History of the Gulf War

History of the Gulf War Free Online Research Papers Since the Arab oil embargo of 1974, Western states have attempted to find alternatives to their growing dependence on imported oil. However, the West did a better job of negotiating regional security arrangements to protect the leading sources of oil imports than it did in finding substitutes. With the fall of the Shah of Iran and the Iranian hostage situation, the West lost its only regional military base. This loss caused an increased risk that the Gulf could be dominated by a radical anti-Western power (Cordessman 1-2). When Iraq invaded Kuwait, the West moved quickly and decisively to strike down the enemy that would threaten its allies and deprive it of its supply of oil. In a television address, President George Bush stated, â€Å"No nation should rape, pillage, and brutalize its neighbor,† and â€Å"No nation should be able to wipe a member state of the United Nations and the Arab League off the face of the earth (Smith 1).† The war against Iraq was fought for a high principle. Aggression must be punished. There are many reasons, both military and diplomatic, that caused the U.S. to take military action against Iraq’s aggression. One military reason for American involvement was a strategic argument. This argument centered on the conclusion that fighting now may prevent other wars. If force is not used when words fail, future aggressors will be less likely dissuaded by nonviolent means (Dunnigan and Bay 71-72). National security is supported on a three-legged stool called ‘Military Strategy.’ The legs of this stool must be balanced or national security may be in jeopardy. The stool rests on an angle and that angle represents risks associated with not achieving an objective. There were several risks associated with the U.S. military strategy used in the Gulf War. The first risk the U.S. faced was credibility. The U.S. had to prove to the world that it could handle the diplomatic and military challenges posed by Iraq. The second risk was the potential for a great number of casualties. The U.S. took a calculated risk in assuming that the ultimate toll of American and Allied lives would be lower if it applied overwhelming military force (Dunnigan and Bay 73). National security was threatened and the U.S. military strategy was employed. President Bush acted immediately to protect U.S. interests and to punish aggression when the first Iraqi tanks crossed into Kuwait. The national security objective: to deter aggression against the U.S., its citizens, interests, or allies, and defeat such aggression if deterrence fails was achieved. America demonstrated to the world that it has the forces and will use them to counter aggression when its vital interests are at stake. The U.S. used a sequential, step-by-step approach towards attaining their military objective. The strategy was to execute a series of discrete steps and actions to attain the objective. Reinforced by cumulative strategies, the U.S. achieved crushing results. The first strategy was to use an indirect approach, focusing on economic sanctions and non-military options. President Bush immediately signed two executive orders which froze Iraqi assets and barred U.S. trade with Iraq. Economic sanctions began to take hold but there was a marked increase in enemy forces in Kuwait. Naval warships that were stationed in the Gulf were bolstered to demonstrate a show of force. The goal was to prevent or limit the scope of war. Naval operations were a vital part of the Gulf War. Surface warships and amphibious craft threatened the Kuwait coast. The Navy fleet destroyed the small but potentially effective Iraqi coast defense navy; neutralized Iraqi mines; and threatened a major amphibious assault on Iraqi forces in Kuwait. Allied Naval forces maintained the naval embargo and isolated Iraq from the outside world. The Navy stood ready to lead reentry into the Arabian Peninsula if Arab and American ground forces were overwhelmed. These actions supported the maritime theory which provides that we can subdue an enemy if we control the seas and starve the enemy. The continental theory stresses that a decisive victory can be achieved by destroying the enemy’s armed forces and then physically occupying their territory. Continental strategists believe that air and naval forces serve only to support ground forces. There were two phases of Operation Desert Storm which support this theory: the air war and the ground offensive. Allied forces waged the air war to win air supremacy, destroy strategic targets, and to degrade Iraqi ground forces. Using a series of discrete, sequential actions, the allied forces gained air supremacy and destroyed targets vital to the Iraqi war effort. The Iraqi air defense system was rendered ineffective. The allies continued the air war to maximize Iraqi and minimize allied casualties. Air power was the key component in the Allies’ psychological warfare campaign to demoralize the Iraqi Army. These actions paved the way for the ground war. General Schwarzkopf’s plan for the ground war was the climax of the cumulative strategy. The general used the direct strategy and utilized principles of deception, concentration of force, and speed. The goal of the ground war was to regain control of Kuwait by neutralizing Iraqi ground forces (Britannica 231-232). Operation Desert Storm was an AirLand Battle. All allied weapons systems and troops worked together, complementing one another, so that speed and firepower overwhelmed Iraq. The Allies used initiative. U.S. forces used