Intrusive rock Intrusive rock Intrusive rock (also called plutonic rock) is formed when magma crystallizes and solidifies underground to form "intrusions", for example plutons, batholiths, dikes, sills, laccoliths, and volcanic necks. Intrusive rock forms within Earth's crust from the crystallization of magma. Many mountain ranges, such as the Sierra Nevada in California, are formed mostly from large granite (or related rock) intrusions; see Sierra Nevada batholith. Intrusions are one of the two ways igneous rock can form; the other is extrusive rock, that is, a volcanic eruption or similar event. Technically speaking, an intrusion is any formation of intrusive igneous rock; rock
Lava New lava flows will cover the surrounding land, isolating the kīpuka so that it appears as a (usually) forested island in a barren lava flow. Lava domes are formed by the extrusion of viscous felsic magma. They can form prominent rounded protuberances, such as at Valles Caldera. As a volcano extrudes silicic lava, it can form an "inflation dome", gradually building up a large, pillow-like structure which cracks, fissures, and may release cooled chunks of rock and rubble. The top and side margins of an inflating lava dome tend to be covered in fragments of rock, breccia and ash. Examples