Igneous rock is formed by the cooling of molten rock, either at the surface (lava), or underground (as granite or other similar rocks). The heat of molten rock usually incinerates organisms rather ...

Igneous rocks — which form as magma solidifies either deep within Earth or at the surface after a volcanic eruption, for example — contain a limited number of minerals that crystallize ...

The BIC made of layers of igneous rock in a basin shape, formed over a period of about 1 million years, after which it seems to have barely changed. Pockets of microbes have been found living ...

"Dating zircon grains using ... techniques is now celebrated as the optimal method for determining when igneous rocks formed," the report said. The technique involves measuring the decay of ...