producing extrusive or volcanic igneous rocks like basalt. As magma cools, the minerals within it begin to crystallize and interlock to create solid rock. The rate of cooling affects the size of ...

Igneous rocks close igneous rockIgneous rocks ... These crystals will grow and interlock to form a hard crystalline rock. Basalt is usually formed when lava solidifies on the earth’s surface ...

The Mascarene Platform is granite at its core, with a mantle of basalt and limestones ... the formation of these 700-million-year-old igneous rocks. Together they stayed, along with the rest ...