Geology and Minerals

Breccia

Breccia ( BRETCH-ee-ə, BRESH-; Italian: [ˈbrettʃa]; Italian for 'breach') is a clastic rock composed of angular, coarse fragments bound by a finer-grained matrix and/or cement. The word has its origins in the Italian language, in which it means 'rubble'. A breccia may have a variety of different origins, as indicated by the named types including sedimentary breccia, fault or tectonic breccia, igneous breccia, impact breccia, and hydrothermal breccia. A megabreccia is a breccia composed of very large rock fragments, sometimes kilometers across, which can be formed by landslides, impact events, or caldera collapse.

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸Dunite
• ▸Acupuncture
• ▸Cambrian

Uncatalogued shelf

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