Showing posts with label magma. Show all posts
Showing posts with label magma. Show all posts

Monday, January 18, 2010

Magma

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the fluid rock beneath the Earth's surface, which solidifies to form IGNEOUS ROCKS. During volcanic eruptions, the LAVA extruded at the Earth's surface is not necessarily the same in composition as the magma that arises to form lava, since the magma may have lost some of its gaseous elements and some solids of the magma may have crystallized.

Taken from Dictionary of Science

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Magma [from Greek μάγμα, paste] is molten rock that is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and may also exist on other terrestrial planets. Besides molten rock, magma may also contain suspended crystals and gas bubbles. Magma often collects in a magma chamber inside a volcano. Magma is capable of intrusion into adjacent rocks, extrusion onto the surface as lava, and explosive ejection as tephra to form pyroclastic rock.


Magma is a complex high-temperature fluid substance. Temperatures of most magmas are in the range 700°C to 1300°C (or 1300°F to 2400°F), but very rare carbonatite melts may be as cool as 600°C, and komatiite melts may have been as hot as 1600°C. Most are silicate solutions.


Environments of magma formation and compositions are commonly correlated. Environments include subduction zones, continental rift zones, mid-oceanic ridges, and hotspots, some of which are interpreted as mantle plumes. Despite being found in such widespread locales, the bulk of the Earth's crust and mantle is not molten. Rather, most of the Earth takes the form of a rheid, a form of solid that can move or deform under pressure. Magma, as liquid, preferentially forms in high temperature, low pressure environments within several kilometers of the Earth's surface.


Magma compositions may evolve after formation by fractional crystallization, contamination, and magma mixing. By definition, all igneous rock is formed from magma.


While the study of magma has historically relied on observing magma in the form of lava outflows, magma has been encountered in situ three times during drilling projects—twice in Iceland, and once in Hawaii.

Taken from Wikipedia



Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Igneous Rock


one of the three main rock types that is formed by the forcing up of hot, molten rock (magma), from great depths, or lava flows on the surface associated with volcanoes.

Taken from Dictionary of Science

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Igneous rock (from the Latin ignis meaning born of fire) is one of the three main rock types (the others being sedimentary and metamorphic rock). Igneous rock is formed by magma (molten rock) cooling and becoming solid. Igneous rock may form with or without crystallization, either below the surface as intrusive (plutonic) rocks or on the surface as extrusive (volcanic) rocks. This magma can be derived from partial melts of pre-existing rocks in either a planet's mantle or crust. Typically, the melting is caused by one or more of three processes: an increase in temperature, a decrease in pressure, or a change in composition. Over 700 types of igneous rocks have been described, most of them having formed beneath the surface of Earth's crust. These have diverse properties, depending on their composition and how they were formed.

Taken from Wikipedia