Texture - Glassy
Read this tip to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Rocks and other Natural Science topics.
Texture - Glassy
Some igneous rocks have glassy texture. That doesn't mean the rock shines like glass (although some might!). It means that the lava cooled so quickly that individual crystals didn't form at all. In other words, there are no individual crystals, even under a microscope. Glassy igneous rocks often seem to be a solid color, like light gray or black.
Lots of folks get "glassy" confused with "shiny." Obsidian has a glassy texture, and even looks shiny, like glass. But pumice, which also has glassy texture, is a dull rock which doesn't shine at all.
How do you know if a rock is fine-grained (has individual mineral grains in it, but you can't see them without a hand lens or even a microscope) or glassy (no individual crystals at all)? You can't tell, just by looking. But obsidian, pumice, scoria, and tuffs have a glassy texture. Other igneous rocks that seem to be more-or-less a solid color, like basalt, rhyolite, and andesite, have an aphanitic (fine-grained) texture.
| Guru Spotlight |
| Kristle Jones |