agility to execute rapid and bold maneuver in the ground campaign. The coalition used depth to retain the ability to fight and defend in any direction. Synchronization was used to put all the pieces together in a continuous combat operation (Dunnigan and Bay 263). The strategies used by the U.S. in the Gulf War were developed for a limited war. Allied forces joined and engaged their military forces to defeat the enemy using well-trained manpower and technologically advanced weapons systems. NATO member nation-states joined forces to protect and defend Kuwait from the Iraqi invasion using a strategy of collective military security. The collective military strategy posed some problems for the allies. One of the problems was the difference in equipment. Each member state had its own way of caring for equipment. Communications equipment and procedures presented a big problem. New procedures were developed on the spot to address this problem. The coalition of allied forces combined strength to increase their military might and demonstrate a show of force. The major key was a direct strategy whereby force was the essential factor. Psychology and planning was the minor, indirect strategy. Propaganda which demoralized the enemy and strategic bombing and naval warfare were parts of the direct and indirect strategies. The U.S. made the first strike offense. Massive firepower virtually eliminated all efforts for retaliation. Air power cut Iraqi communications and denied air reconnaissance. The coalition forces isolated the Iraqi Army and nearly killed it. The Allies effectively used their forward defense strategy to contain the Iraqis and prevent them from expansion. The Iraqis’ initial approach to military strategy was to assure the U.S. that its oil supply was not in jeopardy and that Israel would not be attacked. The Iraqis believed that by making these assurances, the U.S. would not interfere in its quarrel with Kuwait. Iraq was using a deterrent strategy to induce the U.S. from retaliating against it. The deterrent strategy was also present in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq-Arab diplomatic talks. The Iraqis would not attack their neighbors if they would agree to give billions of dollars in gifts, forgive Iraq’s war debts, and make certain land concessions. The Iraqi Army was a formidable force. The Iraqis had billions of dollars’ worth of Russian and Western equipment. They also had a large cadre of experienced NCOs and officers which made them highly competent (Dunnigan and Bay 76). The Gulf War was a general war for Iraq. The Iraqis employed all of their resources to win and faced the possibility of total destruction. The Iraqis marched on Kuwait using a direct military strategy. They built defensive positions and engaged in a head-on battle with the Kuwaitis. They also launched a direct airborne assault against Kuwait and moved to secure the Saudi border. These actions support the continental theory which says that victory can be achieved by destroying the enemy’s armed forces and then physically occupying their land. The Iraqis were always on the defensive. They improved their defensive positions and fortified the area with fire trenches, minefields and other obstructions. These defensive strategies were designed to conquer Kuwait and improve Iraq’s ability to counterattack. Iraq used a direct strategy throughout the war. The Iraq-Iran War had left them well equipped and experienced. They expected to use fortification and deception skills to defeat the enemy. The Iraqi forces were fierce on paper. The Army was the fifth largest in the world, with some 950,000 personnel, 5,500 main battle tanks, 10,000 other armored vehicles, and nearly 4,000 artillery pieces. The Air Force of 40,000 personnel had 689 combat aircraft. The Army and Air Force had extensive combat experience from the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran War, including large-scale use of chemical weapons. Iraq was also developing biological weapons. Iraq also was capable of delivering chemical and biological weapons. Iraq intended to use its forces to clearly demonstrate a show of force. Assured destruction is when an aggressor can inflict unacceptable damage on a foe, even after absorbing a first attack. Iraq would use chemical and biological weapons even after the allies had made the first strike offensive. The Iraqis used the assured destruction strategy as an defensive tactic. The Iraqis used the second strike strategic concept as a deterrent to show the U.S. that it maintained the ability to fight back. The strategy was to dig, fortify Kuwait and create a huge â€Å"hedgehog† defensive position. Iraq used its elite Republican Guard for the forward defense. These dug-in forces and complementing minefields, tank traps, fire trenches and other trench and bunker warfare were supposed to frighten the Allies. This was a psychological strategy that was designed to convince the coalition that attacking Iraqi forces would lead to heavy casualties among allied troops. The Iraqis’ objective was to show force throughout the Gulf War. Their strategy was a direct, head-on tactic. The threat of chemical warfare was consistently used as a psychological deterrent. During the Gulf crisis, the U.S. moved quickly and decisively to strike down an enemy that would deprive it of its supply of oil and threaten its national security. The war was a personal crusade for President Bush. It was a black and white struggle between good and evil; an opportunity â€Å"to stand up for what’s right and condemn what’s wrong (Smith 1).