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3 votes
After collecting samples of igneous rocks, a student wishes to classify them as either intrusive or extrusive. Which characteristic of the samples might be the most useful to use? Please Help me

asked
User Rossi
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2 Answers

6 votes
intrusive would be more useful
answered
User Rjcarl
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7.6k points
6 votes
The characteristic that would be most helpful would be grain sizes of the rocks. Extrusive rocks are immediately exposed to the elements, and therefore cool very rapidly, and there's not really adequate time for grain size to get that large. Intrusive rocks, on the other hand, can cool very slowly, and therefore grain size can grow to quite a large size.
answered
User Xarcell
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8.3k points
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