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  2. Igneous rock - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igneous_rock

    Extrusive igneous rock is made from lava released by volcanoes Sample of basalt (an extrusive igneous rock), found in Massachusetts. Extrusive igneous rock, also known as volcanic rock, is formed by the cooling of molten magma on the earth's surface. The magma, which is brought to the surface through fissures or volcanic eruptions, rapidly ...

  3. Sheeted dyke complex - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheeted_dyke_complex

    The magma that reaches the surface is subject to fast cooling and creates basaltic formations such as pillow lava, a common extrusive rock created near areas of volcanic activity on the seafloor. [3] Although some magma is able to reach the surface of oceanic crust, a considerable amount of magma solidifies within the crust.

  4. Magmatism - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magmatism

    For example, andesitic magmatism is associated with the formation of island arcs at convergent plate boundaries while basaltic magmatism is found at mid-ocean ridges during sea-floor spreading at divergent plate boundaries. On Earth, magma forms by partial melting of silicate rocks either in the mantle, continental or oceanic crust. Evidence ...

  5. Mid-ocean ridge - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-ocean_ridge

    A mid-ocean ridge (MOR) is a seafloor mountain system formed by plate tectonics. It typically has a depth of about 2,600 meters (8,500 ft) and rises about 2,000 meters (6,600 ft) above the deepest portion of an ocean basin. This feature is where seafloor spreading takes place along a divergent plate boundary. The rate of seafloor spreading ...

  6. Magma - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magma

    Magma that cools slowly within a magma chamber usually ends up forming bodies of plutonic rocks such as gabbro, diorite and granite, depending upon the composition of the magma. Alternatively, if the magma is erupted it forms volcanic rocks such as basalt , andesite and rhyolite (the extrusive equivalents of gabbro, diorite and granite ...

  7. Dike (geology) - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dike_(geology)

    In geology, a dike or dyke is a sheet of rock that is formed in a fracture of a pre-existing rock body. Dikes can be either magmatic or sedimentary in origin. Magmatic dikes form when magma flows into a crack then solidifies as a sheet intrusion, either cutting across layers of rock or through a contiguous mass of rock.

  8. Oceanic crust - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceanic_crust

    The crust uppermost is the result of the cooling of magma derived from mantle material below the plate. The magma is injected into the spreading center, which consists mainly of a partly solidified crystal mush derived from earlier injections, forming magma lenses that are the source of the sheeted dikes that feed the overlying pillow lavas. [4]

  9. Formation of rocks - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formation_of_rocks

    Metamorphic rocks are typically found in areas of mountain building. Rock can also form in the absence of a substantial pressure gradient as material that condensed from a protoplanetary disk, without ever undergoing any transformations in the interior of a large object such as a planet or moon. Astrophysicists classify this as a fourth type of ...