† Aggression had to be punished. WORKS CITED Bennis, Phyllis and Michael Moushabeck. Beyond the Storm. New York: Olive Branch Press, 1991. Cordessman, Anthony H. The Gulf and the West Strategic Relations and Military Relations. Colorado: Westview Press, 1992. Dunnigan, James F. and Austin Bay. From Shield to Storm, 1st ed. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1992. Sergeants Major Academy, U.S. U.S. Military Strategy. Fort Bliss, Texas: 1997. Smith, Jean Edward. George Bush’s War. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1992. â€Å"The Gulf War.† Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. (1992), 231-232. Research Papers on History of the Gulf WarAppeasement Policy Towards the Outbreak of World War 2Open Architechture a white paperEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropePETSTEL analysis of IndiaCapital PunishmentIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalGenetic EngineeringThe Project Managment Office SystemNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This Nice

3 New CoSchedule Features You Should Know About (+1 On The Way)

3 New Features You Should Know About (+1 On The Way) Attention marketers! Get ready to feel the HEAAAT. It’s ONLY February †¦but your #1 marketing calendar is pumpin’ out some seriously HOT features just for you + your team. One month into the year and we’ve got 3 NEW features for Team Pro plans  (and another major player coming very soon on the docket.) Intrigued? Cool, keep reading. Here’s your quick highlight reel from this month (+ an exclusive first look at ONE serious feature coming VERY soon). 3 @Features You Should Know About + 1 More On Its WayGet serious about segmentation with Facebook Targeting Segmentation matters. Blanketed responses don’t work on readers AND your Facebook messages are no different. You’ve gotta speak to the right people and the right time. And thanks to ’s recent feature, Facebook Targeting (available on all Team Pro plans), you can now get specific; catering your messages to a very specific audience. Simply create your highly targeted list with FB’s Preferred Audience settings AND save: Age Gender Relationship Status Interested in Location Language Education Level College Graduation Years Interests AND best of all, with ’s Facebook Targeting, you can create your audiences once, save them in your settings, and reuse them again and again. As a marketer, you sell a product (whether it’s YOU, a service, or a tangible item) to a specific audience. Thus, utilizing options such as age ranges, relationship status, location, education level, etc can assist you in converting users MORE effectively. Why? Because  when you share the right content, with the right people, you ADD  VALUE. And when you add value, you build a following that’s a bagillion times more likely to convert. A bagillion. Build a following that’s a bagillion times more likely to convert with @Every message should be seen as one to one, not one to many. When you write a message, you write to ONE reader, and segmenting your messages empowers you to write to a very specific audience. An audience that (thanks to FB targeting) you now know VERY well, and therefore have the means to convince on a very personal level. Get Your Reports Sent to the RIGHT People at the Right Time (With Minimal Effort) You and reports have a love-hate relationship. It’s the bane of your existence and the reason for that pay raise. Every boss, big wig, investor, and client wants to know the fruits of their (your) labor and reports are the tell all. Only frustration: getting your data into a nice, neat, easy to read report and sent ON TIME. You’re busy doing the work, and now you need to make time to report on it. With ’s export capabilities we’ve done the manual work for you. You can now choose to export your Social Analytics reports  via CSV, PDF, or even schedule a recurring email to send to your team, clients, and/or stakeholders. Annnnd you can even add a little branding to your reports. Grab a logo, insert your company (or client’s) name, and a little description to give your reports that added personal touch. In a world where marketing can feel like a bunch of warm fuzzies, having the report to back you up and the numbers to prove your worth are MUY BUENO. Hit the easy button with ’s export report features (available on all Team Pro plans). Hit the easy button with ’s export report featuresBecause Your Content Rarely Fits the â€Å"One Size Fits All† Category Create your own content types (made for you just for you). Content isn’t a â€Å"one size fits all† AND what your team does on a daily basis is unique. Create your own custom content types (available on Team Pro plans) for everything you do! TPS Reports Blog Posts Presentations Podcasts Social Media Campaigns If you can do it, you can organize it. If you can do it, you can organize it with @.Prioritize the Content YOU Care About Not all pieces of content are created equal. With Content Types, you can now prioritize the content that matters most to your team. Easily create a hierarchy of content types based on the pieces of content you use most so you can get to the real work faster. Give your team even more context with Content Types. Clarity is crucial when there’s multiple folks working on a single piece of content. Add context and get specific with Content Types so you can keep your team on the same page and get projects moving forward (faster)! What’s Coming Up? Marketing Projects Are a  BEAST and We’re Here to Tame ‘em Marketing is more than a blog post. It’s more than social promotion. It’s