<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This section needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (July 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This section needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (July 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> Granite containing rock is widely distributed throughout the continental crust . Much of it was intruded during the Precambrian age; it is the most abundant basement rock that underlies the relatively thin sedimentary veneer of the continents . Outcrops of granite tend to form tors and rounded massifs . Granites sometimes occur in circular depressions surrounded by a range of hills, formed by the metamorphic aureole or hornfels . Granite often occurs as relatively small, less than 100 km2 stock masses (stocks) and in batholiths that are often associated with orogenic mountain ranges . Small dikes of granitic composition called aplites are often associated with the margins of granitic intrusions . In some locations, very coarse - grained pegmatite masses occur with granite . </P> <P> Granite has a felsic composition and is more common in recent geologic time in contrast to Earth's ultramafic ancient igneous history . Felsic rocks are less dense than mafic and ultramafic rocks, and thus they tend to escape subduction, whereas basaltic or gabbroic rocks tend to sink into the mantle beneath the granitic rocks of the continental cratons . Therefore, granitic rocks form the basement of all land continents . </P>

Where can granite be found in the world