Trap rock
Trap rock, also known as either trapp or trap, is any dark-colored, fine-grained, non-granitic intrusive or extrusive igneous rock. Types of trap rock include basalt, peridotite, diabase, and gabbro.[1] Trap is also used to refer to flood (plateau) basalts, e.g. the Deccan Traps and Siberian Traps.[2] The erosion of trap rock created by the stacking of successive lava flows often created a distinct stairstep landscape from which the term trap was derived from the Swedish word trappa, which means "stairway".[1]
The slow cooling of
Uses
Trap rock, i.e. basalt or diabase, has a variety of uses. A major use for basalt is crushed rock for road and housing construction in concrete, macadam, and paving stones. Because of its insensitivity to chemical influences, resistance to mechanical stress, high dry relative density, frost resistance, and sea water resistance, trap rock is used as ballast for railroad track bed and hydraulic engineering rock (riprap) in coast and bank protection for paving embankments. It is also used for the production of cast rock that is used in corrosion and abrasion protection, as for sewage pipes and acid-resistant rocks.
Other uses include gardening and landscaping, for the production of millstones, for the production of mineral fibres (basalt wool), as a flux in ceramic masses and glazes, for the production of glass ceramics, crushed as a filter aggregate (air filtration of poison gas) in ABC bunkers, as filter bed material water treatment facilities, and ground as a soil improvement product.[5] Trap rock has been used to construct buildings and churches: Trinity Church on the Green with trap rock quarried from Eli Whitney's quarry is a particularly colorful example of a red-orange-brown-colored, natural-faced trap rock.
Examples
Well-known examples of
Other prominent basalt ridges, mountains, buttes, canyons, and other landscape features include:
- In North America:
- The ridges and cliffs of the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon and Washington. Behind Latourell Falls are columns of trap rock.
- Basalt Mountain near Basalt, Colorado.
- The Metacomet Ridge of Connecticut and Massachusetts.[7][8]
- The Watchung Mountains of New Jersey[9]
- Devils Postpile National Monument and other parts of California's inner coastal range.
- Most of the Hawaiian Islands and their mountains are composed of basalt or similar volcanic rock.
- The Green Gardens region of Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland
- The Emeishan Traps in China
- Giant's Causeway in Ireland
- Organ Pipes National Park in Australia
- The Paraná and Etendeka Trapsof Brazil
- The island of Surtsey in Iceland, a new (1963) volcanic island.
- The Vilyuy Trapsof Russia
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-922152-76-6
- ISBN 978-0-521-66215-4
- ^ Muller, G. (1998) "Experimental simulation of basalt columns". Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. vol. 86, no. 1–4, pp. 93–96
- ^ Spry, A. (1962). "The origin of columnar jointing, particularly in basalt flows". Journal of the Geological Society of Australia. Vol. 5, pp. 191–216.
- ISBN 3-510-95917-5.
- ^ Sheth, Hetu C. "Deccan Traps". www.mantleplumes.org. Retrieved 2022-11-21.
- ^ Olsen, Paul E.; McDonald, Nicholas G.; Huber, Phillip; Cornet, Bruce (October 9–11, 1992). "Stratigraphy and Paleoecology of the Deerfield Rift Basin (Triassic-Jurassic, Newark Supergroup), Massachusetts". Guidebook for field trips in the Connecticut Valley region of Massachusetts and adjacent states. 84th annual meeting, New England Intercollegiate Geological Conference. www.sunstar-solutions.com. Vol. 2. The Five Colleges, Amherst, MA. pp. 488–535. Retrieved 2022-11-21.
- ^ Farnsworth, Elizabeth J. (2004-07-17). "Metacomet-Mattabesett Trail Natural Resource Assessment" (PDF). Metacomet-Mattabesett Trail. Archived from the original on 2007-08-07. Retrieved 2022-11-21.
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