Definition
Gabbro is a medium- to coarse-grained, mafic intrusive igneous rock, mostly grayish to greenish in color, and is the most abundant rock in the oceanic crust. Oceanic gabbros are mainly composed of three minerals: olivine, plagioclase, and clinopyroxene, sometimes associated with orthopyroxene, amphibole, and Fe-Ti oxides. They are formed in magma chambers (qv. “Mid-Ocean Ridge Magmatism and Volcanism”) under the mid-ocean ridges, where primitive MORB melts (mid-oceanic ridge basalt; qv. “mid-ocean ridge magmatism”) differentiate by fractional crystallization. The accumulated minerals in dense crystal mushes and subsequent slow cooling lead to the formation of gabbros in the lower oceanic crust.
Introduction
Gabbro is the most common rock of the oceanic crust and forms its lower part (for review see Coogan 2014). The name “gabbro” was suggested from the German geologist Leopold von Buch after a town in the Italian Tuscany region. Gabbros from the oceanic crust are named...
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Koepke, J. (2014). Gabbro. In: Harff, J., Meschede, M., Petersen, S., Thiede, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Marine Geosciences. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_13-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6644-0_13-2
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