more than an email or a newsletter or a webinar. It’s a million different things†¦ †¦.happening all at once†¦ with finite resources. And you are the MAESTRO of it all. You are the one managing every detail Making sure the right people are working on the right parts Coordinating tasks, timelines, resources, and tools†¦ AND you are the one making sure the entire production of [insert BIG project] is executed  on time. It’s a lot to manage. Especially when all those moving parts are spread across your calendar. Which is why we’re building Marketing Projects (coming soon to a Team Pro plan near you). Why get excited? ‘Cos  with Marketing Projects by you’ll be able to: Keep your entire operation in one big piece of content! (eeeeHHHH!) Track your project’s overall progress with a nifty BURN CHART, cuz we’re all nerds and graphs are our love language. Easily manage your team’s time (know who’s on a project, and what they’re working on) Get a visual preview of your entire project on the main calendar (yes you’ll be able to create events that last more than one day) It’s organization on steroids. And this product marketer here is freakin’ out. Its organization on steroids.It’s gonna be an awesome feature for folks that manage A LOT more than blog content (which is basically all of you!). Stay tuned. P.S.  Not on a Team Pro plan but want a test run? No problem. Go to your billings page and you can trial Facebook targeting, custom content types, and export scheduling FREE for 14 days with a Team Pro trial.

Commercial Aircraft Marketing to Carriers Research Paper

Commercial Aircraft Marketing to Carriers - Research Paper Example Apart from increased level of globalization, the factor concerning gaining momentum of internationalization also made the business market much complex as well as competitive at large. From the overall analysis, it can be affirmed that marketing techniques along with procedures are often viewed to be the imperative aspects of an organizations’ life cycle. The main importance of implementing a proper and an effectual marketing strategy is to deliver active support to an organization towards fulfilling its expected business targets by a greater level. With this concern, it has been viewed that the aircraft manufacturers also uses certain significant marketing techniques along with procedures in order to market their respective aircrafts to potential customers. In this respect, the marketing techniques as well as the procedures that used by the aircraft manufacturers have been viewed to be product innovation, technological development, effective fleet planning, and enhancing environmental performance among others. The aircraft manufacturers strongly believes that with proper and effective adoption as well as exploitation of the aforesaid marketing techniques, they can successfully market their products to their respective potential customers by a considerable level. Thus, it can be concluded that the aforementioned marketing techniques and procedures can support the different aircraft manufacturers towards attaining greater competitive position and most vitally to sustain in this competitive landscape. ... partment of any aircraft manufacturer to analyze the market demand and prepare a blue print of what is needed by its potential aircraft manufacturers. It has been apparently observed that the aircraft manufacturers often execute the aspect of fleet planning as one of the effective marketing techniques as well as procedures for the purpose of attracting along with retaining their potential customers in terms of panning their purchase of new aircrafts efficiently (Avjobs.Inc., â€Å"Airline Economics†). Technology Development In terms of technological development, it has been apparently observed that major aircraft manufacturers often engages in introducing, executing as well as developing pioneering technologies in order to market their aircrafts to different potential airline customers. The formation of the new technologies along with the pioneering production plants has eventually supported the aircraft manufacturers to attain their respective predetermined business targets. Apart from marketing the products i.e. the aircrafts, the aircraft manufactures are often viewed to develop innovative technologies for the purpose of lessening operational costs along with overheads by a considerable level. This ultimately supports them to attain superior competitive position in the respective industry. Relating to this significant aspect of technology development, the aircraft manufacturers have been viewed to be manufacturing numerous aircrafts that possesses greater operational effectiveness as well as superior performance levels in order to market those to their respective potential customers by a significant level. It is worth mentioning that the technological development or the technological innovations not only supported the different aircraft manufacturers towards

