Trap rock

The East Rock trap rock ridge overlooking New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.
Trap rock forming a characteristic pavement, Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland
Trap rock cliff overlooking the Hudson River from an overlook on the Hudson Palisades in Bergen County, New Jersey, U.S.
Trap rock forming a characteristic stockade wall, Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland

Trap rock, also known as either trapp or trap, is any dark-colored, fine-grained, non-granitic intrusive or extrusive igneous rock. Types of trap rock include basalt, peridotite, diabase, and gabbro. Trap is also used to refer to flood (plateau) basalts, such as the Deccan Traps and Siberian Traps. The erosion of trap rock created by the stacking of successive lava flows often creates a distinct stairstep landscape from which the term trap was derived from the Swedish word trappa, which means "stairs".

The slow cooling of magma either as a sill or as a thick lava flow sometimes creates systematic vertical fractures within the resulting layer of trap rock. These fractures often form rock columns that are typically hexagonal but could be four- to eight-sided.

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