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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 ...
Phaneritic (phaner = visible) textures are typical of intrusive igneous rocks, these rocks crystallized slowly below Earth's surface. As magma cools slowly the minerals have time to grow and form large crystals. The minerals in a phaneritic igneous rock are sufficiently large to see each individual crystal with the naked eye.
For textural classification, igneous rocks that have crystals large enough to be seen by the naked eye are called phaneritic; those with crystals too small to be seen are called aphanitic. Generally speaking, phaneritic implies an intrusive origin or plutonic, indicating slow cooling; aphanitic are extrusive or volcanic, indicating rapid cooling.
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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 ...
Occasionally some individual crystals (phenocrysts) are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic texture is known as a granite porphyry. Granitoid is a general, descriptive field term for lighter-colored, coarse-grained igneous rocks.
Gabbro specimen Photomicrograph of a thin section of gabbro. 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.
Anorthosite (/ ə ˈ n ɔːr θ ə s aɪ t /) is a phaneritic, intrusive igneous rock characterized by its composition: mostly plagioclase feldspar (90–100%), with a minimal mafic component (0–10%).