crystallized from the melt. For instance, normative quartz
classifies a rock as silica-oversaturated; an example is rhyolite. A normative feldspathoid
classifies a rock as silica-undersaturated; an example is nephelinite.

[edit] History of classification

In 1902 a group of American petrographers proposed that all existing classifications of igneous
rocks should be discarded and replaced by a "quantitative" classification based on chemical
analysis. They showed how vague and often unscientific was much of the existing terminology
and argued that as the chemical composition of an igneous rock was its most fundamental
characteristic it should be elevated to prime position.
Geological occurrence, structure, mineralogical constitution—the hitherto accepted criteria for
the discrimination of rock species—were relegated to the background. The completed rock
analysis is first to be interpreted in terms of the rock-forming minerals which might be expected
to be formed when the magma crystallizes, e.g., quartz feldspars, olivine, akermannite,
feldspathoids, magnetite, corundum and so on, and the rocks are divided into groups strictly
according to the relative proportion of these minerals to one another.[2] [3]
[edit] Mineralogical classification
For volcanic rocks, mineralogy is important in classifying and naming lavas. The most important
criterion is the phenocryst species, followed by the groundmass mineralogy. Often, where the
groundmass is aphanitic, chemical classification must be used to properly identify a volcanic
rock.
Mineralogic contents - felsic versus mafic

· felsic rock, highest content of silicon, with predominance of quartz, alkali feldspar and/or
feldspathoids: the felsic minerals; these rocks (e.g., granite, rhyolite) are usually light
coloured, and have low density.

· mafic rock, lesser content of silicon relative to felsic rocks, with predominance of mafic
minerals pyroxenes, olivines and calcic plagioclase; these rocks (example, basalt, gabbro)
are usually dark coloured, and have a higher density than felsic rocks.

· ultramafic rock, lowest content of silicon, with more than 90% of mafic minerals (e.g.,
dunite).
For intrusive, plutonic and usually phaneritic igneous rocks where all minerals are visible at least
via microscope, the mineralogy is used to classify the rock. This usually occurs on ternary
diagrams, where the relative proportions of three minerals are used to classify the rock.
The following table is a simple subdivision of igneous rocks according both to their composition
and mode of occurrence.

Composition

Mode of occurrence Felsic Intermediate Mafic Ultramafic

Intrusive Granite Diorite Gabbro Peridotite

Extrusive Rhyolite Andesite Basalt Komatiite

Essential
rock forming
silicates

Felsic Intermediate Mafic Ultramafic

Coarse Grained Granite Diorite Gabbro Peridotite

Medium Grained Diabase

Fine Grained Rhyolite Andesite Basalt Komatiite

For a more detailed classification see QAPF diagram.

[edit] Example of classification
Granite is an igneous intrusive rock (crystallized at depth), with felsic composition (rich in silica
and predominately quartz plus potassium-rich feldspar plus sodium-rich plagioclase) and
phaneritic, subeuhedral texture (minerals are visible to the unaided eye and commonly some of
them retain original crystallographic shapes).

[edit] Magma origination

The Earth's crust averages about 35 kilometers thick under the continents, but averages only
some 7-10 kilometers beneath the oceans. The continental crust is composed primarily of
sedimentary rocks resting on crystalline basement formed of a great variety of metamorphic and
igneous rocks including granulite and granite. Oceanic crust is composed primarily of basalt and
gabbro. Both continental and oceanic crust rest on peridotite of the mantle.
Rocks may melt in response to a decrease in pressure, to a change in composition such as an
addition of water, to an increase in temperature, or to a combination of these processes.
Other mechanisms, such as melting from impact of a meteorite, are less important today, but
impacts during accretion of the Earth led to extensive melting, and the outer several hundred
kilometers of our early Earth probably was an ocean of magma. Impacts of large meteorites in
last few hundred million years have been proposed as one mechanism responsible for the
extensive basalt magmatism of several large igneous provinces.

