Basalt

For the World War II raid, see Operation Basalt. For the crystals to grow, although it is often porphyritic, concities, see Basalt, Colorado and Basalt, Idaho.
taining the larger crystals formed prior to the extrusion
that brought the lava to the surface, embedded in a nerBasalt
(/bslt/,
/bslt/,
/bslt/,
or grained matrix.
/beslt/)[1][2][3] is a common extrusive igneous
(volcanic) rock formed from the rapid cooling of basaltic
lava exposed at or very near the surface of a planet or
moon. Flood basalt describes the formation in a series
of lava basalt ows.

Basalt with a vesicular or frothy texture is called scoria,

and forms when dissolved gases are forced out of solution
and form vesicles as the lava decompresses as it reaches
the surface.
The term basalt is at times applied to shallow intrusive
rocks with a composition typical of basalt, but rocks of
this composition with a phaneritic (coarse) groundmass
are generally referred to as diabase (also called dolerite)
or gabbro.

Denition

Columnar basalt ows in Yellowstone National Park, USA.

By denition, basalt is an aphanitic igneous rock with

less than 20% quartz and less than 10% feldspathoid by
volume, and where at least 65% of the feldspar is in
the form of plagioclase. Basalt features a glassy matrix
interspersed with minerals. The average density is 3.0
gm/cm3 .
Basalt is dened by its mineral content and texture, and
physical descriptions without mineralogical context may
be unreliable in some circumstances. Basalt is usually
grey to black in colour, but rapidly weathers to brown or
rust-red due to oxidation of its mac (iron-rich) minerals into rust. Although usually characterized as dark,
basaltic rocks exhibit a wide range of shading due to regional geochemical processes. Due to weathering or high
concentrations of plagioclase, some basalts are quite light
coloured, supercially resembling rhyolite to untrained
eyes. Basalt has a ne-grained mineral texture due to
the molten rock cooling too quickly for large mineral

Columnar basalt at Szent Gyrgy Hill, Hungary

In the Hadean and Archean (and the early Precambrian)

eras of Earths history the chemistry of erupted basalts
was signicantly dierent from todays, due to crustal
and asthenosphere dierentiation issuesso much so
that there is an alternate (but less well known) name for
this kind of basalt.
1

4 PETROLOGY
MORB (Mid-Ocean Ridge Basalt) is characteristically low in incompatible elements. MORB is commonly erupted only at ocean ridges. MORB itself
has been subdivided into varieties such as NMORB
and EMORB (slightly more enriched in incompatible elements).[5][6]
High-alumina basalt may be silica-undersaturated or
-oversaturated (see normative mineralogy). It has
greater than 17% alumina (Al2 O3 ) and is intermediate in composition between tholeiite and alkali
basalt; the relatively alumina-rich composition is
based on rocks without phenocrysts of plagioclase.

Vesicular basalt at Sunset Crater, Arizona. US quarter for scale.

1.1

Etymology

Alkali basalt is relatively poor in silica and rich in

sodium. It is silica-undersaturated and may contain
feldspathoids, alkali feldspar and phlogopite.
Boninite is a high-magnesium form of basalt that is
erupted generally in back-arc basins, distinguished
by its low titanium content and trace element composition.

The word basalt is ultimately derived from Late Latin

basaltes, misspelling of L. basanites very hard stone,
which was imported from Ancient Greek
(basanites), from (basanos, touchstone) and
originated in Egyptian bauhun slate.[4] The modern
petrological term basalt describing a particular composition of lava-derived rock originates from its use by
Georgius Agricola in 1556 in his famous work of mining and mineralogy De re metallica, libri XII. Agricola applied basalt to the volcanic black rock of the Schloberg
(local castle hill) at Stolpen, believing it to be the same as
Pliny the Elder's very hard stone.

2 Occurrence

1.2

The crustal portions of oceanic tectonic plates are composed predominantly of basalt, produced from upwelling
mantle below, the ocean ridges.

Types

On Earth, most basalt magmas have formed by

decompression melting of the mantle. Basalt commonly
erupts on Io, the third largest moon of Jupiter, and has
also formed on Earths Moon, Mars, Venus, and the asteroid Vesta.

