To illustrate the tremendous pressure that exists deep underground where granite bodies are emplaced, answer the following question. Stone Mountain granite in Georgia has an area of 4.1 square kilometers and was emplaced 16 km deep. If we assume that Stone Mountain granite is present in an area that has more or less a rectangular shape with dimensions of 1 km by 4.1 km and that it was buried under 16 km of metamorphic rock material with a density of 2.6 g/cm³. We can calculate the weight of metamorphic rock over the Stone Mountain granite when it was emplaced and before erosion removed that material. First, we need the volume of the metamorphic rock that existed over Stone Mountain. The volume of a rectangular prism that represents the metamorphic rock over Stone Mountain is length x width x height. In our case: 1 km x 4.1 km x 16 km= 65.6 km³ Now we can use the relationship: Density x Volume= Mass However, we need to change our density units from 2.6 g/cm3 to kg/km3, and then we can use the formula above to calculate the mass. Because you will come up with a number that is really big, let's put it into something that we can wrap our brains around. The weight of a compact car is 1300 kg. How many compact cars will be equivalent in weight to the amount of metamorphic rock material removed by erosion on top of the Stone Mountain Granite? The mass is incredible as one billion cars circulate the world today and the weight that you calculated is over 100 times that number!

To illustrate the tremendous pressure that exists deep underground where granite bodies are emplaced, answer the following question. Stone Mountain granite in Georgia has an area of 4.1 square kilometers and was emplaced 16 km deep. If we assume that Stone Mountain granite is present in an area that has more or less a rectangular shape with dimensions of 1 km by 4.1 km and that it was buried under 16 km of metamorphic rock material with a density of 2.6 g/cm³. We can calculate the weight of metamorphic rock over the Stone Mountain granite when it was emplaced and before erosion removed that material. First, we need the volume of the metamorphic rock that existed over Stone Mountain. The volume of a rectangular prism that represents the metamorphic rock over Stone Mountain is length x width x height. In our case: 1 km x 4.1 km x 16 km= 65.6 km³ Now we can use the relationship: Density x Volume= Mass However, we need to change our density units from 2.6 g/cm3 to kg/km3, and then we can use the formula above to calculate the mass. Because you will come up with a number that is really big, let's put it into something that we can wrap our brains around. The weight of a compact car is 1300 kg. How many compact cars will be equivalent in weight to the amount of metamorphic rock material removed by erosion on top of the Stone Mountain Granite? The mass is incredible as one billion cars circulate the world today and the weight that you calculated is over 100 times that number!