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Rocks and Minerals
 Plutons

Plutons
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   high interest, readability grades 6 to 7
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   6.27

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    coarse-grained, gabbro, igneous, intrusive, sedimentary, mushroom-shaped, topography, erosion, intrusion, magma, surrounding, uplift, granite, volcanic, force, interesting
     content words:    Sierra Nevada Mountains, United States, Black Hills, South Dakota

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Plutons
By Patti Hutchison 		  
1     What are plutons? No, they are not people from Pluto. Can you guess what they are?
 
2     Plutons are formed by intrusive activity below the earth's surface. Restless magma flows up toward the earth's surface. It forces its way into the overlying rock.
 
3     As the magma cools, minerals form. Over time, the minerals combine to form rock bodies. These intrusive rock bodies are called plutons.
 
4     There are several kinds of plutons. They are classified by their size and shape. They are also classified by whether they cut across or run parallel to the rock layers they intrude.
 
5     Batholiths are the largest plutons. They can form over millions of years. Batholiths have an irregular shape. They are made of coarse-grained igneous rocks such as granite and gabbro.

Paragraphs 6 to 12:
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