Basaltic Magma

"Basaltic Magma"

What is Basaltic Magma?

A dark, fine-grained, igneous rock consisting mostly of plagioclase feldspar and pyroxene, and sometimes olivine. Basalt makes up most of the ocean floor and is the most common type of lava. It sometimes cools into characteristic hexagonal columns, as in the Giant's Causeway in Anterim, Northern Island.

What is a basaltic lava flow?

'Aʻā types of blocky, cinder and breccia flows of thick, viscous basaltic lava are common in Hawaii.

Where does basaltic magma come from?

The rising subduction-zone magma is probably basaltic in composition and is formed by the partial melting of mantle rocks. As the rising magma moves slowly up through the continental crust of the overriding plate, however, two things may occur to increase significantly the silica content of the magma.

Other description of BASALTIC Magma:

• A chemically homogeneous mantle can yield a variety of basalt types

• Alkaline basalts are favored over tholeiites by deeper melting and by low % PM

• Fractionation at moderate to high depths can also create alkaline basalts from tholeiites

• At low P there is a thermal divide that separates the two series.

Where is basalt found in the world?

Basalt underlies more of Earth's surface than any other rock type. Most areas within Earth's ocean basins are underlain by basalt. Although basalt is much less common on continents, lava flows and flood basalts underlie several percent of Earth's land surface.

References:

www.dictionary.com/browse/basaltic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basalt

http://www.nsm.buffalo.edu/courses/gly206/BasaltOrigin.pdf

study.com/academy/lesson/basaltic-lava-definition-characteristics.html