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A phanerite [1] is an igneous rock whose microstructure is made up of crystals large enough to be distinguished with the unaided human eye. In contrast, the crystals in an aphanitic rock are too fine-grained to be identifiable. Phaneritic texture forms when magma deep underground in the plutonic environment cools slowly, giving the crystals ...
Igneous textures are used by geologists in determining the mode of origin of igneous rocks and are used in rock classification. The six main types of textures are phaneritic, aphanitic, porphyritic, glassy, pyroclastic, and pegmatitic. Aphanitic (a = not, phaner = visible) rocks, in contrast to phaneritic rocks, typically form from lava which ...
In geology, texture or rock microstructure [1] refers to the relationship between the materials of which a rock is composed. [2] The broadest textural classes are crystalline (in which the components are intergrown and interlocking crystals), fragmental (in which there is an accumulation of fragments by some physical process), aphanitic (in which crystals are not visible to the unaided eye ...
Texture is an important criterion for the naming of volcanic rocks. The texture of volcanic rocks, including the size, shape, orientation, and distribution of mineral grains and the intergrain relationships, will determine whether the rock is termed a tuff, a pyroclastic lava or a simple lava.
Macrocrystalline or phaneritic texture is common in intrusive igneous rocks that cooled slowly enough for crystal growth. Pegmatites are noted for their large crystal size. The texture is also commonly found in late-diagenetic dolomite , recrystallized limestone , and some types of anhydrite .
Gabbro (/ ˈ ɡ æ b r oʊ / GAB-roh) is a phaneritic (coarse-grained and magnesium- and iron-rich), mafic intrusive igneous rock formed from the slow cooling 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.
Rocks with greater than 90% felsic minerals can also be called leucocratic, [4] from the Greek words for white and dominance. Felsite is a petrologic field term used to refer to very fine-grained or aphanitic , light-colored volcanic rocks which might be later reclassified after a more detailed microscopic or chemical analysis.
Tonalite is an igneous, plutonic rock, of felsic composition, with phaneritic (coarse-grained) texture. Feldspar is present as plagioclase (typically oligoclase or andesine) with alkali feldspar making up less than 10% of the total feldspar content.