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Texture (geology)
In geology, texture or rock microstructure refers to the relationship between the materials of which a rock is composed. The broadest textural classes are crystalline (in which the components are intergrown and interlocking crystals), fragmental (in which there is an accumulation of fragments by some physical process), aphanitic (in which crystals are not visible to the unaided eye), and glassy (in which the particles are too small to be seen and amorphously arranged).Texture & Genesis of Rocks, Introductory Geology Laboratory, Christopher DiLeonardo, Ph.D., Marek Cichanski, Ph.D., Earth & Space Sciences, De Anza College The geometric aspects and relations amongst the component particles or crystals are referred to as the '' crystallographic texture'' or ''preferred orientation''. Textures can be quantified in many ways. The most common parameter is the crystal size distribution. This creates the physical appearance or character of a rock, such as grain size, shape, arrangement, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geology
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth sciences, including hydrology, and so is treated as one major aspect of integrated Earth system science and planetary science. Geology describes the structure of the Earth on and beneath its surface, and the processes that have shaped that structure. It also provides tools to determine the relative and absolute ages of rocks found in a given location, and also to describe the histories of those rocks. By combining these tools, geologists are able to chronicle the geological history of the Earth as a whole, and also to demonstrate the age of the Earth. Geology provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and the Earth's past climates. Geologists broadly study the properties and processes of E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bioclastic
Bioclasts are skeletal fossil fragments of once living marine or land organisms that are found in sedimentary rocks laid down in a marine environment—especially limestone varieties around the globe. some of which take on distinct textures and coloration from their predominate bioclasts—that geologists, archaeologists and paleontologists use to date a rock strata to a particular geological era. In geology bioclasts are used for such things relative dating purposes can be whole fossils or broken fragments of organisms. Their preponderance can give a rough guide to life diversity in the historic biosphere, but absolute counts much depend on water conditions such as the depth of the deposition, local currents, as well as wave strength in large body of water such as lakes. They can be used to study the age of the formation environment of the rocks that bioclasts finds itself in. one of the major contributions of bioclasts is that they form in regions where organisms lived and eventua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amygdule
Amygdules or amygdales () form when the vesicles (pores from gas bubbles in lava) of a volcanic rock or other extrusive igneous rock are infilled with a secondary mineral, such as calcite, quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical f ..., chlorite, or one of the zeolites. Amygdules usually form after the rock has been emplaced, and are often associated with low-temperature alteration. Amygdules may often be concentrically zoned. Rocks containing amygdules can be described as ''amygdaloidal''. The word is derived from the Latin word ''amygdala'', meaning "almond tree", and the Greek word αμυγδαλή, meaning "almond"reflecting the typical shape of an infilled vesicle. ''Amygdule'' is more common in American usage, while ''amygdale'' is more common in British usag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vesicular Texture
Vesicular texture is a volcanic rock texture characterized by a rock being pitted with many cavities (known as vesicles) at its surface and inside. This texture is common in aphanitic, or glassy, igneous rocks that have come to the surface of the earth, a process known as extrusion. As magma rises to the surface the pressure on it decreases. When this happens gasses dissolved in the magma are able to come out of solution, forming gas bubbles (the cavities) inside it. When the magma finally reaches the surface as lava and cools, the rock solidifies around the gas bubbles and traps them inside, preserving them as holes filled with gas called vesicles. A related texture is amygdaloidal in which the volcanic rock, usually basalt or andesite, has cavities, or vesicles, that are filled with secondary minerals, such as zeolites, calcite, quartz, or chalcedony. Individual cavity fillings are termed amygdules (American usage) or amygdales (British usage). Sometimes these can be sou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Igneous Textures
Igneous textures include the rock textures occurring in igneous rocks. Igneous textures are used by geologists in determining the mode of origin of igneous rocks and are used in rock classification. The six main types of textures are phaneritic, aphanitic, porphyritic, glassy, pyroclastic, and pegmatitic. ''Aphanitic'' (''a'' = not, ''phaner'' = visible) rocks, in contrast to phaneritic rocks, typically form from lava which crystallize rapidly on or near Earth's surface. When extrusive rocks make contact with the atmosphere they cool quickly, so the minerals do not have time to form large crystals. The individual crystals in an aphanitic igneous rock are not distinguishable to the naked eye. Examples of aphanitic igneous rock include basalt, andesite, and rhyolite. ''Glassy'' or ''vitreous'' textures occur during some volcanic eruptions when the lava is quenched so rapidly that crystallization cannot occur. The result is a natural amorphous glass with few or no crystals. Examp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Texture (crystalline)
In physical chemistry and materials science, texture is the distribution of crystallographic orientations of a polycrystalline sample (it is also part of the geological fabric). A sample in which these orientations are fully random is said to have no distinct texture. If the crystallographic orientations are not random, but have some preferred orientation, then the sample has a weak, moderate or strong texture. The degree is dependent on the percentage of crystals having the preferred orientation. Texture is seen in almost all engineered materials, and can have a great influence on materials properties. The texture forms in materials during thermo-mechanical processes, for example during production processes e.g. rolling. Consequently, the rolling process is often followed by a heat treatment to reduce the amount of unwanted texture. Controlling the production process in combination with the characterization of texture and the material's microstructure help to determine the mate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rock Microstructure
Rock microstructure includes the texture and small-scale structures of a rock. The words ''texture'' and ''microstructure'' are interchangeable, with the latter preferred in modern geological literature. However, ''texture'' is still acceptable because it is a useful means of identifying the origin of rocks, how they formed, and their appearance. Textures are ''penetrative fabrics'' of rocks; they occur throughout the entirety of the rock mass on a microscopic, hand-specimen, and often outcrop scale. This is similar in many ways to foliations, except a texture does not necessarily carry structural information in terms of deformation events and orientation information. Structures occur on a hand-specimen scale and above. Microstructure analysis describes the textural features of the rock, and can provide information on the conditions of formation, petrogenesis, and subsequent deformation, folding, or alteration events. Sedimentary microstructures Description of sedimentary ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
