- What is it and where is it formed? Granite is a rock that is hard and strong. It can be an igneous or a metamorphic rock. It usually has quartz, feldspar, mica, or hornblende in it. Granite is formed deep down inside the Earth from magma that has cooled. Granite is usually pink or white.
- How and where is it mined? Granite is mined using quarrying. It is quarried in Italy, India, the U.S. and other countries around the world. Scientists can tell where granite comes from by how it looks. If it is coarse grained and red or black, it will probably be from Egypt or a desert in the United States.
- What is it used for? Granite is used to make gravestones and buildings because it is hard and strong and doesn’t break down from being out in the weather. It is also used for kitchen countertops, floor tile, curbs on driveways, and in road building.
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Interesting!
- The Vietnam Veterans War Memorial and Mt. Rushmore [on the right] are made of granite.
- Some of the properties of granite are that it doesn’t scratch easily because it’s so hard, acids don’t bother it, and it doesn’t stain easily. Heat and bacteria won’t bother it.
- There is a kind of granite that is called Graphic Granite. The stone has shapes in it that look like letters of the alphabet.
- Sometimes gemstones are found in granite. An example of this is amethyst
