Basaltic Rocks Make Up Most Of The Sea Floor

At a spreading center basaltic magma rises up the fractures and cools on the ocean floor to form new seabed.

Basaltic rocks make up most of the sea floor. Basalts at oceanic divergent boundaries. The density is about 3 0 g cm3 composed mainly of the igneous rock basalt. Obsidian exhibits a texture. Porosity is a measure of the volume of open space in rocks and unconsolidated geological materials such as alluvium and soils a.

Older rocks will be found farther away from the spreading zone while younger rocks will be found nearer to the spreading zone. Basaltic rocks make up most of the. Here convection currents deliver hot rock from deep in the mantle. How does magma differ from lava.

Have a similar texture. Granite and gabbro. How does the eruption of mount st. Confining pressure where.

B ə ˈ s ɔː l t ˈ b eɪ s ɒ l t uk. The slow cooling at depth allows large crystals to grow. It is thinner denser younger and of different. Intrusive igneous rocks are often characterized as coarse grained because.

This hot rock melts as the divergent boundary pulls apart and the molten rock erupts onto the sea floor. Helens compared to a typical eruption of hawaii a kilauea volcano. The average rock density is about 2 7 g cm3 composition is comparable to the felsic igneous rock granodiorite. These rocks have low concentrations of large ion lithophile elements lile light rare earth elements lree volatile elements and other highly incompatible elements.

Most of earth s basalt is produced at divergent plate boundaries on the mid ocean ridge system see map. ˈ b æ s ɔː l t ˈ b æ s əl t is a mafic extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of lava rich in magnesium and iron exposed at or very near the surface of a terrestrial planet or a moon. Magma is molten rock beneath earth s surface. Forces are applied equally in all directions.

Basalt is the most common type of igneous rock and it covers the ocean floor and thus exists. Basaltic rocks make up most of the sea floor. Lava is molten rock at earth s surface. Hydrothermal vents are common at spreading centers.

It is composed of several layers not including the overlying sediment. Most of the rocks of the earth s crust are igneous although sedimentary rocks usually cover them. More than 90 of all volcanic rock on earth is basalt and the eruption of basalt lava is observed by geologists at about 20. The most voluminous volcanic rocks of the ocean floor are the mid oceanic ridge basalts which are derived from low potassium tholeiitic magmas.

Continental exceeds 70 kilometers under some mountainous regions while oceanic crust ranges from 3 to 15 kilometers.