into marble by heating it in a closed gun-barrel, which prevented the escape of the carbonic acid at high temperatures. Adams and Nicholson have carried this a stage farther by subjecting marble to great pressure in hydraulic presses and have shown how the foliated structures, frequent in natural marbles, may be produced artificially.
Rock Classification.—The three great classes of rocks above enumerated—the igneous, the sedimentary and the metamorphic—are subdivided into many groups which to a small extent resemble the genera and species under which the naturalist classifies the members of the animal kingdom. There are, however, no hard and fast boundaries between allied rocks. By increase or diminution in the proportions of their constituent minerals they pass by every gradation into one another, the distinctive structures also of one kind of rock may often be traced gradually merging into those of another. Hence the definitions adopted in establishing rock nomenclature merely correspond to selected points (more or less arbitrary) in a continuously graduated series. This is frequently urged as a reason for reducing rock classification to its simplest possible terms and using only a few generalized rock designations. But it is clear that many apparently trivial differences tend regularly to recur, and have a real significance, and so long as any variation can be shown to be of this nature it deserves recognition.
The igneous rocks (crystalline and fragmental) form a well-defined group, differing in origin from all others. The crystalline or massive varieties may occur in two different ways; the lavas have been poured out at the surface and have consolidated after ejection, under, conditions which are fairly well understood, seeing that they may be examined at active volcanoes Igneous Rocks. in many parts of the world; the intrusive rocks, on the other hand, have been injected from below into cracks and fissures in the strata and have cooled there beneath masses which conceal them from view till exposed by denudation at a subsequent period. The members of these two groups differ in many respects from one another, so that it is often possible to assign a rock to one or other of them on mere superficial inspection. The lavas (or effusive rocks), having cooled rapidly in contact with the air, are mostly finely crystalline or have at least fine-grained ground-mass representing that part of the viscous semi-crystalline lava flow which was still liquid at the moment of eruption. At this time they were exposed only to atmospheric pressure, and the steam and other gases, which they contained in great quantity, were free to escape, many important modifications arise from this, Lavas or Effusive Types. the most striking being the frequent presence of numerous steam cavities (vesicular structure) often drawn out to elongated shapes subsequently filled up with minerals by infiltration (amygdaloidal structure). As crystallization was going on while the mass was still creeping forward over the surface of the earth, the latest formed minerals (in the ground-mass) are commonly arranged in subparallel winding lines following the direction of movement (fluxion or fluidal structure) (see Pl. I. figs. 2 and 9, Pl. II. fig. 2), and the larger early minerals which had previously crystallized may show the same arrangement. Most lavas have fallen considerably below their original temperatures before they are emitted In their behaviour they present a close analogy to hot solutions of salts in water, which, when they approach the saturation temperature, first deposit a crop of large, well-formed crystals (labile stage) and subsequently precipitate clouds of smaller less perfect crystalline particles (metastable stage). In igneous rocks the first generation of crystals generally forms before the lava has emerged to the surface, that is to say, during the ascent from the subterranean depths to the crater of the volcano. It has frequently been verified by observation that freshly emitted lavas contain large crystals borne along in a molten, liquid mass. The large, well-formed, early crystals are said to be porphyritic (Pl. III. figs. 1, 2, 3); the smaller crystals of the surrounding matrix or ground-mass belong to the post-effusion stage. More rarely lavas are completely fused at the moment of ejection, they may then cool to form a non-porphyritic, finely crystalline rock, or if more rapidly chilled may in large part be non-crystalline or glassy (vitreous rocks such as obsidian, tachylyte, pitchstone (Pl. I. figs. 1, 4, 5). A common feature of glassy rocks is the presence of rounded bodies (spherulites. Gr. σφαῖρα, ball), consisting of fine divergent fibres radiating from a centre (Pl. I. figs. 7, 8); they consist of imperfect crystals of felspar, mixed with quartz or tridymite; similar bodies are often produced artificially in glasses which are allowed to cool slowly. Rarely these spherulites are hollow or consist of concentric shells with spaces between (lithophysae Gr. λίθος, stone; φῦσα, bellows). Perlitic structure, also common in glasses, consists in the presence of concentric rounded cracks owing to contraction on cooling (see Perlite).