Business plan Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Business plan - Research Paper Example The warehouse will be needed for comedies, late night partnerships with palladium artists; it will also be open for dance and band shows and cabaret style opportunities to both talents. Carmel also referred to as Carmel by the sea is a city found in the Monterey County in California in the United States, whichwas founded in the year 1902 and incorporated in 1916. The city is widely known for its natural scenery and the great artistic history. The city has a great artistic value from the early decades and even got its name from the poets and writers in Carmel. The city has widely been dominated by artists over the decade and the city is widely known for the dog friendly environment, restaurants, numerous hotels, and retail establishments that attract guests with dogs to the region. The country is located on the pacific coast where it is about 350 miles to the north of Los Angeles, and 190 kilometers to the south of San Francisco. According to the United States census in the year 2010, the city was reported to have a population of approximately 3,722. The population density of the city had 3,455.5 people located per square mile. According to the races in the region, the whites took the larger portion of 93.1% of 3464 people, the African American took a portion of 0.3% with 11 people, the Native American were 8 of them with a 0.2, Asians were 111 people at 3%, the Pacific Islander took a 1.2% with 45 people, 1.2% came from other races in the town while the Latino or the Hispanic took a 6.8% with a population of 174 persons. From the census, it reviewed that all the people lived in their households and non-at noon- institutionalized quarters. The population at Carmel was spread out with 10.2% of 381 people were under the age of 18 years, 114 people were of the age between 18 to 24, 544 people of the age between 25 to 44, 1355 people were of the age between 45 and 64 while above 65 years of age there were 1328 people. The city of Carmel

Walt Whitmans Song of Myself Essay examples -- Song of Myself Essays

In one of the sections from the poem, â€Å"Song of Myself† Walt Whitman starts out with a child asking a question, â€Å"What is the grass?† Grass is a symbol of life. God, who created both the heavens and the earth also gave birth to life. When Whitman refers to grass as a â€Å"handkerchief of the Lord† (7), as a gift. When people look at the grass, they do not think of it as a creation but rather just a plant. Whitman refers to the grass as â€Å"a child, the produced babe of vegetation† (11, 12). Here, the grass is a metaphor for the birth of a child. In often cases, the birth of anything is celebrated because it symbolizes a new life, a new beginning. Whitman in a way compares grass as a human society. He mentions that grass is â€Å"a uniform hieroglyphic† (13) and they â€Å"alike† (14). In scientific terms, all humans are similar to each other and the only aspect that makes each person different is their personality and race. But even if people are racially different from each other physically, every person is the same internally as Whitman puts it: â€Å"Growing among black folks as among white, â€Å"Knuck, T...

Career Assessment Examination Platform

Chapter 4 Presentation, Analysis and Interpretation of Data This chapter reviewed the analysis of the existing system that was used by the proponents, the development of the proposed system and software, the objectives of the proposed system and software, and the evaluation of the system and software products. Presentation of Data In developing the proposed study, the proponents gathered information through the use of the questionnaires. The respondents were asked to answer and give their opinion regarding the existing system assessment examination method.Profile of the Respondents. The respondent’s answer the interview in order to identify their knowledge on the existing system. The respondents are mostly highschool students of Baliuag University. The current process for the existing assessment examination method The current process is done by the admission office prior to the beginning of very semester. The examiner/applicant will fill up the application form manually and wi ll choose his/her desired course.Once the applicant has pass their application form to the admission office, the next step is he/she will take the assessment and after he/she took the assessment exam, he/she will wait for 15-20mins for the result of his/her exam. If they passed in their desired course the admission personnel will tell him/her that they passed in their exam. Tools/Instruments currently used in taking assessment examination method Tools and instrument are the basic necessities required to complete the examination.In a manual process of taking examination, pen, questionnaire and answer sheet are the main instruments used by responsible person such as the applicant. Once the applicant is done with answering the admission personnel will check it also manually and will compute it in an average grading computation. Problems commonly encountered in the existing system There are some factors that need to considered before the applicant will enroll in his/her desired course b e completed. It is possible, given the current method, that errors will not occur.The number one problem encountered is that the applicant is not suitable for the course he/she has chosen. This variable is commonly a human computation error because when manually done the computation of the assessment they cannot be indicate the suitable course for the applicant. Added features suggested for the improvement of the existing system Improving the assessment examination system will be beneficial to all people concerned, a reliable, efficient, accurate and user friendly will prevent the problems encountered in the existing system.A current and always uploaded database containing applicant information, the printed result of the exam and in what course the applicant will be fit in are some of the added features suggested for the improvement of the current system. This database must be a user friendly environment that provides all