3 Uses
Basalt is used in construction (e.g. as building blocks or
in the groundwork), making cobblestones (from columnar basalt) and in making statues. Heating and extruding
basalt yields stone wool, said to be an excellent thermal
insulator.

4 Petrology
Large masses must cool slowly to form a polygonal joint pattern,
as here at the Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland.

Tholeiitic basalt is relatively rich in silica and poor in

sodium. Included in this category are most basalts
of the ocean oor, most large oceanic islands, and
continental ood basalts such as the Columbia River
Plateau.

The mineralogy of basalt is characterized by a preponderance of calcic plagioclase feldspar and pyroxene. Olivine
can also be a signicant constituent. Accessory minerals
present in relatively minor amounts include iron oxides
and iron-titanium oxides, such as magnetite, ulvospinel,
and ilmenite. Because of the presence of such oxide minerals, basalt can acquire strong magnetic signatures as it
cools, and paleomagnetic studies have made extensive use
of basalt.

4.1

Geochemistry

3
(e.g., Ozerov, 2000).

4.1 Geochemistry
Relative to most common igneous rocks, basalt compositions are rich in MgO and CaO and low in SiO2 and the
alkali oxides, i.e., Na2 O + K2 O, consistent with the TAS
classication.
Basalt generally has a composition of 4555 wt% SiO2 ,
26 wt% total alkalis, 0.52.0 wt% TiO2 , 514 wt% FeO
and 14 wt% or more Al2 O3 . Contents of CaO are commonly near 10 wt%, those of MgO commonly in the range
5 to 12 wt%.
High-alumina basalts have aluminium contents of 1719
wt% Al2 O3 ; boninites have magnesium contents of up
to 15 percent MgO. Rare feldspathoid-rich mac rocks,
akin to alkali basalts, may have Na2 O + K2 O contents of
12% or more.
Photomicrograph of a volcanic (basaltic) sand grain; upper picture is plane-polarized light, bottom picture is cross-polarized
light, scale box at left-center is 0.25 millimeter. Note white plagioclase 'microlites in cross-polarized light picture, surrounded
by very ne grained volcanic glass.

In tholeiitic basalt, pyroxene (augite and orthopyroxene

or pigeonite) and calcium-rich plagioclase are common
phenocryst minerals. Olivine may also be a phenocryst,
and when present, may have rims of pigeonite. The
groundmass contains interstitial quartz or tridymite or
cristobalite. Olivine tholeiite has augite and orthopyroxene or pigeonite with abundant olivine, but olivine may
have rims of pyroxene and is unlikely to be present in the
groundmass.
Alkali basalts typically have mineral assemblages that
lack orthopyroxene but contain olivine. Feldspar phenocrysts typically are labradorite to andesine in composition. Augite is rich in titanium compared to augite in
tholeiitic basalt. Minerals such as alkali feldspar, leucite,
nepheline, sodalite, phlogopite mica, and apatite may be
present in the groundmass.
Basalt has high liquidus and solidus temperaturesvalues
at the Earths surface are near or above 1200 C (liquidus)
and near or below 1000 C (solidus); these values are
higher than those of other common igneous rocks.

The abundances of the lanthanide or rare-earth elements

(REE) can be a useful diagnostic tool to help explain the
history of mineral crystallisation as the melt cooled. In
particular, the relative abundance of europium compared
to the other REE is often markedly higher or lower, and
called the europium anomaly. It arises because Eu2+ can
substitute for Ca2+ in plagioclase feldspar, unlike any of
the other lanthanides, which tend to only form 3+ cations.
MORB basalts and their intrusive equivalents, gabbros,
are the characteristic igneous rocks formed at mid-ocean
ridges. They are tholeiites particularly low in total alkalis
and in incompatible trace elements, and they have relatively at REE patterns normalized to mantle or chondrite
values. In contrast, alkali basalts have normalized patterns highly enriched in the light REE, and with greater
abundances of the REE and of other incompatible elements. Because MORB basalt is considered a key
to understanding plate tectonics, its compositions have
been much studied. Although MORB compositions are
distinctive relative to average compositions of basalts
erupted in other environments, they are not uniform. For
instance, compositions change with position along the
Mid-Atlantic ridge, and the compositions also dene different ranges in dierent ocean basins (Hofmann, 2003).
Isotope ratios of elements such as strontium, neodymium,
lead, hafnium, and osmium in basalts have been much
studied to learn about the evolution of the Earths mantle. Isotopic ratios of noble gases, such as 3 He/4 He, are
also of great value: for instance, ratios for basalts range
from 6 to 10 for mid-ocean ridge tholeiite (normalized
to atmospheric values), but to 15-24+ for ocean island
basalts thought to be derived from mantle plumes.

