Glossary andesite magma or volcanic rock is characterised by intermediate SiO2 concentration. Andesite magmas have rheological properties that are intermediate between basalt and rhyolite magmas. Silica content in andesites ranges from approximately 52 to 66 weight percent. Common minerals in andesite include plagioclase, amphibole and pyroxene. Andesite is typically erupted at temperatures bet...

The Wadi Hodein area contains a wide variety of late Precambrian igneous and metamorphic rocks, represented by gneisses, serpentinites, metagabbros, metasediments, metavolcanics, metagabbro-diorite, granodiorite and granitoids. The Wadi Hodein metavolcanics (WHV), including G. Khashab and G. El Anbat, represent one of the significant metavolcanic suites in the southern part of the Nubian Shield...

Atmospherically corrected thermal infrared spectra of large regions of the Martian surface from the Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer (MGS TES) previously have been interpreted to represent two general spectral classes. One class represents a basalt to basaltic andesite composition, and the other class represents a basaltic andesite to andesite composition. We have performed ne...

Shallow water sedimentary units are generally considered scarce in Archean greenstone belts. We describe an unusual quartz arenite-subaerial andesite association within the Archean Hisovaara greenstone belt, a fragment of the Parandovo-Tikshozero belt within the Karelian craton of the Baltic Shield. The Hisovaara greenstone belt consists of several lithotectonic assemblages: (1) a komatiite-tho...

Streck et al. (2007) state that primitive andesite lavas (Mg# > 0.6; 53–63 wt% SiO 2 ) from Mt. Shasta are not primary melts, but instead are mixtures of evolved, high-Sr/Y, low-Mg# dacite with primary, low-Sr/Y, high-Mg# basalt. They propose that this mixing forms primitive andesites worldwide, and they dismiss the idea that primitive andesite is an end member in arc magmatism. Magma mixing is...

The Mars Global Surveyor mission carries a remote-sensing gizmo called the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES). TES detects heat waves flowing from the surface of the Red Planet. The TES team, led by Phil Christensen (Arizona State University), identified two large regions on Mars that have distinctive spectral properties. Using mathematical mixing calculations based on the thermal emission spe...

Numerous important Miocene and early Pliocene epithermal Au-Ag deposits are present in the northern Great Basin. Most deposits are spatially and temporally related to two magmatic assemblages: bimodal basaltrhyolite and western andesite. These magmatic assemblages are petrogenetic suites that reflect variations in tectonic environment of magma generation. The bimodal assemblage is a K-rich thol...

[1] Spectral interpretation that silicic rocks are widespread on Mars implies that Earth’s differentiated crust is not unique. Evaluation of observations bearing on the composition of the Martian crust (Martian meteorite petrology and a possible crustal assimilant, analysis of Mars Pathfinder rocks, composition of Martian fines, interpretation of spacecraft thermal emission spectra, and inferre...