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Diorite is an intrusive igneous rock composed principally of the silicate minerals plagioclase feldspar (typically andesine), biotite, hornblende, and sometimes pyroxene.The chemical composition of diorite is intermediate, between that of mafic gabbro and felsic granite.
Diorite – Igneous rock type Napoleonite, also known as corsite – Variety of diorite with orbicular structure; Dunite – Ultramafic and ultrabasic rock from Earth's mantle which is made of the mineral olivine; Essexite – Igneous rock type; Foidolite – Igneous rock rich in feldspathoid minerals; Gabbro – Coarse-grained mafic intrusive rock
A mafic mineral or rock is a silicate mineral or igneous rock rich in magnesium and iron. Most mafic minerals are dark in color, and common rock-forming mafic minerals include olivine, pyroxene, amphibole, and biotite. Common mafic rocks include basalt, diabase and gabbro. Mafic rocks often also contain calcium-rich varieties of plagioclase ...
Diabase (/ ˈ d aɪ. ə ˌ b eɪ s /), also called dolerite (/ ˈ d ɒ l. ə ˌ r aɪ t /) or microgabbro, [1] is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-grained to aphanitic chilled margins which may ...
The mafic minerals in the TTG rock body, possibly biotite, were weathered, which introduced a brownish coating on the TTG rock surface. Tonalite–trondhjemite–granodiorite ( TTG ) rocks are intrusive rocks with typical granitic composition ( quartz and feldspar ) but containing only a small portion of potassium feldspar .
Gabbro is distinguished from diorite by an anorthite content of greater than 50% of its plagioclase and from anorthosite by a mafic mineral content greater than 10%. Geologists use rigorous quantitative definitions to classify coarse-grained igneous rocks, based on the mineral content of the rock.
The mafic mineral in Proterozoic anorthosite may be clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene, olivine, or, more rarely, amphibole. Oxides, such as magnetite or ilmenite, are also common. Most anorthosite plutons are very coarse grained; that is, the individual plagioclase crystals and the accompanying mafic mineral are more than a few centimetres long ...
Color index, as a geological term, is a measure of the ratio between generally dark mafic minerals and generally light felsic minerals in an igneous rock. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] The color index of an igneous rock is the volume percentage of mafic minerals in the rock, excluding minerals generally regarded as "colorless" such as apatite , muscovite ...