information that the applicant needed. Components of the Prop osed Software The following are the incorporated components in the proposed software, giving an overview of features and functions included to increase the usability and functionality of the software.General Features. The main function of the proposed software is assessment examination. Menu Driven. The software provides an onscreen list of available function through buttons which is organized in tabs for easier navigation. Button Driven. The system provides a list of choices for the user through the use of mouse and keyboard. User-Friendliness. The interface of the software is designed to be simple and easily access so that the users can use it efficiently. Software Functions. The main objective of the proposed software is to assess exam.Software Inputs and Outputs. The software inputs and outputs can be explained using Input-Process-Output, Visual Table of Contents and Class Diagram. (See Appendix †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ ) Software Development This system development describes how the prop onents develop the proposed system by means of specifying the materials used, describing the implementation and stating how it evaluated. Specifications. The proposed system has been developed using the following software and hardware specification. | | | | | | | | | Design. The system was developed by the proponents using Visual Basic.Net and MySQL which show as the necessary information regarding the assessment examination. The system was designed using program flowchart, VTOC. Programming. The program was set in a computer to give a solution to the problem of the existing system. All the information that has been accumulated is applied in this system. The proposed system is programmed through the use of Visual Basic. Net. The coding part is where the entire design is transmitted into a programming language. Testing. The proponents tried to conduct a series of test in the system that was made if there are any data error or lack of information needed.Implementation of the Proposed Software The proposed software was designed and developed to know how each module of the system works. It is made through coding. The proponents assure that the software will run normally and free from errors. The test was conduct to avoid possible problems. After the system passes the entire test, it is time that the system will implemented that will guarantee users that the system is accurate, reliable and faster to use. Evaluation of the Software Product The proposed system should be evaluated to prove to feasibility for implementation.Many different evaluation approaches are available but the study will only focus on its technical and operational feasibility. Technically Feasibility. The hardware and software requirements of the proposed system are readily available at the marketplace. Windows XP and Windows 7 are Microsoft’s operating system that dominates the market and patronized by many users. Since the software hardware requirements to develop and operate the operate s the propose system can be easily obtained the proposed system is said to be technically feasible. Operational Feasibility.The operational feasibility includes projecting whether the system will operate and used once it is installed. With the prospective users expressing is need to develop the system, the proposed system was design to satisfy the expressed needs of the prospective users. To determine whether to developed proposed system has met user requirements, evaluation forms were given to target users. These forms were used to gather responses to the proposed system. The means given by the users are evidences that the proposed system is acceptable in them.

Igneous Rocks Everything You Need to Know

There are three great categories of rocks: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. Most of the time, theyre simple to tell apart. They are all connected  in the endless rock cycle, moving from one form to another and changing shape, texture, and even chemical composition along the way. Igneous rocks form from the cooling of magma or lava and compose much of the Earths continental crust and nearly all of the oceanic crust. Identifying Igneous Rocks The key concept about all igneous rocks is that they were once hot enough to melt. The following traits are all related to that. Because their mineral grains grew together tightly as the melt cooled, they are relatively strong rocks.Theyre made of primary minerals that are mostly black, white, or gray. Any other colors they may have are pale in shade.Their textures generally look like something that was baked in an oven. The even texture of coarse-grained granite is familiar from building stones or kitchen counters. Fine-grained lava may look like black bread (including gas bubbles) or dark peanut brittle (including larger crystals). Origin Igneous rocks (derived from the Latin word for fire, ignis) can have very different mineral backgrounds, but they all share one thing in common: they formed by the cooling and crystallization of a melt. This material may have been lava erupted at the Earths surface, or magma (unerupted lava) at depths of up to a few kilometers, known as magma in deeper bodies. Those three different settings create three main types of igneous rocks. Rock formed of lava is called extrusive,  rock from shallow magma is called intrusive,  and rock from deep magma is called plutonic. The deeper the magma, the slower it cools, and it forms larger  mineral crystals.   