TOPIC : IDENTIFICATION OF IGNEOUS ROCK (LAB 1B)

1.0 OBJECTIVE
To recognize, identified and observed distinguishing features of igneous rock
specimen in the laboratory.
2.0 LEARNING OUTCOMES
a) Students should able to recognize types of igneous rock formation in Malaysia
and Worldwide.
b)

Students should able to evaluate the physical properties of igneous rocks

for civil engineering application.

c)

Students should able to understand igneous rock forming on the earth.

3.0 THEORY
(a) Criteria for distinguishing igneous rock
In describing any rock, one should proceed from the general to the particular,
nothing firstly its colour, behaviour on weathering and any other striking features
and then deciding whether it is igneous or other types of rock. The outstanding
characteristics of the igneous rocks is given below, but must be emphasized that
one characteristic by itself proof positive that the rock belongs to a certain class.

Rock Type

Characteristic
Interlocking grains, massive structures
Texture such as glassy, prophyritic, phaneritic,

Igneous

aphantic
High feldspar or ferromagnesian content
Absent of stratification or fossils

(b) Description

Physical

Colour

characteristics

Massive rock is uniform in appearance showing no banding

Structure

or other structural features

Pegmatite the rock is very coarse grained
Vesicular the rock contains many cavities
Crystallinty or degree of crystallization
Holocrystalline wholly crystalline
Hemicrystalline partly crystals and partly glass
Holohyaline wholly glass

Texture
Granularity, the size of crystals
Fine-grained when particles are 1 mm or less in diameter
Medium grained when particles are 1 5 mm or more in
diameter
Coarse grained when the particles are 5 mm or more in
diameter

4.0 EQUIMENT AND MATERIALS

a) Igneous rock from reference set

b) Igneous classification chart

5.0 PROCEDURE
The samples was familiarize and observed by referring the igneous classification
chart
a) Rock name
b) Texture
c) Colour
d) Mineral composition
e) Chemical composition
f) Origin
g) Sketch / Others
The results that has been observe was tabulated in Tables 1.2.1 attached.

6.0 QUESTION AND DISCUSSION

1. Briefly explain two (2) types of igneous rock

There are various ways of classifying igneous rocks. The most significant are
mineralogical and chemical composition and rock texture (geological environment).
Igneous rock are either formed Intrusive and Extrusive Rocks.
Intrusive Rocks
Intrusive igneous rocks are formed from magma that cools and solidifies
within the crust of a planet. Surrounded by pre-existing rock (calledcountry rock),
the magma cools slowly, and as a result these rocks are coarse grained. The
mineral grains in such rocks can generally be identified with the naked eye.
Extrusive Rock
Extrusive igneous rocks are formed at the crust's surface as a result of the
partial melting of rocks within the mantle and crust. Extrusive Igneous rocks cool
and solidify quicker than intrusive igneous rocks. Since the rocks cool very quickly
they are fine grained.
2. Explain the igneous rock classification according to the texture and chemical and
mineral composition.
Textural criteria are less critical in classifying intrusive rocks where the
majority of minerals will be visible to the naked eye or at least using a hand lens,
magnifying glass or microscope. Plutonic rocks tend also to be less texturally varied
and less prone to gaining structural fabrics. Textural terms can be used to
differentiate different intrusive phases of large plutons, for instance porphyritic
margins to large intrusive bodies, porphyry stocks and subvolcanic dikes.
Mineralogical classification is used most often to classify plutonic rocks.
Chemical classifications are preferred to classify volcanic rocks, with
phenocryst species used as a prefix, example "olivine-bearing picrite" or
"orthoclase-phyric rhyolite". Igneous rocks can be classified according to chemical

or mineralogical parameters. Chemical with total alkali-silica content for volcanic

rock classification used when modal or mineralogic data is unavailable.
Acid igneous rocks containing a high silica content, greater than 63% SiO2
such as granite and rhyolite. Intermediate igneous rocks containing between 52 63% SiO2 like andesite and dacite. Basic igneous rocks have low silica 45 - 52%
and typically high iron - magnesium content example gabbro and basalt. Ultrabasic
igneous rocks with less than 45% silica. examples picrite and komatiite. Alkali
igneous rocks with 5 - 15% alkali (K2O + Na2O) content or with a molar ratio of
alkali to silica greater than 1:6 such as phonolite and trachyte.
An idealized mineralogy (the normative mineralogy) can be calculated from
the chemical composition, and the calculation is useful for rocks too fine-grained or
too altered for identification of minerals that crystallized from the melt. For instance,
normative quartz classifies a rock as silica-oversaturated; an example is rhyolite. A
normative feldspathoid classifies a rock as silica-undersaturated; an example is
nephelinite.
7.0 CONCLUSION
From our observation of the igneous rock in the laboratory, it is also having
significance in construction industry. The geologist and the engineers working on
projects have to determine the origin of the igneous rock and the mineralogy of the
rocks.
Based on selected igneous rock known as chert and Argillaceous sandstone.
Chert is a fine-grained silica-rich microcrystalline, cryptocrystalline or microfibrous
sedimentary rock that may contain small fossils. The adjective "argillaceous" is also
used to define rocks in which clay minerals are a secondary but significant
component. For example,

argillaceous limestones are limestones consisting

predominantly of calcium carbonate, but including 10-40% of clay minerals: such

limestones, when soft, are often called marls.

A rock which originated as molten magma from beneath the earths surface
and subsequently came to the surface as an extrusion, or remained below ground
as an intrusion. The nature of the rock depends in part on the rate at which it
cooled; as intrusions of magma slowly solidify, enough time elapses for large
crystals to form whereas extrusions cool quickly, leaving little time for crystal
growth. Thus, a coarse-grained, intrusive igneous rock has a fine-grained, extrusive
counterpart; granite is coarse rhyolite and gabbro is coarse basalt. Igneous rocks
are also classified as acid or basic, according to whether their silica content is high.
Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or
lava. Igneous rock may form with or without crystallization, either below the surface
as intrusive plutonic rocks or on the surface as extrusive volcanic rocks. This
magma can be melting is caused by one or more three processes : an increase in
temperature, a described, most of them having formed beneath the surface of
Earths crust. These have diverse properties, depending on their composition and
how they were formed.