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How Does a Laccolith Work?
How Does a Laccolith Work?
Alexander Ross••6 min read
A laccolith is a shallow, typically mushroom-shaped igneous intrusion
igneous intrusion
In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. ... A pluton that has intruded and obscured the contact between a terrane and adjacent rock is called a stitching pluton.
that has deformed the overlying host rock dominantly by folding. ... Over time, erosion can form small hills and even mountains around a central peak since the magma rock is likely more resistant to weathering than the host rock.
How a laccolith is formed?
A laccolith is a mushroom-shaped intrusion that develops beneath the surface of the earth when liquid magma surpasses its way between two horizontal layers of preexisting rock to cause the overlying materials to bulge outwards as the feature grows.
What is the size of a laccolith?
A laccolith is often smaller than a stock, which is another type of igneous intrusion, and usually is less than 16 km (10 miles) in diameter; the thickness of laccoliths ranges from hundreds of metres to a few thousand metres.
Alexander Ross has covered the video game industry for a decade, writing deep dives on game design, esports tournaments, VR developments, and gaming culture.
