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Concept
Igneous rock
Summary
Igneous rock (igneous ), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rocks are formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava.
The magma can be derived from partial melts of 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. Solidification into rock occurs either below the surface as intrusive rocks or on the surface as extrusive rocks. Igneous rock may form with crystallization to form granular, crystalline rocks, or without crystallization to form natural glasses.
Igneous rocks occur in a wide range of geological settings: shields, platforms, orogens, basins, large igneous provinces, extended crust and oceanic crust.
Igneous and metamorphic rocks make up 90–95% of the top of the Earth's crust by volume. Igneous rocks form about 15% of the Earth's current land surface. Most of the Earth's oceanic crust is made of igneous rock.
Igneous rocks are also geologically important because:
their minerals and global chemistry give information about the composition of the lower crust or upper mantle from which their parent magma was extracted, and the temperature and pressure conditions that allowed this extraction;
their absolute ages can be obtained from various forms of radiometric dating and can be compared to adjacent geological strata, thus permitting calibration of the geological time scale;
their features are usually characteristic of a specific tectonic environment, allowing tectonic reconstructions (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.
Igneous rocks can be either intrusive (plutonic and hypabyssal) or extrusive (volcanic).
Official source
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