Basalt And Granite Which One Is Older

Summary basalt vs granite.

Basalt and granite which one is older.

Also since both those lithologies are igneo. The granite formed from underground lava called magma about 100 million years ago. 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. This specimen erupted from kilauea volcano in 1960.

The principle of cutting states when one feature cuts another the feature being cut is older the feature doing the cutting is younger. There is no reason for some existing rock to preclude the later existence of a different sort of rock. It forms from lava flows which extrude onto the surface and cool. The earth is 4 billion years old and any kind of rock can form just about anywhere.

It is common both on earth and other planetary bodies. Granite vs basalt characteristics assist us to distinguish and recognize rocks. The granite is much older than the basalt. Characteristics of rocks include texture appearance color fracture streak hardness etc.

Basalt is fine grained so the individual minerals are not visible but they include pyroxene plagioclase feldspar and olivine these minerals are visible in the coarse grained plutonic version of basalt called gabbro. The granite cuts through the schist in first photo and cuts the schist s foliation in the second. Its principle minerals include pyroxene feldspar and olivine. Summary of basalt vs.

Basalt is an extrusive or intrusive rock that makes up most of the world s oceanic crust. Granite vs basalt characteristics. Basalt wikipedia wikimedia foundation 13 sept. Basalt is an igneous volcanic rock that forms commonly in oceanic crust and parts of continental crust.