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How do you classify pumice?
Pumice is a light-colored, extremely porous igneous rock that forms during explosive volcanic eruptions. It is used as aggregate in lightweight concrete, as landscaping aggregate, and as an abrasive in a variety of industrial and consumer products.
What type of mineral is pumice?
Pumice is an extrusive igneous volcanic rock formed through the rapid cooling of air-pocketed lava, which results in a low-density, high-porosity rock. Fine-grained pumice, or pumicite, is defined as minute grains, flakes, threads or shards of volcanic glass, with a size finer than 4 millimeters.
Where is pumice belong?
Pumice can be found all across North America including on the Caribbean Islands. In the United States, pumice is mined in Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, California, New Mexico and Kansas.
Is pumice a fine grain?
pumice is a very fine grained (often the grains are not visible by naked eye), light coloured, light weight, highly vesicular acidic volcanic glass. Large amounts of gas generate a very fine-grained variety known as pumicite. Chemically the composition of pumice is similar to that of granite.
Is pumice mafic or felsic?
Pumice is a low-density, light-colored felsic volcanic rock.
What properties does pumice have?
The Properties of Pumice Stones
- Composition. Pumice has a chemical composition similar to that of obsidian, or volcanic glass.
- Density. Pumice is very lightweight.
- Buoyancy. Pumice stones are so lightweight they will usually float on water for a time, before eventually sinking once becoming waterlogged.
- Abrasivity.
- Color.
Is pumice sedimentary igneous or metamorphic?
Pumice. Pumice is an extrusive igneous rock formed as a result of volcanic eruptions.
What is the description of pumice?
Pumice is a fine-grained volcanic rock. It is very light grey to medium grey in colour. It contains a lot of empty gas bubbles, so it is very light and looks rather like a sponge. Sometimes pumice is so light that it will float on water.
Is pumice igneous?
Pumice is pyroclastic igneous rock that was almost completely liquid at the moment of effusion and was so rapidly cooled that there was no time for it to crystallize. When it solidified, the vapours dissolved in it were suddenly released, the whole mass swelling up into a froth that immediately consolidated.
Is pumice volcanic or plutonic?
When magma does reach the surface during a volcanic eruption, the rocks that form there are called lavas or volcanic rocks. The basic classification is the same as for plutonic rocks: with increasing silica content, they include: basalt, andesites, dacites, rhyolite, pumice and obsidian.