course material

1. What is the difference between intrusive/plutonic and extrusive
#7 What is the difference between intrusive/plutonic and extrusive/volcanic igneous
rocks? Where does most magma solidify? How does where magma solidifies affect how the
resulting rock looks?
#15 Explain what happens as a mafic magma undergoes fractional (partial) Be sure to
describe the minerals that form at particular temperatures and how the chemical
composition of the magma changes as the minerals form.
#16 If temperature inside the Earth is steady and is not the main reason for the creation of
magma, what does change inside the Earth to cause rocks to partially melt? In what specific
plate tectonic settings do these types of changes occur and why in those particular settings?
#17 Why are there mafic, intermediate and felsic magmas? Summarize two reasons,
specifically the process of assimilation and the process of fractional crystallization.
OTHER QUESTIONS
A) What is the name given to extrusive mafic igneous rock? What minerals does it contain?
Describe what this rock would look like if you were holding it.
B) What is the name given to intrusive felsic igneous rock? What minerals does it contain?
Describe what this rock would look like if you were holding it.
C) In general, what major geographic features of the Earth are made of felsic intrusive
igneous rock? What major geographic feature of the Earth is made primarily of extrusive
mafic rock? Which of these features is made out of the denser rock?
D) What is partial melting compared to the complete melting of a rock? Why is the whole
rock not melting like an ice cube melts? What everyday items might experience a similar
kind of partial melting when you heat them up?
E) Describe what you imagine is physically occurring in the mantle, if you could watch it
happening, as the rock experiences partial melting. Think about the part that isn’t melting
and the part that is—how are they different, where does the melted stuff go, why would the
melted stuff move away?