The phenocrysts (Gr. φαίνειν, to show; κρύςταλλον, crystal) or porphyritic minerals are not only larger than those of the ground-mass. As the matrix was still liquid when they formed they were free to take perfect crystalline shapes, not being interfered with by the pressure of adjacent crystals They seem to have grown rapidly, as they are often filled with enclosures of glassy or finely crystalline material like that of the ground-mass (Pl. II. fig. 1). Microscopic examination of the phenocrysts often reveals that they have had a complex history. Very frequently they show successive layers of different composition, indicated by variations in colour or other optical properties; thus augite may be green at the centre and various shades of brown outside this, or may be pale green centrally and darker green with strong pleochroism (aegirine) at the periphery. In the felspars the centre is usually more basic and richer in lime than the surrounding faces, and successive zones may often be noted, each less basic than those which lie within it. Phenocrysts of quartz (and of other minerals), instead of sharp, perfect crystalline faces, may show rounded corroded surfaces (Pl. I. fig. 9), with the points blunted and irregular tongue-like projections of the matrix into the substance of the crystal. It is clear that after the mineral had crystallized it was partly again dissolved or corroded at some period before the matrix solidified. Corroded phenocrysts of biotite and hornblende are very common in some lavas; they are surrounded by black rims of magnetite mixed with pale green augite. The hornblende or biotite substance has proved unstable at a certain stage of consolidation and has been replaced by a paramorph of augite and magnetite which may be partially or completely substituted for the original crystal but still retains its characteristic outlines.
Let us now consider the characteristics of a typical deep-seated rock like granite or diorite (Pl. II. figs. 4, 5, 9). That these are igneous is proved by the manner in which they have burst through the superincumbent strata, filling the cracks with ramifying veins; that they were at a very high temperature is equally clear from the changes which Plutonic or Abyssal Types. they have induced in the rocks in contact with them. But as their heat could dissipate only very slowly, because of the masses which covered them, complete crystallization has taken place and no vitreous rapidly chilled matter is present. As they have had time to come to rest before crystallizing they are not fluidal. Their contained gases have not been able to escape through the thick layer of strata beneath which they were injected, and may often be observed occupying cavities in the minerals, or have occasioned many important modifications in the crystallization of the rock. Because their crystals are of approximately equal size these rocks are said to be granular, there is typically no distinction between a first generation of large well-shaped crystals and a fine-grained ground-mass Their minerals have formed, however, in a definite order, and each has had a period of crystallization which may be very distinct or may have coincided with or overlapped the period of formation of some of the other ingredients. The earlier have originated at a time when most of the rock was still liquid and are more or less perfect, the later are less regular in shape because they were compelled to occupy the interspaces left between the already formed crystals (Pl. II. figs. 5, 9). The former are said to be idiomorphic (or automorphic), the latter are anidiomorphic (allotriomorphic, xenomorphic).[1] There are also many other characteristics which serve to distinguish the members of these two groups. Orthoclase, for example, is the typical felspar of granite, while its modification sanidine occurs in lavas of similar composition. The same distinction holds between elaeolite and nepheline. Leucite is common in lavas, very rare in plutonic rocks. Muscovite is confined to the intrusives. These differences show the influence of the physical conditions under which consolidation takes place.
There is a certain class of intrusive rocks which have risen upwards towards the surface, but have failed to reach it, and have solidified in fissures as dikes and intrusive sills at no great depth. To this type the name intrusive (or hypabyssal) is often given in distinction to the plutonic (or abyssal) which formed at greater depths As might Intrusive or Hypabyssal Types. be expected, they show structures intermediate between those of the effusive and the plutonic rocks. They are very commonly porphyritic, not rarely vitreous, and sometimes even vesicular. In fact many of them are indistinguishable petrologically from lavas of similar composition.
The attempt to form a special group of hypabyssal (intrusive and dike) rocks has met with much criticism and opposition. Such a group certainly cannot rank as equally important and equally well characterized with the plutonic and the effusive. But there are many kinds of rock which are not found to occur normally in any other manner. As examples we may cite the lamprophyres, the aplites and the porphyrites. These never occur as lava flows or as great plutonic bosses; if magmas of the same composition as these rocks occur in either of these ways they consolidate with different assemblages of minerals and different structures.
In subdividing the plutonic, the hypabyssal and the effusive rocks, the principle is followed of grouping those together which resemble one another in mineral constitution and in chemical composition. In a broad sense these two properties are interdependent.Subdivisions of igneous Rock Class.
- ↑ Idiomorphic, having its own characteristic form, Gr. ἴδιος, belonging to one’s self, (αὐτός), μορφή, (form), allotriomorphic, from Gr. ἀλλότριος, belonging to another (ἄλλος), a stranger (ξένος).
