What are some properties of Dolerite?
Dolorite also goes by the names diabase and microgabbro… so keep that in mind. It’s a medium-grained igneous rock usually found in shallow level intrusions like dykes, sills, or volcanic plugs. It contains largely plagioclase feldspar, pyroxene, and augite, with labradorite and titanaugite as additional “essential” minerals (the last two being good identifiers). magnetite, titano-magnetite, and ilmenite can occur as secondary or “accessory” minerals. It will sometimes have olivine, at which point it’s called an “olivine dolerite” (clever, I know). In other cases, quartz can occur in sufficient quantity to call it… a “quartz dolerite.” I know, petrologists are very imaginative. That’s why I didn’t go into petrology. Dolerite is the medium-grained equivalent of a basalt. Throw all of this information together, and you know that you’re looking at a mafic rock. The links below have lots more good information about the rock. Personally, I’m not a fan of identifying rocks, or knowing all