The majority of tholeiites are formed at approximately

50100 km depth within the mantle. Many alkali basalts
may be formed at greater depths, perhaps as deep as 150
200 km. The origin of high-alumina basalt continues to
be controversial, with interpretations that it is a primary Source rocks for the partial melts probably include both
melt and that instead it is derived from other basalt types peridotite and pyroxenite (e.g., Sobolev et al., 2007).

4.2

4 PETROLOGY

Morphology and textures

Columnar jointed basalt in Turkey

An active basalt lava ow

The shape, structure and texture of a basalt is diagnostic

of how and where it eruptedwhether into the sea, in an
During the cooling of a thick lava ow, contractional
explosive cinder eruption or as creeping pahoehoe lava
joints or fractures form. If a ow cools relatively rapidly,
ows, the classic image of Hawaiian basalt eruptions.
signicant contraction forces build up. While a ow
can shrink in the vertical dimension without fracturing,
it can't easily accommodate shrinking in the horizontal
4.2.1 Subaerial eruptions
direction unless cracks form; the extensive fracture netBasalt which erupts under open air (that is, subaerially) work that develops results in the formation of columns.
forms three distinct types of lava or volcanic deposits: The topology of the lateral shapes of these columns can
broadly be classed as a random cellular network. These
scoria; ash or cinder (breccia); and lava ows.
structures are predominantly hexagonal in cross-section,
Basalt in the tops of subaerial lava ows and cinder cones but polygons with three to twelve or more sides can be
will often be highly vesiculated, imparting a lightweight observed.[7] The size of the columns depends loosely on
frothy texture to the rock. Basaltic cinders are often the rate of cooling; very rapid cooling may result in very
red, coloured by oxidized iron from weathered iron-rich small (<1 cm diameter) columns, while slow cooling is
minerals such as pyroxene.
more likely to produce large columns.
A types of blocky, cinder and breccia ows of thick,
viscous basaltic lava are common in Hawaii. Phoehoe
is a highly uid, hot form of basalt which tends to form 4.2.2 Submarine eruptions
thin aprons of molten lava which ll up hollows and sometimes forms lava lakes. Lava tubes are common features
of pahoehoe eruptions.
Basaltic tu or pyroclastic rocks are rare but not unknown. Usually basalt is too hot and uid to build up sufcient pressure to form explosive lava eruptions but occasionally this will happen by trapping of the lava within the
volcanic throat and buildup of volcanic gases. Hawaiis
Mauna Loa volcano erupted in this way in the 19th century, as did Mount Tarawera, New Zealand in its violent
1886 eruption. Maar volcanoes are typical of small basalt
tus, formed by explosive eruption of basalt through the
crust, forming an apron of mixed basalt and wall rock
breccia and a fan of basalt tu further out from the volcano.

Pillow basalts on the south Pacic seaoor

Amygdaloidal structure is common in relict vesicles and

beautifully crystallized species of zeolites, quartz or
calcite are frequently found.
Pillow basalts
Columnar basalt
columnar basalt

See also:

See also: Pillow lava

List of places with When basalt erupts underwater or ows into the sea, contact with the water quenches the surface and the lava

5
glass (and thus, the oceanic crust) and seawater suggest that these interactions may lead to an application of
hydrothermal vents to the origin of life.

