What are grantic volcanoes? Is it another name for one of the 6 types of volcanoes? For example: basaltic is the same as shield volcanoes?

rocky David R. Carrel

Dear David,

You shouldn't see those two words together. Granite is a type if igneous rock (it was once molten). It forms IN the earth. If a granite magma gets to the surface it erupts to make rhyolite (same mineral and chemical composition but now at the surface). So, one could talk of rhyolite volcanoes. Yellowstone would be a good example.

True, most shield volcanoes are made of basalt but basalt is also found in stratovolcanoes and at mid-ocean ridges.

Write again if I have been unclear

Steve Mattox, University of North Dakota 

Other Categories        Other Questions

To VolcanoWorld