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Sill (geology) facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Edinburgh Salisbury Crags 2004-05-18
Salisbury Crags in Edinburgh, a sill partly exposed during the ice ages
Horton Bluff mid-Carboniferous sill
Mid-Carboniferous sill between Lower Carboniferous shales and sandstones: Horton Bluff, Nova Scotia
The difference between a sill and a dike
Illustration showing the difference between a dike and a sill.

In geology, a sill is a flat sheet-like intrusion. As molten magma, it pushed between older layers of rock. The older rock may be sedimentary rock, beds of volcanic lava or tuff, or metamorphic rock.

The sill does not cut across preexisting rocks, unlike dykes. Sills are fed by dykes as they form from a lower magma source. The existing rocks must split to create the planes along which the magma moves in. These planes or weakened areas allow the intrusion of a thin sheet-like body of magma paralleling the existing strata. When it cools and crystallises, it is then a sill.

Images for kids

  • Sills in Rockall Trough

    Seismic expression of basaltic sills from the Rockall Trough. Data courtesy UK OGA.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Lámina (geología) para niños

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