Where They Form Igneous rocks form at four main places on Earth: At divergent boundaries, like mid-ocean ridges, plates drift apart and form gaps that are filled by magma.Subduction zones occur whenever a dense oceanic plate is subducted underneath another oceanic or continental plate. Water from the descending oceanic crust lowers the melting point of the above mantle, forming magma that rises to the surface and forms volcanoes.At continental-continental convergent boundaries, large landmasses collide, thickening and heating the crust to melting.  Hot spots, like Hawaii, form as the crust moves over a thermal plume rising from deep in the Earth. Hot spots form extrusive igneous rocks.   People commonly think of lava and magma as a liquid, like molten metal, but geologists find that magma is usually a mush  Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã‚  a partially-melted fluid loaded with mineral crystals. As it cools, magma crystallizes into a series of minerals, some of which crystallize sooner than others. As the minerals crystallize, they leave the remaining magma with a changed chemical composition. Thus,  a body of magma evolves as it cools and also as it moves through the crust, interacting with other rocks. Once magma erupts as lava, it freezes quickly and preserves a record of its history underground that geologists can decipher. Igneous petrology is a very complex field, and this article is only a bare outline. Textures The three types of igneous rocks differ in their textures, starting with the size of their mineral grains. Extrusive rocks cool quickly (over periods of seconds to months) and have invisible or microscopic grains or an aphanitic texture.Intrusive rocks cool more slowly (over thousands of years) and have visible grains of small to medium-size, or phaneritic texture.Plutonic rocks cool over millions of years and can have grains as large as pebbles  Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã‚  even meters across. Because they solidified from a fluid state, igneous rocks tend to have a uniform fabric without layers, and the mineral grains are packed together tightly. Think of the texture of something you would bake in the oven. In many igneous rocks, large mineral crystals float in a fine-grained groundmass. The large grains are called phenocrysts, and rock with phenocrysts is called a porphyry  Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã‚  that is, it has a porphyritic texture. Phenocrysts are minerals that solidified earlier than the rest of the rock, and they are important clues to the rocks history. Some extrusive rocks have distinctive textures. Obsidian, formed when lava hardens quickly, has a glassy texture.Pumice and scoria are volcanic froth, puffed up by millions of gas bubbles that give them a vesicular texture.Tuff is a rock made entirely of volcanic ash, fallen from the air or avalanched down a volcanos sides. It has a pyroclastic texture.Pillow lava is a lumpy formation created by extruding lava underwater. Basalt, Granite, and More Igneous rocks are classified by the minerals they contain. The main minerals in igneous rocks are hard, primary ones: feldspar, quartz, amphiboles, and pyroxenes (together called dark minerals by geologists), as well as olivine, along with the softer mineral mica. The two best-known igneous rock types are basalt and granite, which have distinctly different compositions and textures. Basalt is the dark, fine-grained stuff of many lava flows and magma intrusions. Its dark minerals are rich in magnesium (Mg) and iron (Fe), hence basalt is called a mafic rock. It can be either extrusive or intrusive. Granite is the light, coarse-grained rock formed at a depth that is exposed after deep erosion. It is rich in feldspar and quartz (silica) and hence is called a felsic rock. Therefore, granite is felsic and plutonic. Basalt and granite account for the great majority of igneous rocks. Ordinary people, even ordinary geologists, use the names freely. Stone dealers call any plutonic rock granite. But igneous petrologists use many more names. They generally talk about basaltic and granitic or granitoid rocks among themselves and out in the field, because it takes laboratory work to determine an exact rock type according to the official classifications. True granite and true basalt are narrow subsets of these categories. A few of the less common igneous rock types can be recognized by non-specialists. For instance, a dark-colored plutonic mafic rock, the deep version of basalt, is called gabbro. A light-colored intrusive or extrusive felsic rock, the shallow version of granite, is called felsite or rhyolite. And there is a suite of ultramafic rocks with even more dark minerals and even less silica than basalt. Peridotite is the foremost of those. Where Igneous Rocks Are Found The deep seafloor (the oceanic crust) is made almost entirely of basaltic rocks, with peridotite underneath in the mantle. Basalts are also erupted above the Earths great subduction zones, either in volcanic island arcs or along the edges of continents. However, continental magmas tend to be less basaltic and more granitic. The continents are the exclusive home of granitic rocks. Nearly everywhere on the continents, no matter what rocks are on the surface, you can drill down and reach granitoid eventually. In general, granitic rocks are less dense than basaltic rocks, and thus the continents float higher than the oceanic crust on top of the ultramafic rocks of the Earths mantle. The behavior and histories of granitic rock bodies are among geologys deepest and most intricate mysteries.