Major divisions of rock types:

• igneous
• sedimentary
• metamorphic
• hydrothermal
• Is this a classification based on description or on genesis?
• This classification directly linked to the rock cycle.

Sketch of part of Yosemite National Park, deep in the heart of an igneous world, the Sierra Nevada Batholith. Image Source: http://geomaps.wr.usgs.gov/parks/yos/I_1639.html

How do we tell an igneous rock from a sedimentary one from a metamorphic one?

• by using multiple traits such as texture, context, association, and mineralogy.
• e.g. if it has fossils it is a sedimentary rock (although it could be a sedimentary rock that has been weakly metamorphosed, scuh as slate, and thus be a metamorphic rock that once was sedimentary).
• e.g. if it has large crystals of a mineral that only grows in the solid state under higher pressures and temperatures, such as garnet, in which case it is likely metamorphic.
• e.g. if it has larger well formed crystals in a fine-grained matrix of interlocking crystals, in which case it is likely volcanic and therefore igneous in origin.

• Igneous rocks and the process of crystallization:
  • disassociated ionic groups --> lattice structure.
  • liquid (solution) --> crystalline solid.
  • salty water --> ice and salts.
  • magma/lava --> plutonic rock/volcanic rock.
  • granitic melt --> granite.
• In what different ways can the crystallization process be studied and observed?
• Bowen's reaction series - a schema.
• Phaneritic = coarse grained, identifiable by eye; aphanitic = fine grained.
• What controls the grain size of an igneous rock?
• Volcanic vs. plutonic rocks.
• The initial enigma of phenocrysts - why are only some of the grains coarse?

This rock is from a very shallow intrusion in Death Valley. It shows the larger phenocrysts (the larger white and rectangular crystal of feldspar) in the finer grained matrix. Much smaller feldspars also exist. Why the difference in grain size?

• how does one identify a rock as volcanic?
• volcanic rock types from poorer in SiO2 to richer in SiO2: komatiite (rare) --> basalt --> andesite/dacite --> rhyolite.
• 3 tectonic settings for volcanism:
  • volcanic arcs associated with subduction.
  • rift zones (continental and oceanic).
  • hot spots.
• how do you melt source rocks to create magma?

  ---

  Figure of phase space for silicate melt. The space makes intuitive space. The hotter the more likely it will be molten. The higher the pressure the more likely it will be solid. Note that material can move from the solid to the melt field in at least three different manners: reducing pressure while keeping temperature constant, increasing temperature, and by shifting the boundary .

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• shield volcanoes versus strato- or composite volcanoes.
  • shield volcanoes:
    • predominantly basalt flows.
    • low angle slopes.
    • small collapse calderas.
    • Mauna Loa.
    • U-Tube video of basalt flow on Hawaii.
  • composite volcanoes:
    • interlayered flows and pyroclastics, usually intermediate to sialic in composition.
    • higher angle slopes (cone shape).
    • larger calderas.
    • Mt. Fuji and Mt. St Helens.
    • USGS video of Mt. St. Helens eruption.
    • Image to right is of Mt. Shasta in northern California, one of the more southern volcanoes in the Cascade chain.
  • Why the difference?
• flood basalts and volcanic plateaus and large igneous provinces (LIPs):
  • relationship of large igneous provinces to mantle convection.
  • Columbia River Flood basalts:
    • circa 15 Ma.
    • Roza basalt member: 100-200'thick, 20,0000 square miles.
    • large fissure eruptions.
    • link to some photos.
    • USGS site describing these basalts.
  • Deccan Traps in India: some 65 Ma old. Same time as mass extinction? Role?
  • Siberian Traps: 270 Ma. Same time as largest mass extinction.
• types of eruptions.
  • flows vs. pyroclastic.
  • types of pyroclastic:
    • ash fall
    • glowing avalanches (one type of volcanic debris flow)
      • Mt. Unzen example U-Tube video.
      • fast and perhaps counterintuitive.
    • lahars, volcanic mud flows.
      • U-tube example from Indonesia.
      • can travel in excess of 20 miles from their source.
• textures in volcanic rocks.

Schematic diagram showing how volcanic rocks and features at the surface are connected to shallow and deeper plutonic rocks and features at depth. Diagram from USGS site: http://3dparks.wr.usgs.gov/lame/html/lame_history.htm

Plutonic rocks

• map and/or cross section relationships of plutonic rocks and inferred genesis.
• intrusion geometries:
  • planar intrusions: dikes and sills (discordant and concordant), see above diagram.
  • irregular intrusions (proverbial blobs): stocks, batholiths.
  • in what tectonic setting do batholiths form?
  • La Paz batholith, Baja California.
  • Yosemite National Park - deep in the heart of a batholith.
    • Photo to right is of the iconic Half Dome. While there is a distinctive set of fractures, note how all the rock has basically the same color. It is all massive granite. The granite extends much farther than this, and dominates the landscape for 360 degrees around the point of this view. Many granite intrusions from below combined to make a massive composite intrusion that is the center of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in eastern California. The associated cliffs are a mecca for climbers.
    • 
    • Not always but commonly a distinction type of fracturing occurs in these large granite bodies, a style of fracturing known as exfoliation jointing. It is well displayed here in this image from Yosemite, and the pattern has reminded some of the peels of an onion skin. Again you are looking at a landscape dominated by granite and shaped by fracturing and erosion by glaciers.
    • 
    • Above is a close up image (camera lense for scale) of the Yosemite granite with some foreign bits of the rock that the granite intruded caught up and then frozen into the granite. These pieces are known as xenoliths. Note the massive and crystalline (interlocking) texture in the granite.
    • 
    • In this photo there is almost more xenolith material than the lighter colored granite. That is because at this point we are at the very edge of the granite and of the Sierra Neveda batholith in Yosemite, near its contact with the surrounding country rock that it intruded. If you look carefully at the shapes and margins of the xenoliths, there is evidence of interaction between the xenoliths and granites.
• plutonic rock types: peridotite, pyroxenite, dunite (all ultramafic) -> gabbro -> diorite -> granite.
• plutonic rock textures and the information they carry.
• how and why do magmas ascend?

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