Gabbro | Rock - Encyclopedia Britannica

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gabbro, any of several medium- or coarse-grained rocks that consist primarily of plagioclase feldspar and pyroxene. Essentially, gabbro is the intrusive (plutonic) equivalent of basalt, but whereas basalt is often remarkably homogeneous in mineralogy and composition, gabbros are exceedingly variable. Gabbros are found widely on the Earth and on the Moon as well. Gabbros are sometimes quarried for dimension stone (the black granite of commerce), and the San Marcos Gabbro of southern California is used for gauge blocks, but the direct economic value of gabbro is minor. Far more important are the primary mineralizations of nickel, chromium, and platinum that occur almost exclusively in association with gabbroic or related ultramafic (very silica-poor) rocks. Primary magnetite (iron) and ilmenite (titanium) mineralizations are often intimately associated with gabbroic complexes.

Banded, or layered, gabbroic complexes in which monomineral or bimineral varieties are well developed have been described from Montana, the Bushveld in South Africa, and the island of Skye. There are also gabbro complexes that are locally streaky and inhomogeneous and are not regularly layered, as the large, basinlike intrusion at Sudbury, Ont., and some of the larger diabase sills (tabular intrusions), as at Beaver Bay, Minn.; the Palisades, New Jersey; and many of the Karoo (Karroo) diabases in South Africa.

Related Topics: mafic rock intrusive rock (Show more) See all related content

A lopolith at Duluth, Minn., is a notable exception to the rather arbitrary division between layered and unlayered gabbro complexes. The lower part of this mass has the average composition of an olivine gabbro but is strongly banded, with individual bands that vary in composition from anorthosite to peridotite (monomineralic rocks that contain labradorite and olivine). The upper portion is a comparatively homogeneous feldspathic gabbro, locally patchy and streaky but not sharply banded. Between the two major divisions, and again at the top of the feldspathic gabbro, is a zone of granophyre or micropegmatitic granite.

Britannica Quiz (Bed) Rocks and (Flint) Stones This article was most recently revised and updated by John P. Rafferty.