Picrite basalt

Picrite basalt or picrobasalt is a variety of high-magnesium olivine basalt that is very rich in the mineral olivine. It is dark with yellow-green olivine phenocrysts (20-50%) and black to dark brown pyroxene, mostly augite. The olivine-rich picrite basalts that occur with the more common tholeiitic basalts of Kīlauea and other volcanoes of the Hawaiian Islands are the result of accumulation of olivine crystals either in a portion of the magma chamber or in a caldera lava lake. The compositions of these rocks are well represented by mixes of olivine and more typical tholeiitic basalt. The name "picrite" can also be applied to an olivine-rich alkali basalt: such picrite consists largely of phenocrysts of olivine and titanium-rich augite pyroxene with minor plagioclase set in a groundmass of augite and more sodic plagioclase and perhaps analcite and biotite. More generally the classification of fine grained rocks recognises a group known as 'picritic rocks' that are characterised by high magnesium content and less than 45% SiO2. Because of the high Mg content they do not fit in the TAS diagram of classification. They include picrite, komatiite and meimechite. Picrites and komatiites are somewhat similar chemically (defined as >18% MgO), but differ in having 1 to 2% total alkalis and