Gabbro Facts
Gabbro Facts
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Interesting Gabbro Facts: |
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Gabbro color depends on its texture and on the environment where the rock is found. It is not a reliable property because it may change within the rock. |
The top layer of the oceanic crust is basaltic, but the deeper rocks of the oceanic crust is made up of gabbro. |
On continents, slow cooling allows large crystals to form as it is found within thick lava flows of basaltic composition. |
Gabbro also appears when deep plutons form as magma chambers feed basaltic eruptions and crystallize. |
Gabbro is found underground close to volcanoes, and in the oceanic crust near mid-ridge spreading centers. |
Large amounts of gabbro can be found beneath extensive flood basalts of the Columbia River in Washington, Oregon, and the Deccan Traps of India. |
Long belts of gabbro intrusions may be formed at proto-rift zones and around ancient rift zone margins. |
The use of gabbro, especially when it is polished to a bright and shiny black luster is used to make cemetery markers, countertops for kitchens, floor tiling, facing stone, and other such stone products. |
Gabbro stands up quite well to weathering, wear, and tear, which makes it a highly desirable rock because it requires the least amount of maintenance compared to other types of rocks used for the same products. |
In the commercial stone industry black granite is the name used for gabbro. The black granite is used for products such as curbing, ashlars, paving stones, and other products. |
A common use for gabbro is as a crushed stone or aggregate, and as a base material for construction products, road construction, railroad ballast, and anywhere else crushed stone is needed as a fill. |
Gabbro may also contain very small amounts of some rare metals such as the mineral ilmenite, nickel, chromium, or platinum. |
Occasionally gabbro rocks may contain cobalt, gold, or silver; but the amount depends on the individual minerals that formed each deposit. |
The term gabbro was initially used in the 1760s. It referred to a set of rocks found in the ophiolites of the Apennine Mountains in Italy. |
The term gabbro comes from a small village named Gabbro, located in a municipality of Tuscany. |
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