The phanerites.—When time enough is given for the cooling process the molten magma becomes completely crystalline. The holocrystalline rocks hence include a large series, ranging from the most acid to the most basic. In this class the differentiation of the rock material and the formation of distinct minerals reach a high stage, and as a natural result the varieties of rock are numerous. Taken as a group they are phanerites. If they are to be more particularly characterized, it is usually done on the basis of the minerals of which they are composed. The following are the leading types, beginning with those which are rich in silica and poor in basic oxides, and ending with those which are rich in basic oxides and poor in silica.
Fig. 344.—Granitic texture. About half natural size. (Photo. by Church.)
The granites.—The term granite was originally used to designate a granular, i.e., a distinctly crystalline, rock, and it is still popularly and properly so used. In scientific treatises it has usually been confined to a special aggregate of crystals of quartz, feldspar, and mica. It has recently been proposed to give it again a more general application, though not quite its original one, by including under it all holocrystalline rocks composed of dominant quartz and feldspar of any kind, with mica, hornblende, or other minerals in subordinate amount. In scientific literature as it now stands, granite consists of quartz, feldspar, and mica, the feldspar being of the alkali-potash or soda variety (orthoclase, microcline, or albite), and the mica, either muscovite or biotite. In the type form the crystals are distinct and sometimes large ([Fig. 344]). They are intimately mingled with one another, and in growing, interfered more or less with each other and so became interlocked. The granites are among the most common and easily recognized of the holocrystalline rocks. Their color is mainly dependent upon the feldspar, the red and pink varieties of the mineral giving rise to red granite, and the white varieties to gray granite.
Fig. 345.—Graphic granitic (or pegmatitic) texture. Nearly natural size. (Photo. by Church.)
Very few granites conform strictly to the type. They vary by the addition and substitution of other minerals, and these sometimes become as prominent as the type minerals. The soda-lime feldspars sometimes take the place of the orthoclase, or accompany it; hornblende and other minerals take the place of the biotite, or occur with it; and so on. Whenever one of these replacing or accessory minerals is notable in quantity, its name is often prefixed, as hornblende-granite, oligoclase-granite, zircon-granite, etc. In this way the rock grades almost insensibly into the syenites, diorites, etc. Variations also arise from the absence of one of the three leading minerals. If mica is absent, the rock is termed an aplite (quartz and feldspar). If the feldspar is absent, it is called a greisen (quartz and mica). If quartz is absent, it is termed a minette (feldspar and mica). These varietal terms are neither universally nor always consistently used, and it is to be hoped they will be replaced by the systematic nomenclature recently proposed and outlined later ([p. 451]).
The granites were formed from a magma rich in silica, alumina, potash, and soda, but generally poor in lime, iron, and magnesia. Incidentally other substances were present. The alumina, potash, and other bases united with so much of the silica as was required to form the feldspars and micas, and the remaining silica crystallized into quartz.
Granite is normally a massive rock without foliation or banding. If it takes on these characters, it becomes a gneiss, and passes into the foliated or schistose class of rocks, to be discussed later. The texture of graphic granite (see pegmatite) is notably peculiar, due to the simultaneous crystallization of the quartz and feldspar ([Fig. 345]).
The syenites.—When the mica of a granite is replaced by hornblende, the rock is now commonly known as a hornblende-granite, but it was formerly called syenite, because found at Syene on the Nile. The term syenite is now applied to a rock consisting essentially of feldspar and hornblende or mica, but there is a complete gradation from the granites to the syenites. The magma of the syenites was richer in iron and magnesium than the typical granitic magma. The syenites also grade into other classes, as do the granites, and are named by similar prefixes, as augite-syenite, etc., and some of these varieties have special names. The syenites are red or gray, according to the color of the feldspar, and are usually darker than the granites. The texture of syenite is like that of granite. In the scheme of field names recently proposed, syenite is made to include all holocrystalline rocks composed mainly of feldspar of any kind, with subordinate amounts of mica, hornblende, pyroxene, and other minerals, but without a noticeable amount of quartz.