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Definition of Gabbro
Definition of Gabbro
A name originally given by the Italians to a kind of serpentine, later to the rock called euphotide, and now generally used for a coarsely crystalline, igneous rock consisting of lamellar pyroxene (diallage) and labradorite, with sometimes chrysolite (olivine gabbro).
Gabbro is a term which is now used comprehensively to include the coarsegrained, plutonic phases of the various basaltic rocks, which are typically composed of plagioclase and pyroxene. Olivine gabbro and hornblende gabbro are names that explain themselves. Norite, or hypersthene gabbro, contains orthorhombic pyroxene. Anorthosite is nearly pure labradorite in large crystals, with little or no pyroxene; great masses of it occur in Canada and the Adirondack Mountains of New York. Gabbros are present on a great scale in the Adirondacks, and occur in the White Mountains, on the Hudson, near Baltimore, around Lake Superior, in California and various parts of the West. http://sites.google.com/site/geologybase/home/petrology/kinds-of-rocks/igneousrocks/gabbro-clan http://chestofbooks.com/science/geology/Intro/IV-The-Gabbro-Family.html