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The Inner Workings of a Volcano Wan´a´be.
Here is a fascinating interplay between two types of rock. The gray rock is a metamorphic rock called gneiss (pronounced "nice") and the pink rock underneath is the intrusive igneous rock, granite.
The gneiss was formed under intense heat and pressure underneath a great mountain range, now long worn away by erosion. The granite, once molten, was part of a large magma chamber beneath the gneiss. All this squeezing, heating, melting, and mountain-building came as the result of a continental collision.
The molten rock never made it to the surface to erupt; it cooled and froze solid. Not that it didn't try. It forced itself into numerous fractures in the gneiss forming the "dikes" clearly seen in this photo. The frozen magma chamber is called a "batholith" and is exposed on the surface in many locations throughout the Llano Uplift region in central Texas.
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This page was last updated May, 2009
Content of this site ©Gregory W Claridy. All rights reserved.