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Granite
Granite

Novaculite
Novaculite



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Granite
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Novaculite

Granite vs Novaculite

Definition

Definition

Granite is a very hard, granular, crystalline igneous rock which consists mainly of quartz, mica, and feldspar and is often used as building stone
Novaculite is a dense, hard, fine-grained, siliceous metamorpic rock which is a type of chert that breaks with conchoidal fracture

History

Origin

-
-

Discoverer

Alexander von Humboldt
Unknown

Etymology

From Italian granito, which means grained rock, from grano grain, and from Latin granum
From Latin word novacula, for razor stone

Class

Igneous Rocks
Sedimentary Rocks

Sub-Class

Durable Rock, Hard Rock
Durable Rock, Hard Rock

Family

Group

Plutonic
-

Other Categories

Coarse Grained Rock, Opaque Rock
Fine Grained Rock, Opaque Rock

Texture

Texture

Granular, Phaneritic
Banded, Glassy, Rough, Vitreous

Color

Black, Grey, Orange, Pink, White
Black, Brown, Green, Grey, Red, White

Maintenance

More
Less

Durability

Durable
Durable

Water Resistant

Scratch Resistant

Stain Resistant

Wind Resistant

Acid Resistant

Appearance

Veined or Pebbled
Glassy or Pearly

Uses

Architecture

Interior Uses

Countertops, Decorative Aggregates, Entryways, Floor Tiles, Flooring, Homes, Hotels, Interior Decoration, Kitchens, Stair Treads
Countertops, Decorative Aggregates, Flooring, Interior Decoration

Exterior Uses

As Building Stone, As Facing Stone, Bridges, Paving Stone, Garden Decoration, Near Swimming Pools, Office Buildings, Resorts
As Building Stone, Garden Decoration

Other Architectural Uses

Curbing
Curbing

Industry

Construction Industry

As Dimension Stone
Arrowheads, Building houses or walls, Cement Manufacture, Construction Aggregate, Cutting Tool, for Road Aggregate, Knives, Landscaping, Making natural cement, Production of Glass and Ceramics, Rail Track Ballast, Roadstone, Spear Points, Used to sharpen metal tools and weapons

Medical Industry

-
-

Antiquity Uses

Monuments, Sculpture, Small Figurines
Artifacts, Monuments

Other Uses

Commercial Uses

Curling, Gemstone, Laboratory bench tops, Tombstones, Used in aquariums
Cemetery Markers, Gemstone, In aquifers, In fire-starting tools, Jewelry, Manufacture of tools, Pebbles are used in ball mills to grind in ceramics industry, To determine the gold content of jewelry

Types

Types

Igneous Protolith Granite, Sedimentary Protolith Granite, Mantle Granite, Anorogenic Granite, Hybrid Granite, Granodiorite and Alkali Feldspar Granite
Sedimentary rock

Features

Available in Lots of Colors and Patterns, It is One of the Oldest, Strongest and Hardest Rock
Clasts are smooth to touch, Easily splits into thin plates, Has High structural resistance against erosion and climate

Archaeological Significance

Monuments

-
-

Famous Monuments

Agia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey, Blue Domed Church in Santorini, Greece, Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Charminar in Hyderabad, India, Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain in London, UK, Ephesus in Turkey, Georgia Guidestones in Georgia, US, Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, Khajuraho Temples, India, Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu, India, Mysore Palace in Karnataka, India, Signers Monument in Augusta, Georgia, Statue of Liberty in New York, USA, Taj Mahal in Agra, India, Tower Bridge in London, Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, US, Washington Monument, US
-

Sculpture

-
-

Famous Sculptures

Avukana Buddha Statue in Sri Lanka, Lincoln Memorial in America, Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota, US, The Colossal Red Granite Statue of Amenhotep III in Karnak, Egypt
-

Pictographs

-
-

Petroglyphs

-
-

Figurines

-
-

Fossils

Absent
Present

Formation

Formation

Granite is an intrusive igneous rock which is very hard, crystalline and is visibly homogeneous in texture and forms by melting of continental rocks
Novaculite forms when microcrystals of silicon dioxide grow within soft sediments that become limestone or chalk. The formation of Novaculite can be either of chemical or biological origin.

Composition

Mineral Content

Amphibole, Biotite, Feldspar, Hornblade, Micas, Muscovite or Illite, Plagioclase, Pyroxene, Quartz
Quartz, Silicon

Compound Content

Aluminium Oxide, CaO, Iron(III) Oxide, FeO, Potassium Oxide, MgO, MnO, Sodium Oxide, Phosphorus Pentoxide, Silicon Dioxide, Titanium Dioxide
Ca, Silicon Dioxide

Transformation

Metamorphism

Types of Metamorphism

Burial Metamorphism, Cataclastic Metamorphism
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Weathering

Types of Weathering

Biological Weathering
-

Erosion

Types of Erosion

Chemical Erosion, Sea Erosion, Water Erosion
Chemical Erosion, Coastal Erosion, Glacier Erosion

