Granite Granite Granite () is a common type of felsic intrusive igneous rock that is granular and phaneritic in texture. Granites can be predominantly white, pink, or gray in color, depending on their mineralogy. The word "granite" comes from the Latin "granum", a grain, in reference to the coarse-grained structure of such a holocrystalline rock. Strictly speaking, granite is an igneous rock with between 20% and 60% quartz by volume, and at least 35% of the total feldspar consisting of alkali feldspar, although commonly the term "granite" is used to refer to a wider range of coarse-grained igneous rocks containing quartz
El Capitan Granite north and south, to a western limit near Cookie Cliffs. All of Turtleback Dome, El Capitan, The Three Brothers, and Cathedral Rocks are made of El Capitan Granite as is Elephant Rock. El Capitan Granite makes up most the granite found in the west half of the Yosemite Valley area. El Capitan Granite intruded older plutonic rocks about 103 Ma, during the Cretaceous Period. El Capitan Granite El Capitan Granite is a type of granite (also see granodiorite), in a large area near El Capitan, in Yosemite National Park, California, United States. The granite forms part of the Tuolumne Intrusive