6 Distribution

Outcrop of a pillow basalt, Italy

forms a distinctive pillow shape, through which the hot

lava breaks to form another pillow. This pillow texture is very common in underwater basaltic ows and is
diagnostic of an underwater eruption environment when
found in ancient rocks. Pillows typically consist of a negrained core with a glassy crust and have radial jointing. Paran Traps, Brazil
The size of individual pillows varies from 10 cm up to
Basalt is one of the most common rock types in the
several meters.
world. Basalt is the rock most typical of large igneous
When pahoehoe lava enters the sea it usually forms pilprovinces. The largest occurrences of basalt are in the
low basalts. However when a'a enters the ocean it forms
ocean oor that is almost completely made up by basalt.
a littoral cone, a small cone-shaped accumulation of tuaAbove sea level basalt is common in hotspot islands and
ceous debris formed when the blocky a'a lava enters the
around volcanic arcs, specially those on thin crust. Howwater and explodes from built-up steam.
ever, the largest volumes of basalt on land correspond
The island of Surtsey in the Atlantic Ocean is a basalt to continental ood basalts. Continental ood basalts
volcano which breached the ocean surface in 1963. The are known to exist in the Deccan Traps in India, the
initial phase of Surtseys eruption was highly explosive, as Chilcotin Group in British Columbia, Canada, the Paran
the magma was quite wet, causing the rock to be blown Traps in Brazil, the Siberian Traps in Russia, the Karoo
apart by the boiling steam to form a tu and cinder cone. ood basalt province in South Africa, the Columbia River
This has subsequently moved to a typical pahoehoe-type Plateau of Washington and Oregon.
behaviour.
Many archipelagoes and island nations have an overVolcanic glass may be present, particularly as rinds on whelming majority of its exposed bedrock made up by
rapidly chilled surfaces of lava ows, and is commonly basalt due to being above hotspots, for example, Iceland
(but not exclusively) associated with underwater erup- and Hawaii.
tions.
Ancient Precambrian basalts are usually only found in
fold and thrust belts, and are often heavily metamorphosed. These are known as greenstone belts, because
5 Life on basaltic rocks
low-grade metamorphism of basalt produces chlorite,
actinolite, epidote and other green minerals.
The common corrosion features of underwater volcanic
basalt suggest that microbial activity may play a signicant role in the chemical exchange between basaltic rocks 7 Lunar and Martian basalt
and seawater. The signicant amounts of reduced iron,
Fe(II), and manganese, Mn(II), present in basaltic rocks
provide potential energy sources for bacteria. Recent re- The dark areas visible on Earths moon, the lunar maria,
search has shown that some Fe(II)-oxidizing bacteria cul- are plains of ood basaltic lava ows. These rocks
tured from iron-sulde surfaces are also able to grow with were sampled by the manned American Apollo program,
basaltic rock as a source of Fe(II).[8] In recent work at the robotic Russian Luna program, and are represented
Loihi Seamount, Fe- and Mn- oxidizing bacteria have among the lunar meteorites.
been cultured from weathered basalts.[9] The impact of Lunar basalts dier from their terrestrial counterparts
bacteria on altering the chemical composition of basaltic principally in their high iron contents, which typically

9 SEE ALSO

Basalt structures in Namibia

Lunar olivine basalt collected by Apollo 15.

Greenschist facies
Zeolite facies

range from about 17 to 22 wt% FeO. They also possess a

stunning range of titanium concentrations (present in the
mineral ilmenite), ranging from less than 1 wt% TiO2 ,
to about 13 wt.%. Traditionally, lunar basalts have been
classied according to their titanium content, with classes
being named high-Ti, low-Ti, and very-low-Ti. Nevertheless, global geochemical maps of titanium obtained
from the Clementine mission demonstrate that the lunar
maria possess a continuum of titanium concentrations,
and that the highest concentrations are the least abundant.
Lunar basalts show exotic textures and mineralogy, particularly shock metamorphism, lack of the oxidation typical of terrestrial basalts, and a complete lack of hydration.
While most of the Moon's basalts erupted between about
3 and 3.5 billion years ago, the oldest samples are 4.2 billion years old, and the youngest ows, based on the age
dating method of crater counting, are estimated to have
erupted only 1.2 billion years ago.
Basalt is also a common rock on the surface of Mars, as
determined by data sent back from the planets surface[10]
and by Martian meteorites.

Alteration of basalt

8.1

Metamorphism

Basalts are important rocks within metamorphic belts,

as they can provide vital information on the conditions
of metamorphism within the belt. Various metamorphic
facies are named after the mineral assemblages and rock
types formed by subjecting basalts to the temperatures
and pressures of the metamorphic event. These are:

Metamorphosed basalts are important hosts for a variety of hydrothermal ore deposits, including gold deposits,
copper deposits, volcanogenic massive sulde ore deposits and others.

