Granite

**General Facts**
Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Granites can be pink to gray in color, depending on their chemistry and mineralogy. By definition, granite is an igneous rock with at least 20% quartz by volume. Granite is usually found in the continental plates of the Earth's crust. Granite is nearly always massive (lacking internal structures), hard and tough, and therefore it has gained widespread use as a construction stone. It is often used as an aesthetically pleasing counter top in kitchens and bathrooms. The average density of granite is between 2.65 and 2.75 g/cm3, its compressive strength usually lies above 200 MPa, and its viscosity near STP is 3-6 • 1019 Pa·s. Melting temperature is 1215 - 1260 °C. Granite is a natural source of radiation. Some granites are found to have higher radioactivity which raises some concerns about their safety.
 * Granite** is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock.

The word granite comes from the Latin //granum//, a grain, in reference to the coarse-grained structure of such a crystalline rock. Some of the best ways to rock climb come from this due to its steepness and cracks that are found naturally. Some rock gyms are made to feel like granite. Granite is found in abundance, all over the planet, but it is only restricted to Earth's crust, where it had seeped in during the geologic periods. It is assumed to be the most abundant basement rock, lying beneath a thin layer of sedimentary rocks.
 * Some granites change relatively little with changes in temperature.**
 * Granite is an igneous rock that is composed primarily of four minerals. These minerals are quartz, feldspar, mica, and usually hornblende.**

Antiquity
The Great Pyramid of Giza, contains huge granite sections, mainly used to solidify burial tombs.

Modern
Sculpture and memorials Buildings Engineering Other


 * Granite** is an [|unincorporated town] with a [|U.S. Post Office] in [|Chaffee County], [|Colorado] , [|United States] . The zip code of Granite is 81228. [|[2]] According to the 2010 census, the population is 116. [|[3]]

Granite is currently known only on Earth, where it forms a major part of continental crust. Granite often occurs as relatively small, less than 100 km² stock masses (stocks) and in batholiths that are often associated with orogenic mountain ranges. Small dikes of granitic composition called aplites are often associated with the margins of granitic intrusions. In some locations, very coarse-grained pegmatite masses occur with granite. Granite has been intruded into the crust of the Earth during all geologic periods, although much of it is of Precambrian age. Granitic rock is widely distributed throughout the continental crust and is the most abundant basement rock that underlies the relatively thin sedimentary veneer of the continents.
 * __Occurrence:__**

Granite is classified according to the QAPF diagram for coarse grained Remove rocks and is named according to the percentage of quartz, alkali feldspar (orthoclase, sanidine, or microcline) and plagioclase feldspar on the A-Q-P half of the diagram. True granite according to modern petrologic convention contains both plagioclase and alkali feldspars. When a granitoid is devoid or nearly devoid of plagioclase, the rock is referred to as **alkali granite**. When a granitoid contains less than 10% orthoclase, it is called tonalite; pyroxene and amphibole are common in tonalite. A granite containing both muscovite and biotite micas is called a binary or //two-mica// granite. Two-mica granites are typically high in potassium and low in plagioclase, and are usually S-type granites or A-type granites. The volcanic equivalent of plutonic granite is rhyolite. Granite has poor primary permeability but strong secondary permeability.

Rock climbing
Granite is one of the rocks most prized by climbers, for its steepness, soundness, crack systems, and friction. Well-known venues for granite climbing include Yosemite, the Bugaboos, the Mont Blanc massif, the Bregaglia, Corsica, parts of the Karakoram, the Fitzroy Massif, Patagonia, Baffin Island, Ogawayama, the Cornish coast and the Cairngorms. It is a very fun thing to climb. Granite rock climbing is so popular that many of the artificial rock climbing walls found in gyms and theme parks are made to look and feel like granite.