Properties

Physical Properties

Hardness

6-77
1 7
👆🏻

Grain Size

Large and Coarse Grained
Fine Grained

Fracture

-
Conchoidal

Streak

White
-

Porosity

Less Porous
Less Porous

Luster

Dull to Grainy with Sporadic parts Pearly and Vitreous
Waxy and Dull

Compressive Strength

175.00 N/mm2450.00 N/mm2
0.15 450
👆🏻

Cleavage

-
-

Toughness

-
1.5

Specific Gravity

2.6-2.72.5-2.7
0 8.4
👆🏻

Transparency

Opaque
Translucent to Opaque

Density

2.65-2.75 g/cm32.7 g/cm3
0 1400
👆🏻

Thermal Properties

Specific Heat Capacity

0.79 kJ/Kg K0.74 kJ/Kg K
0.14 3.2
👆🏻

Resistance

Heat Resistant, Wear Resistant
Heat Resistant, Impact Resistant, Pressure Resistant, Wear Resistant

Reserves

Deposits in Eastern Continents

Asia

China, India, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam
China, India, Iran, Japan, Oman, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam

Africa

Angola, Egypt, Madagascar, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa
Kenya, Morocco, South Africa, Tanzania

Europe

Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sardinia, Spain, Switzerland, The Czech Republic
Austria, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom

Others

-
Greenland, Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Deposits in Western Continents

North America

Canada, USA
Canada, Mexico, USA

South America

-
Bolivia, Brazil

Deposits in Oceania Continent

Australia

-
New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia

Granite vs Novaculite Information

Earth’s outer layer is covered by rocks and these rocks have different physical and chemical properties. As two rocks are not same, it’s fun to compare them. You can also know more about Granite and Novaculite Reserves. Granite is a very hard, granular, crystalline igneous rock which consists mainly of quartz, mica, and feldspar and is often used as building stone. Novaculite is a dense, hard, fine-grained, siliceous metamorpic rock which is a type of chert that breaks with conchoidal fracture. These rocks are composed of many distinct minerals. The process of formation of rocks is different for various rocks. Rocks are quarried from many years for various purposes. You can check out Granite vs Novaculite information and Granite vs Novaculite characteristics in the upcoming sections.

Granite vs Novaculite Characteristics

Though some rocks look identical, they have certain characteristics which distinguish them from others. Characteristics of rocks include texture, appearance, color, fracture, streak, hardness etc. Granite vs Novaculite characteristics assist us to distinguish and recognize rocks. Also you can check about Properties of Granite and Properties of Novaculite. Learn more about Granite vs Novaculite in the next section. The interior uses of Granite include Countertops, Decorative aggregates, Entryways, Floor tiles, Flooring, Homes, Hotels, Interior decoration, Kitchens and Stair treads whereas the interior uses of Novaculite include Countertops, Decorative aggregates, Flooring and Interior decoration. Due to some exceptional properties of Granite and Novaculite, they have various applications in construction industry. The uses of Granite in construction industry include As dimension stone and that of Novaculite include Arrowheads, Building houses or walls, Cement manufacture, Construction aggregate, Cutting tool, For road aggregate, Knives, Landscaping, Making natural cement, Production of glass and ceramics, Rail track ballast, Roadstone, Spear points, Used to sharpen metal tools and weapons.

More about Granite and Novaculite

Here you can know more about Granite and Novaculite. The life cycle of a rock consists of formation of rock, composition of rock and transformation of rock. The composition of Granite and Novaculite consists of mineral content and compound content. The mineral content of Granite includes Amphibole, Biotite, Feldspar, Hornblade, Micas, Muscovite or Illite, Plagioclase, Pyroxene, Quartz and mineral content of Novaculite includes Quartz, Silicon. You can also check out the list of all Igneous Rocks. When we have to compare Granite vs Novaculite, the texture, color and appearance plays an important role in determining the type of rock. Granite is available in black, grey, orange, pink, white colors whereas, Novaculite is available in black, brown, green, grey, red, white colors. Appearance of Granite is Veined or Pebbled and that of Novaculite is Glassy or Pearly. Properties of rock is another aspect for Granite vs Novaculite. The hardness of Granite is 6-7 and that of Novaculite is 7. The types of Granite are Igneous Protolith Granite, Sedimentary Protolith Granite, Mantle Granite, Anorogenic Granite, Hybrid Granite, Granodiorite and Alkali Feldspar Granite whereas types of Novaculite are Sedimentary rock. Streak of rock is the color of powder produced when it is dragged across an unweathered surface. The streak of Granite is white while that of Novaculite is . The specific heat capacity of Granite is 0.79 kJ/Kg K and that of Novaculite is 0.74 kJ/Kg K. Depending on the properties like hardness, toughness, specific heat capacity, porosity etc., rocks are resistant to heat, wear, impact, etc.Granite is heat resistant, wear resistant whereas Novaculite is heat resistant, impact resistant, pressure resistant, wear resistant.