[edit] Decompression
Decompression melting which occurs because of a decrease in pressure. The solidus
temperatures of most rocks (the temperatures below which they are completely solid) increase
with increasing pressure in the absence of water. Peridotite at depth in the Earth's mantle may be
hotter than its solidus temperature at some shallower level. If such rock rises during the
convection of solid mantle, it will cool slightly as it expands in an adiabatic process, but the
cooling is only about 0.3°C per kilometer. Experimental studies of appropriate peridotite samples
document that the solidus temperatures increase by 3°C to 4°C per kilometer. If the rock rises far
enough, it will begin to melt. Melt droplets can coalesce into larger volumes and be intruded
upwards. This process of melting from upward movement of solid mantle is critical in the
evolution of Earth.
Decompression melting creates the ocean crust at mid-ocean ridges. Decompression melting
caused by the rise of mantle plumes is responsible for creating ocean islands like the Hawaiian
islands. Plume-related decompression melting also is the most common explanation for flood
basalts and oceanic plateaus (two types of large igneous provinces), although other causes such
as melting related to meteorite impact have been proposed for some of these huge volumes of
igneous rock.
[edit] Effects of water and carbon dioxide
The change of rock composition most responsible for creation of magma is the addition of water.
Water lowers the solidus temperature of rocks at a given pressure. For example, at a depth of
about 100 kilometers, peridotite begins to melt near 800°C in the presence of excess water, but
near or above about 1500°C in the absence of water.[4] Water is driven out of the oceanic
lithosphere in subduction zones, and it causes melting in the overlying mantle. Hydrous magmas
of basalt and andesite composition are produced directly and indirectly as results of dehydration
during the subduction process. Such magmas and those derived from them build up island arcs
such as those in the Pacific ring of fire. These magmas form rocks of the calc-alkaline series, an
important part of continental crust.
The addition of carbon dioxide is relatively a much less important cause of magma formation
than addition of water, but genesis of some silica-undersaturated magmas has been attributed to
the dominance of carbon dioxide over water in their mantle source regions. In the presence of
carbon dioxide, experiments document that the peridotite solidus temperature decreases by about
200°C in a narrow pressure interval at pressures corresponding to a depth of about 70 km. At
greater depths, carbon dioxide can have more effect: at depths to about 200 km, the temperatures
of initial melting of a carbonated peridotite composition were determined to be 450°C to 600°C
lower than for the same composition with no carbon dioxide.[5] Magmas of rock types such as
nephelinite, carbonatite, and kimberlite are among those that may be generated following an
influx of carbon dioxide into mantle at depths greater than about 70 km.

[edit] Temperature increase

Increase of temperature is the most typical mechanism for formation of magma within
continental crust. Such temperature increases can occur because of the upward intrusion of
magma from the mantle. Temperatures can also exceed the solidus of a crustal rock in
continental crust thickened by compression at a plate boundary. The plate boundary between the
Indian and Asian continental masses provides a well-studied example, as the Tibetan Plateau just
north of the boundary has crust about 80 kilometers thick, roughly twice the thickness of normal
continental crust. Studies of electrical resistivity deduced from magnetotelluric data have
detected a layer that appears to contain silicate melt and that stretches for at least 1000
kilometers within the middle crust along the southern margin of the Tibetan Plateau.[6] Granite
and rhyolite are types of igneous rock commonly interpreted as products of melting of
continental crust because of increases of temperature. Temperature increases also may contribute
to the melting of lithosphere dragged down in a [[subduction zone shut your mouth

[edit] Magma evolution

Main article: Igneous differentiation
Most magmas are only entirely melt for small parts of their histories. More typically, they are
mixes of melt and crystals, and sometimes also of gas bubbles. Melt, crystals, and bubbles
usually have different densities, and so they can separate as magmas evolve.
As magma cools, minerals typically crystallize from the melt at different temperatures (fractional
crystallization). As minerals crystallize, the composition of the residual melt typically changes. If
crystals separate from melt, then the residual melt will differ in composition from the parent
magma. For instance, a magma of gabbroic composition can produce a residual melt of granitic
composition if early formed crystals are separated from the magma. Gabbro may have a liquidus
temperature near 1200°C, and derivative granite-composition melt may have a liquidus
temperature as low as about 700°C. Incompatible elements are concentrated in the last residues
of magma during fractional crystallization and in the first melts produced during partial melting:
either process can form the magma that crystallizes to pegmatite, a rock type commonly enriched
in incompatible elements. Bowen's reaction series is important for understanding the idealised
sequence of fractional crystallisation of a magma.
Magma composition can be determined by processes other than partial melting and fractional
crystallization. For instance, magmas commonly interact with rocks they intrude, both by
melting those rocks and by reacting with them. Magmas of different compositions can mix with
one another. In rare cases, melts can separate into two immiscible melts of contrasting
compositions.
There are relatively few minerals that are important in the formation of common igneous rocks,
because the magma from which the minerals crystallize is rich in only certain elements: silicon,
oxygen, aluminium, sodium, potassium, calcium, iron, and magnesium. These are the elements
which combine to form the silicate minerals, which account for over ninety percent of all igneous
rocks. The chemistry of igneous rocks is expressed differently for major and minor elements and
for trace elements. Contents of major and minor elements are conventionally expressed as weight
percent oxides (e.g., 51% SiO2, and 1.50% TiO2). Abundances of trace elements are
conventionally expressed as parts per million by weight (e.g., 420 ppm Ni, and 5.1 ppm Sm).
The term "trace element" typically is used for elements present in most rocks at abundances less
than 100 ppm or so, but some trace elements may be present in some rocks at abundances
exceeding 1000 ppm. The diversity of rock compositions has been defined by a huge mass of
analytical data -- over 230,000 rock analyses can be accessed on the web through a site
sponsored by the U. S. National Science Foundation (see the External Link to EarthChem).

[edit] Etymology
The word "igneous" is derived from the Latin ignis, meaning "of fire". Volcanic rocks are named
after Vulcan, the Roman name for the god of fire.
Intrusive rocks are also called plutonic rocks, named after Pluto, the Roman god of the
underworld.