Basalt

Basalt is a common gray to black volcanic rock. It is usually fine-grained due to rapid crystallization as lava on the Earth's surface. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix. Basalt in the tops of subaerial lava flows and cinder cones will often be highly vesiculated, imparting a lightweight "frothy" texture to the rock. The term basalt is at times applied to shallow intrusive rocks with a composition typical of basalt, but rocks of this composition with a phaneritic (coarse) groundmass should generally be referred to as diabase or gabbro. The crustal portions of oceanic tectonic plates are predominantly made of basalt.

Pillow lava

When basalt erupts underwater or flows into the sea, the cold water quenches the surface and the lava forms a distinctive pillow shape, then the hot lava breaks through to form another pillow. This pillow texture is very common in underwater basaltic flows and pillow basalts are diagnostic of an underwater eruption environment when found in ancient rocks. Pillows typically consist of a fine-grained core with a glassy crust and have radial jointing. Size of individual pillows vary from 10 cm up to 6 m.

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