8.2 Weathering
Main article: Weathering
Compared to other rocks found on Earths surface, basalts
weather relatively fast. The typically iron-rich minerals
oxidise rapidly in water and air, staining the rock a brown
to red colour due to iron oxide (rust). Chemical weathering also releases readily water-soluble cations such as
calcium, sodium and magnesium, which give basaltic areas a strong buer capacity against acidication. Calcium
released by basalts binds up CO2 from the atmosphere
forming CaCO3 acting thus as a CO2 trap. To this it must
be added that the eruption of basalt itself is often associated with the release of large quantities of CO2 into the
atmosphere from volcanic gases.
Carbon sequestration in basalt has been studied as a
means of removing carbon dioxide, produced by human industrialization, from the atmosphere. Underwater
basalt deposits, scattered in seas around the globe, have
the added benet of the water serving as a barrier to the
re-release of CO2 into the atmosphere.[11]

9 See also
Basalt ber
Flood basalt

Blueschist facies

Igneous rocks

Eclogite facies

Mac rocks

Granulite facies

Volcanoes

10

References

Lavawater interface
Petrology of Lunar Rocks and Mare Basalts

[1] Oxford English Dictionary: basalt

[2] basalt denition Dictionary MSN Encarta. Archived
2009-10-31.
[3] Yourdictionary.com
[4] Etymonline.com
[5] See the PETDB database.Hyndman, Donald W. (1985).
Petrology of igneous and metamorphic rocks (2nd ed. ed.).
McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-031658-9.
[6] Blatt, Harvey and Robert Tracy (1996). Petrology (2nd
ed. ed.). Freeman. ISBN 0-7167-2438-3.
[7] D. Weaire and N. Rivier. Contemporary Physics 25 1
(1984), pp. 5599
[8] Katrina J. Edwards, Wolfgang Bach and Daniel R. Rogers,
Geomicrobiology of the Ocean Crust: A Role for Chemoautotrophic Fe-Bacteria, Biol. Bull. 204: 180185. (April
2003) Biolbull.org
[9] Templeton, A.S., Staudigel, H., Tebo, B.M. (2005). Diverse Mn(II)-oxidizing bacteria isolated from submarine
basalts at Loihi Seamount, Geomicrobiology Journal, v.
22, 129137. OGI.edu
[10] MSL ChemCam Science Reports.
FLIGHT101. Retrieved 2013-04-22.

SPACE-

[11] Mongabay.com

A. Y. Ozerov, The evolution of high-alumina basalts

of the Klyuchevskoy volcano, Kamchatka, Russia,
based on microprobe analyses of mineral inclusions.
Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research,
v. 95, pp. 6579 (2000).
A. W. Hofmann, Sampling mantle heterogeneity
through oceanic basalts: isotopes and trace elements.
Treatise on Geochemistry Volume 2, pages 61101
Elsevier Ltd. (2003). ISBN 0-08-044337-0 In
March 2007, the article was available on the web
at MPG.de.
A. V. Sobolev and others, The amount of recycled
crust in sources of mantle-derived melts. Science, v.
316, pp. 412417 (2007). Sciencemag.org
Ablesimov N.E., Zemtsov A.N. Relaxation eects in
non-equilibrium condense systems. Basalts : from
eruption up to a ber. Moskow: ITiG FEB RAS,
2010. 400 p.

11

External links

Basalt Columns
Basalt in Northern Ireland

Pillow lava USGS

12

12
12.1

TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

Text

Basalt Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basalt?oldid=648617478 Contributors: AxelBoldt, Magnus Manske, Mav, Bryan Derksen,
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Mxn, Hike395, Zimbres, Dino, Tempshill, Fvw, Flockmeal, David.Monniaux, Slawojarek, Skaman, Moriori, Chris 73, Nurg, Modulatum, Hadal, Modeha, Decumanus, Leonard G., Gilgamesh, Gracefool, Utcursch, Zeimusu, Antandrus, Beland, Phe, Bumm13, GeoGreg,
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Brian0918, Syp, El C, Kwamikagami, Peter Greenwell, Bobo192, Harald Hansen, Bontenbal, .:Ajvol:., Jojit fb, Goldnch, Obradovic
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