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Basalt

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Basalt (US: , UK: ) is a fine-grained extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or a moon. More than 90% of all volcanic rock on Earth is basalt. Rapid-cooling, fine-grained basalt is chemically equivalent to slow-cooling, coarse-grained gabbro. The eruption of basalt lava is observed by geologists at about 20 volcanoes per year. Basalt is also an important rock type on other planetary bodies in the Solar System; for example, the bulk of the plains of Venus, which cover ∼80% of the surface, are basaltic, the lunar maria are plains of flood basaltic lava flows, and basalt is a common rock on the surface of Mars. Molten basalt lava has a low viscosity due to its…

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