Gabbro | EPFL Graph Search

Gabbro (ˈɡæb.roʊ) is a phaneritic (coarse-grained), mafic intrusive igneous rock formed from the slow cooling of magnesium-rich and iron-rich magma into a holocrystalline mass deep beneath the Earth's surface. Slow-cooling, coarse-grained gabbro is chemically equivalent to rapid-cooling, fine-grained basalt. Much of the Earth's oceanic crust is made of gabbro, formed at mid-ocean ridges. Gabbro is also found as plutons associated with continental volcanism. Due to its variant nature, the term gabbro may be applied loosely to a wide range of intrusive rocks, many of which are merely "gabbroic". By rough analogy, gabbro is to basalt as granite is to rhyolite. The term "gabbro" was used in the 1760s to name a set of rock types that were found in the ophiolites of the Apennine Mountains in Italy. It was named after Gabbro, a hamlet near Rosignano Marittimo in Tuscany. Then, in 1809, the German geologist Christian Leopold von Buch used the term more restrictively in his description of these Italian ophiolitic rocks. He assigned the name "gabbro" to rocks that geologists nowadays would more strictly call "metagabbro" (metamorphosed gabbro). Gabbro is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) igneous rock that is relatively low in silica and rich in iron, magnesium, and calcium. Such rock is described as mafic. Gabbro is composed of pyroxene and calcium-rich plagioclase, with minor amounts of hornblende, olivine, and accessory minerals. When present, hornblende is typically found as a rim around augite crystals or as large grains enclosing smaller grains of other minerals (poikilitic grains). Geologists use rigorous quantitative definitions to classify coarse-grained igneous rocks, based on the mineral content of the rock. For igneous rocks composed mostly of silicate minerals, and in which at least 10% of the mineral content consists of quartz, feldspar, or feldspathoid minerals, classification begins with the QAPF diagram. The relative abundances of quartz (Q), alkali feldspar (A), plagioclase (P), and feldspathoid (F), are used to plot the position of the rock on the diagram.

Room-temperature strength of the interfacial bond between silica inclusions and iron

Andreas Mortensen, David Hernandez Escobar, Alejandra Inés Slagter, Sergio Perosanz Amarillo

The strength of the interface between iron (Fe) and individual spherical silica (SiO2) inclusions of 5 +/- 1 mu m diameter is measured by means of in-situ micro-cantilever bending tests conducted under displacement control within a scanning electron micros ...

Oxford2023

Taking the pulse of volcanic eruptions using plagioclase glomerocrysts

Anders Meibom, Stéphane Laurent Escrig, Anders McCarthy, Pierre Vonlanthen

Crystallization timescales in subvolcanic systems and the consequences of interaction between ascending magmas and gases remain largely unconstrained, as do links between these processes and monitoring signals at restless volcanoes. We apply diffusion chro ...

ELSEVIER2020

Weekly to monthly time scale of melt inclusion entrapment prior to eruption recorded by phosphorus distribution in olivine from mid-ocean ridges

Anders Meibom, Stéphane Laurent Escrig, Othmar Müntener, Lukas Baumgartner, Mélina Manzini

Melt inclusions (MIs) hosted in euhedral olivine have been proposed to represent droplets of primary melt, protected from processes occurring near Earth's surface during eruption. The complex zoning of phosphorus (P) in some olivines and the presence of a ...

Geological Soc Amer, Inc2017