A laccolith is a lensoid igneous intrusion that is concordant with the stratification or other type of banding in the host rock. It is usually circular in plan, ≮5 km across and rises from a flat base to form a low dome ≮100 m high, with a volume of 1–10 km3. Those of Utah, Wyoming, and Montana, U.S.A., belong to volcanic environments and most can be related to a local subaerial volcanic cone or vent (Fig. 1; Eardley, 1962). Typically, several laccoliths surround the cone and they may represent more than one phase of magmatic intrusion.
Model of igneous core of Mt. Ellen, Utah, U.S.A., stripped of cover to show intrusive stock (8), peripheral shatter zone (9) and satellite laccoliths 1–7 and 10. (After Eardley, 1962.)
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Bibliography
Corry, C. E., 1988, Laccoliths: mechanics of emplacement and growth, Spec. Pap. Geol. Soc. Am. 220.
Eardley, A. J., 1962, Structural Geology of North America, 2nd edn. New York: Harper & Row.
Hurlbutt, C. S., 1939, Igneous rocks of the Highwood Mountains, part 1, the laccoliths, Bull. Geol. Soc. Am. 50, 1032–1112.
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© 1989 Van Nostrand Reinhold
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Bradley, J. (1989). Laccolith . In: Petrology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30845-8_113
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