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Igneous Rocks

Rocks formed by the cooling and solidification of molten or partly molten material, magma at depth or lava at the surface, classified by texture and where the melt solidified, following the intrusive, extrusive and pyroclastic divisions used throughout standard igneous petrology and the USGS rock-type glossary. Includes plutonic rocks that crystallized slowly underground (granite, gabbro, diorite, syenite, anorthosite, peridotite, dunite, norite, monzonite, kimberlite), volcanic rocks that cooled quickly at or near the surface (basalt, andesite, rhyolite, dacite, trachyte, obsidian, komatiite), a hypabyssal rock that crystallized in a shallow intrusion (diabase) and a coarse-grained rock formed from the last fluid fraction of a crystallizing magma (pegmatite), pyroclastic rocks built from fragmented volcanic ejecta (tuff, scoria, pumice), and a rock classed by its texture across several of these settings (porphyry). Belongs here: any material whose origin is the cooling of magma or lava, whatever its depth, grain size or eruptive violence. Does not belong here: rock formed by the surface accumulation of sediment (Sedimentary Rocks) or by the alteration of an existing rock under heat and pressure without full melting (Metamorphic Rocks).

Facts
Comparison
Formation Origin
Formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava. 1
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Classifies

Andesite, Materials
Anorthosite, Materials
Basalt, Materials
Dacite, Materials
Diabase, Materials
Diorite, Materials
Dunite, Materials
Gabbro, Materials
Granite, Materials
Kimberlite, Materials
Komatiite, Materials
Monzonite, Materials
Norite, Materials
Obsidian, Materials
Pegmatite, Materials
Peridotite, Materials
Porphyry, Materials
Pumice, Materials
Rhyolite, Materials
Scoria, Materials
Syenite, Materials
Trachyte, Materials
Tuff, Materials
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Igneous rock
WikipediaIgneous rock, lead section
Quote, Igneous rock, lead section
Igneous rocks are formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava.
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