A dark basalt stone is highly rich in mainly iron and a few other
deposits. This type of stone finds its use in the textile industries and for
fire protection purposes in building construction projects. It has loads of
other uses in different industries that we will check out in the below
sections.
As for now, we will focus more on the formation of the basalt stones and a few more important information on basalt.
More on Basalt Stones
So as you might know that the basalt stones are formed during lava
emission and they quickly cool down to form basalt stones. Now there is one
major point to understand here and i.e. almost 90% of all the volcanic rock
deep below the earth’s crust is a volcanic rock and during a volcanic eruption
would emit basalt stones. Now basalt has a presence not only on earth but also
on other planets in the solar system. A common type of basalt stone is found on
Mars in Luna Maria. Scientists predict and make calculations that there are
more than 20 volcanic eruptions every year that emits only basalt lava.
Basalt Formation
Process
#1. Under Oceanic Divergent Borders: The Earth’s tectonic
plates and boundaries in the oceans form ridges. Due to the convection currents
in the mantle region, the Earth’s crust erupts below the sea bed ad forms the
basalt rocks after cooling down. These activities occur way below the ocean
floor bed and we cannot detect them even on seismic readings too. After all, it
does not garner too many vibrations because it is so below the earth’s
crust.
#2. Oceanic Hotspots: The oceanic hotspots also form a lot of
basalt stones. The oceanic hotspots form huge volumes of basalt stones.
The magma keeps flowing at a constant rate and accumulates to form an
island.
#3. Continental Volcanic Activity: The dark basalt stones
are formed as a result of large vents and fissures that form and deposits large
amounts of basalt lava. Such high amounts of basalt lava secretion will
ultimately lead to the formation of vertical stacks and columns.
#4. Basalt Rock Cycle: The basaltic magma is pulled out of the
Earth’s crust and this slowly sinks into the magma and this ends its cycle
right where it began.
Properties of Basalt Stones
#1. Hardness: The basalt stones come in the category of strong to very
strong. The compressive strength of the basalt stones is 100 to 300 MPa.
The shear strength is 20 to 60 MP a while the tensile strength is 10 to 30
MPa.
#2. Density: The density of the basalt stones is very high and this can
be seen through the porousness of the rock. The bulk density of the basalt
stones is around 2.8 to 3 Magormegagram per meter cube. This is because almost
50% of the rock is made out of silica.
Conclusion
The basalt stones have been used since ancient times from the beginning of the Roman Empire that found the basalt stones to be too hard. These were used extensively throughout the term for manufacturing roads and making various public places such as amphitheaters and stadiums. The basalt stones are also used in the mills for the grinding process. A common example of this is the rosette stone. The construction industry also uses basalt rocks for constructing pavements, railroads, concrete mixtures, drainage projects, etc.
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