Basaltic and gabbroic rocks / Базальтоидные и габброидные породы

Although basaltic and gabbroic rocks are found in nearly all tectonic settings, they are the predominant igneous rock types of the ocean basins. Furthermore, basaltic and gabbroic rocks of the ocean basins represent magmas that have the least likelihood of being contaminated with continental crustal material, and thus should give us the best clues to the composition of and chemical evolution of the underlying mantle from which the magmas are derived. We thus start our discussion with the ocean basins. <...>