Editing Peridotite (section)

==Color, morphology, and texture==
[[File:Dunite0001.jpg|thumb|Alpine peridotite from the [[Ivrea zone]] in the [[Alps]] of Italy ([[dunite]] from Finero)]]
Most peridotite is green in color due to its high olivine content.  However, peridotites can range in color from greenish-gray<ref>{{cite web |title=Spinel peridotite |url=https://geogallery.si.edu/10026173/spinel-peridotite |website=National Museum of Natural History |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |access-date=26 February 2022 |archive-date=26 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220226012207/https://geogallery.si.edu/10026173/spinel-peridotite |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Peridotite (Dunite) |url=https://flexiblelearning.auckland.ac.nz/rocks_minerals/rocks/peridotite.html |website=Geology: Rocks and minerals |publisher=University of Auckland |access-date=26 February 2022}}</ref> to  nearly black<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sepp |first1=Siim |title=Peridotite - Igneous Rocks |url=https://www.sandatlas.org/peridotite/ |website=www.sandatlas.org |access-date=26 February 2022}}</ref> to pale yellowish-green.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Arai |first1=S. |title=Petrology of Peridotite Xenoliths from Iraya Volcano, Philippines, and its Implication for Dynamic Mantle-Wedge Processes |journal=Journal of Petrology |date=1 February 2004 |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=369–389 |doi=10.1093/petrology/egg100|doi-access=free }}</ref> Peridotite weathers to form a distinctive brown crust in subaerial exposures<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bucher |first1=Kurt |last2=Stober |first2=Ingrid |last3=Müller-Sigmund |first3=Hiltrud |title=Weathering crusts on peridotite |journal=Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology |date=May 2015 |volume=169 |issue=5 |pages=52 |doi=10.1007/s00410-015-1146-3|bibcode=2015CoMP..169...52B |s2cid=129292161 }}</ref> and to a deep orange color in submarine exposures.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Luguet |first1=Ambre |last2=Lorand |first2=Jean-Pierre |last3=Seyler |first3=Monique |title=Sulfide petrology and highly siderophile element geochemistry of abyssal peridotites: a coupled study of samples from the Kane Fracture Zone (45°W 23°20N, MARK area, Atlantic Ocean) |journal=Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta |date=April 2003 |volume=67 |issue=8 |pages=1553–1570 |doi=10.1016/S0016-7037(02)01133-X|bibcode=2003GeCoA..67.1553L }}</ref>

Peridotites can take on a massive form or may be in layers on a variety of size scales.{{sfn|Blatt|Tracy|1996|p=53}} Layered peridotites may form the base layers of layered intrusions.{{sfn|Philpotts|Ague|2009|pp=384–386}} These are characterized by [[cumulate texture]]s, characterized by a [[Fabric (geology)|fabric]] of coarse (>5mm) interlocking euhedral (well-formed) crystals in a groundmass of finer crystals formed from liquid magma trapped in the cumulate. Many show [[poikilitic texture]] in which crystallization of this liquid has produced crystals that overgrow and enclose the original cumulus crystals (called ''chadrocrysts'').{{sfn|Blatt|Tracy|1996|pp=130–131}}

Another texture is a ''well-annealed'' texture of equal sized anhedral crystals with straight grain boundaries intersecting at 120°. This may result when slow cooling allowed recrystallization to minimize surface energy. Cataclastic texture, showing irregular fractures and [[deformation twinning]] of olivine grains, is common in peridotites because of the deformation associated with their tectonic mode of emplacement.{{sfn|Blatt|Tracy|1996|p=53}}