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A phenocryst is an early forming, relatively large and usually conspicuous crystal distinctly larger than the grains of the rock groundmass of an igneous rock. Such rocks that have a distinct difference in the size of the crystals are called porphyries, and the adjective porphyritic is used to describe them.
The quartz crystals exist in a fine-grained matrix, usually of micro-crystalline or felsitic structure. In specimens, the quartz appears as small rounded, clear, greyish, vitreous blebs, which are crystals, double hexagonal pyramids, with their edges and corners rounded by resorption or corrosion.
The brown, fine-grained groundmass consists of very small quartz, feldspar, and biotite mica crystals. Llanite comes from a hypabyssal porphyritic rhyolite dike that intrudes Precambrian metamorphics in the Llano Uplift of central Texas. Published radiometric dating on this llanite indicates that it is 1.106 billion years old (late ...
Porphyritic is an adjective used in geology to describe igneous rocks with a distinct difference in the size of mineral crystals, with the larger crystals known as phenocrysts. Both extrusive and intrusive rocks can be porphyritic, meaning all types of igneous rocks can display some degree of porphyritic texture.
"Imperial Porphyry" from the Red Sea Mountains of Egypt A waterworn cobble of porphyry Rhyolite porphyry from Colorado; scale bar in lower left is 1 cm (0.39 in). Porphyry (/ ˈ p ɔːr f ə r i / POR-fə-ree) is any of various granites or igneous rocks with coarse-grained crystals such as feldspar or quartz dispersed in a fine-grained silicate-rich, generally aphanitic matrix or groundmass.
Crystallography ranges from the fundamentals of crystal structure to the mathematics of crystal geometry, including those that are not periodic or quasicrystals. At the atomic scale it can involve the use of X-ray diffraction to produce experimental data that the tools of X-ray crystallography can convert into detailed positions of atoms, and ...
The crystal system of rhodochrosite is trigonal, with a structure and cleavage in the carbonate rhombohedral system. The carbonate ions ( CO 2− 3 ) are arranged in a triangular planar configuration, and the manganese ions (Mn 2+ ) are surrounded by six oxygen ions in an octahedral arrangement.
The individual crystals in an aphanitic igneous rock are not distinguishable to the naked eye. Examples of aphanitic igneous rock include basalt , andesite , and rhyolite . Glassy or vitreous textures occur during some volcanic eruptions when the lava is quenched so rapidly that crystallization cannot occur.