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Use
Granite is used for counter tops and patterns on bathroom walls. It is also used for building Material. -
Synonyms
ash
ashen
battleship
cinereal
clouded dingy
Dove drab
dusky
dusty
heather
iron lead leaden livid
mousy neutral oyster pearly peppery powder
sere shaded silvered silvery
slate smoky somber stone -
How Granite Forms pt1
Granite is found in large plutons on the continents, in areas where the Earth's crust has been deeply eroded. This makes sense, because granite must cool very slowly at deeply buried locations to produce such large mineral grains. Plutons smaller than 100 square kilometers in area are called stocks, and larger ones are called batholiths. -
Granite (Cont2)
Lavas erupt all over the Earth, but lava with the same composition as granite (rhyolite) only erupts on the continents. That means that granite must form by the melting of continental rocks. That happens for two reasons: adding heat and adding volatiles (water or carbon dioxide or both). -
Granite (Cont3)
Continents are relatively hot because they contain most of the planet's uranium and potassium, which heat up their surroundings through radioactive decay. Anywhere that the crust is thickened tends to get hot inside (for instance in the Tibetan Plateau).
And the processes of plate tectonics, mainly subduction, can cause basaltic magmas to rise underneath the continents. In addition to heat, these magmas release CO -
Granite (Cont4)
and water, which helps rocks of all kinds melt at lower temperatures. It is thought that large amounts of basaltic magma can be plastered to the bottom of a continent in a process called underplating. With the slow release of heat and fluids from that basalt, a large amount of continental crust could turn to granite at the same time.
Two of the most well-known examples of large, exposed granitoids are Half Dome and Stone Mountain.
