Gabbro /bro/ refers to a large group of dark, often phaneritic (coarsegrained), mafic intrusive igneous rocks chemically equivalent

to plutonic basalt. It forms when

molten magma is trapped beneath the Earth's surface and slowly cools into a holocrystalline mass.
The vast majority of the Earth's surface is underlain by gabbro within the oceanic crust, produced by
basaltic magmatism at mid-ocean ridges that produce ophiolites. It is also present in association with
continental volcanism. Due to its variant nature, the term "gabbro" may loosely be applied to a wide
range of rocks, many of which are merely "gabbroic", technically speaking. In comparison,
their extrusive counterparts, basalt and andesite cover most of the gabbroic designations.

Petrology
Gabbro is dense, greenish or dark-colored and contains pyroxene, plagioclase, and minor amounts
of amphibole and olivine.
The pyroxene content is mostly clinopyroxene, generally augite, but small amounts
of orthopyroxene may also be present. If the amount of orthopyroxene is more than 95% of the total
pyroxene content (5% or less clinopyroxene content), then the rock is termed norite. On the other
hand, Gabbro has more than 95% of its pyroxenes in the form of the monoclinic clinopyroxene/s.
Intermediate rocks are termed gabbro-norite. The calciumrich plagioclase feldspar (labradoritebytownite) and pyroxene content vary between 10% - 90% in gabbro. If more than 90% plagioclase
is present, then the rock is an anorthosite. If on the other hand, the rock contains more than 90%
pyroxenes (often both are present), it is termed pyroxenite. Gabbro may also contain small amounts
of olivine ("olivine gabbro" if substantial amount of olivine is present), amphibole and biotite.
The quartz content in gabbro is less than 5% of total volume. 'Quartz gabbros' or monzogabbros are
also known to occur, for example the cizlakite at Pohorje in northeastern Slovenia,[1] and are probably
derived from magma that was over-saturated with silica. Essexites represent gabbros whose parent
magma was under-saturated with silica, resulting in the formation of
the feldspathoid minerals nepheline, cancrinite, and sodalite as accessory minerals rather than
quartz. (Silica saturation of a rock can be evaluated by normative mineralogy). Gabbros contain
minor amounts, typically a few percent, of iron-titanium oxides such as magnetite, ilmenite,
and ulvospinel.Gabbro is generally coarse grained, with crystals in the size range of 1 mm or
greater. Finer grained equivalents of gabbro are called diabase, although the vernacular
term microgabbro is often used when extra descriptiveness is desired. Gabbro may be extremely
coarse grained to pegmatitic, and some pyroxene-plagioclase cumulates are essentially coarse
grained gabbro, some may exhibit acicular crystal habits.
Gabbro is usually equigranular in texture, although it may be porphyritic at times, especially when
plagioclase oikocrysts have grown earlier than the groundmass minerals.