Task: Class Definition Understanding (ontology: Earth_Environment/EnvironmentOntology)

Which of the following definitions best describes 'batholith'?

A. An intrusive igneous body. Its thickness is usually much smaller than its other two dimensions. Thickness can vary from sub-centimeter scale to many meters in thickness and the lateral dimensions can extend over many kilometers. A dike is an intrusion into a cross-cutting fissure, meaning a dike cuts across other pre-existing layers or bodies of rock, this means that a dike is always younger than the rocks that contain it. Dikes are usually high angle to near vertical in orientation, but subsequent tectonic deformation may rotate the sequence of strata through which the dike lies so that the latter becomes horizontal.
B. A the concept is an area of mostly continuous plutonic (igneous intrusive) rock that covers an area larger than 100 square kilometers, formed in the planetary crust, and exposed by erosion. On Earth, Batholiths are almost always made mostly of felsic or intermediate rock-types, such as granite, quartz monzonite, or diorite.
C. A high altitude or high latitude bare, flat area covered with large angular rocks.
D. A the concept is a discordant igneous intrusion having a surface exposure of less than 100 square kilometres. Stocks differ from batholiths only in being smaller.

Answer: A the concept is an area of mostly continuous plutonic (igneous intrusive) rock that covers an area larger than 100 square kilometers, formed in the planetary crust, and exposed by erosion. On Earth, Batholiths are almost always made mostly of felsic or intermediate rock-types, such as granite, quartz monzonite, or diorite.