Granite is a common igneous rock found in the Earth's continental crust. It forms from magma that intrudes and cools deep below the Earth's surface. Granite occurs in both small stock masses and large batholiths associated with mountain ranges. It is widely distributed throughout the continental crust and makes up a large portion of the basement rock below sedimentary areas. Granite has been used for construction since antiquity, such as for the Egyptian pyramids and large Hindu temples from the 11th century. Today, granite is still used for monuments, gravestones, and memorials through modern computer-controlled carving methods.

1. GRANITE

2. What is granite ?
• Granite is a common rock. It can be pink to
gray in color, depending on chemistry and
mineralogy.
• By definition, granite is an intrusive, felsic (rich
in feldspar and quartz), igneous rock with at
least 20% quartz by volume.

3. Occurrence
• Granite forms a major part of continental crust.
• Granite often occurs as relatively small, less than
100 km² stock masses (stocks) and in batholiths (a
large emplacement of igneous intrusive (also called
plutonic) rock that forms from cooled magma deep in
the Earth's crust. ) that are often associated with
orogenic (fold) mountain ranges.
• Granite has been intruded into the crust of the Earth
during all geologic periods, although much of it is of
Precambrian age.
• Granitic rock is widely distributed throughout the
continental crust and is the most abundant basement
rock that underlies the relatively thin sedimentary
veneer of the continents.

4. Origin
• Granite is an igneous rock and is formed from
magma. Granitic magma has many potential
origins but it must intrude other rocks. Most
granite intrusions are emplaced at depth within
the crust, usually greater than 1.5 kilometers and
up to 50 km depth within thick continental
crust.

5. USES

6. Antiquity
• Egyptian Pyramids
• Other uses in Ancient Egypt include columns,
door lintels, sills, jambs, and wall and floor
veneer.
• Many large Hindu temples in southern India,
particularly those built by the 11th century king
Rajaraja Chola I, were made of granite. There is
a large amount of granite in these structures.
They are comparable to the Great Pyramid of
Giza.

7. Modern
• In some areas granite is used for gravestones and
memorials. Granite is a hard stone and requires skill to
carve by hand. Until the early 18th century granite could
only be carved by hand tools with generally poor results.
• A key breakthrough was the invention of steam-powered
cutting and dressing tools by Alexander MacDonald of
Aberdeen, inspired by seeing ancient Egyptian granite
carvings.
• Granite memorials became a major status symbol in
Victorian Britain.
• Modern methods of carving include using computer-
controlled rotary bits and sandblasting over a rubber
stencil.