Chemical And Mineralogical Differences Between Basalt And Granite

Home science earth science geology what is the difference between basalt and granite.

Chemical and mineralogical differences between basalt and granite.

The hardness of basalt is 6 and that of andesite is 7. The main difference between them is the process through which it formed and texture. A basalt is about 53 sio2 whereas granite is 73. Earth contains three kinds of rocks namely igneous rocks sedimentary rocks and metamorphic rocks basalt and granite are two types of igneous rocks.

Basalt chemically can be classified into tholiite transitional and alkali. 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. Plutonic rock formed in the earth. Cite 20th jul 2018.

Both rhyolite and basalt are extrusive igneous rocks because they came from melts that cooled on the earth s surface rather than deep underground. Rhyolite has a high silica content and is actually the same mineralogical composition as granite. Continental crust density 2 7 2 8. Basalt is volcanic or extrusive forming at the surface while granite is plutonic or intrusive forming beneath the surface.

The difference between granites and basalts is in silica content and their rates of cooling. Igneous rocks are formed by the crystallisation of a magma. 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. Intrusive slowly cooled inside the crust.

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 an extrusive fine grained igneous rock formed when the molten materials lava r. We are defined within the range of rock basalt from 48 52 sio2. Rhyolite is to granite what basalt.

Basalt and granite actually have quite a bit in common. All rocks of igneous origin consist of magma or molten earth that finds its way up to. The difference is in the chemical mineralogical composition. Appearance of basalt is dull and soft and that of andesite is dull and soft.

Basalt is available in black brown light to dark grey colors whereas andesite is available in bluish grey grey pink yellow colors. By staff writer last updated apr 4 2020 5 22 03 am et. Differences between basalt and granite although there are some similarities between basalt and granite there are also significant differences between these two rock types. Basalt and gabbro are both mafic igneous rocks having same mineralogy.