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Diorite (/ ˈ d aɪ. ə r aɪ t / DY-ə-ryte) [1] [2] is an intrusive igneous rock formed by the slow cooling underground of magma (molten rock) that has a moderate content of silica and a relatively low content of alkali metals.
The chemical elements can be broadly divided into metals, metalloids, and nonmetals according to their shared physical and chemical properties.All elemental metals have a shiny appearance (at least when freshly polished); are good conductors of heat and electricity; form alloys with other metallic elements; and have at least one basic oxide.
However the current IUGS classification defines tonalite as having greater than 20% quartz, while quartz diorite varies its quartz content from 5 to 20%. [ 1 ] The name is derived from the type locality of tonalites, adjacent to the Tonale Line, a major structural lineament and mountain pass, Tonale Pass , in the Italian and Austrian Alps .
Quartz diorite is an igneous, plutonic rock, of felsic composition, with phaneritic texture. Feldspar is present as plagioclase (typically oligoclase or andesine ) with 10% or less potassium feldspar.
Napoleonite is a variety of diorite which is characterized by orbicular structure. The grey matrix of the stone has the normal appearance of a diorite, but contains many rounded lumps 1 or 2 inches in diameter, which show concentric zones of light and dark colors.
Purely pyroxene-bearing volcanic rocks are rare, restricted to spinifex-textured sills, lava tubes and thick flows in the Archaean greenstone belts.Here, the pyroxenite lavas are created by in-situ crystallisation and accumulation of pyroxene at the base of a lava flow, creating the distinctive spinifex texture, but also occasionally mesocumulate and orthocumulate segregations.
The archaic term epidiorite is sometimes used, especially in Europe, to refer to a metamorphosed ortho-amphibolite with a protolith of diorite, gabbro or other mafic intrusive rock. In epidiorite the original clinopyroxene (most often augite) has been replaced by the fibrous amphibole uralite.
The name comes from two related rocks to which granodiorite is an intermediate: granite and diorite. The gran-root comes from the Latin grānum for "grain", an English language derivative. Diorite is named after the contrasting colors of the rock.