Rhyolite

rhyolite, extrusive igneous rock that is the volcanic equivalent of granite. Most rhyolites are porphyritic, indicating that crystallization began prior to extrusion. Crystallization may sometimes have begun while the magma was deeply buried; in such cases, the rock may consist principally of well-developed, large, single crystals (phenocrysts) at the time of extrusion. The amount of microcrystalline matrix (groundmass) in the final product may then be so small as to escape detection except under the microscope; such rocks (nevadites) are easily mistaken for granite in hand specimens. In most rhyolites, however, the period of such crystallization is relatively short, and the rock consists largely of a microcrystalline or partly glassy matrix containing few phenocrysts. The matrix is sometimes micropegmatitic or granophyric. The glassy rhyolites include obsidian, pitchstone, perlite, and pumice.

The chemical composition of rhyolite is very like that of granite. This equivalence implies that at least some and probably most granites are of magmatic origin. The phenocrysts of rhyolite may include quartz, alkali feldspar, oligoclase feldspar, biotite, amphibole, or pyroxene. If an alkali pyroxene or alkali amphibole is the principal dark mineral, oligoclase will be rare or absent, and the feldspar phenocrysts will consist largely or entirely of alkali feldspar; rocks of this sort are called pantellerite. If both oligoclase and alkali feldspar are prominent among the phenocrysts, the dominant dark silicate will be biotite, and neither amphibole nor pyroxene, if present, will be of an alkaline variety; such lavas are the quartz porphyries or “true” rhyolites of most classifications.

Certain differences between rhyolite and granite are noteworthy. Muscovite, a common mineral in granite, occurs very rarely and only as an alteration product in rhyolite. In most granites the alkali feldspar is a soda-poor microcline or microcline-perthite; in most rhyolites, however, it is sanidine, not infrequently rich in soda. A great excess of potassium over sodium, uncommon in granite except as a consequence of hydrothermal alteration, is not uncommon in rhyolites.

Rhyolites are known from all parts of the Earth and from all geologic ages. They are mostly confined, like granites, to the continents or their immediate margins, but they are not entirely lacking elsewhere. Small quantities of rhyolite (or quartz trachyte) have been described from oceanic islands remote from any continent.