Australia: The Land Where Time Began

A biography of the Australian continent 

Granite (Continental Crust)

An intrusive igneous or metamorphic rock (formed underground) that results from either the cooling of molten rock or the alteration of previously existing rock by the application of heat and pressure (metamorphism). It is composed mainly of light-coloured minerals such as quartz and potash (high potassium content), feldspar (orthoclase) and some biotite mica. It is less dense than basalt and is the main component of continental crust and "floats" in the oceanic crust, basalt. At subduction zones it remains on the surface as the oceanic crust slides beneath it.

Sources & Further reading