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
Harz granite crystals can be up to 18 mm across. Birkenkopf granite was quarried on the Großer Birkenkopf hill south of Hasselfelde. It is a medium-grained granite with blue-grey coloration. In the quarry 30 to 40% blocks of stone could be used for sawing and 50% of exploitable rock debris could be obtained. The quarry closed in 2009. Birkenkopf granite contains 31.3% quartz, 42.6% alkali feldspar, 20.4% plagioclase feldspar, 5.4% biotite and chlorite as well as 0.3% ore minerals like magnetite, pyrite and hematite. The quarry for Wurmberg granite was situated about 2.5 kilometres north of Braunlage and 250 metres high on