About Granite
Available in a striking array of colors, granite's durability and longevity make it ideal for kitchen countertops and other heavily used surfaces, including table tops, bar tops, floors, and monuments. Granite is one of the hardest materials on earth. The beauty and elegance of granite makes it a most prestigious yet practical countertop. Because no two slabs of granite are exactly alike, yours will be unique.
Granite is an igneous rock, formed by the crystallization of molten lava. It is composed of basically three elements: feldspar, quartz, mica, and some other minerals such as apatite, magnetite, and sphene.
Granite is the most common igneous rock in the earth's crust and one of the hardest. It was formed ages ago when magma (molten rock) cooled. This cooling took place below the earth's surface and slowly enough to permit formation of crystals. Granite has been formed in all the periods of geological time. If a piece of granite is crushed to powder, one can easily pick out tiny fragments of the separate substances or minerals, that compose it (e.g. quartz, feldspar and mica).
The color of granite depends on the proportion and varieties of the minerals in it. There are two main factors that control what the resulting granite looks like. First, the chemical composition of the magma varies based on what continent or ocean it is under. Second, the speed in which the magma approaches the earth’s surface and how quickly it cools down truly impacts the stone’s appearance. The most decorative granites are ones where the magma cooled slowly and allowed large crystals to grow.