Intrusive rocks are characterized by large crystal sizes, and as the individual crystals are visible, the rock is called phaneritic. There are few indications of flow in intrusive rocks, since their texture and structure mostly develops in the final stages of crystallization, when flow has ended. Contained gases cannot escape through the overlying strata, and these gases sometimes form cavities, often lined with large, well-shaped crystals. These are particularly common in granites and their presence is described as miarolitic texture. Because their crystals are of roughly equal size, intrusive rocks are said to be equigranular. Plutonic rocks are less likely than volcanic rocks to show a pronounced porphyritic texture, in which a first generation of large well-shaped crystals are embedded in a fine-grained ground-mass. The minerals of each have formed in a definite order, and each has had a period of crystallization that may be very distinct or may have coincided with or overlapped the period of formation of some of the other ingredients. Earlier crystals originated at a time when most of the rock was still liquid and are more or less perfect. Later crystals are less regular in shape because they were compelled to occupy the spaces left between the already-formed crystals. The former case is said to be idiomorphic (or automorphic); the latter is xenomorphic. There are also many other characteristics that serve to distinguish plutonic from volcanic rock. For example, the alkali feldspar in plutonic rocks is typically orthoclase, while the higher-temperature polymorph, sanidine, is more common in volcanic rock. The same distinction holds for nepheline varieties. Leucite is common in lavas but very rare in plutonic rocks. Muscovite is confined to intrusions. These differences show the influence of the physical conditions under which crystallization takes place. Hypabyssal rocks show structures intermediate between those of extrusive and plutonic rocks. They are very commonly porphyritic, vitreous, and sometimes even vesicular. In fact, many of them are petrologically indistinguishable from lavas of similar composition. Occurrences Plutonic rocks form 7% of the Earth's current land surface. Intrusions vary widely, from mountain-range-sized batholiths to thin veinlike fracture fillings of aplite or pegmatite. Batholith: a large irregular discordant intrusion Chonolith: an irregularly-shaped intrusion with a demonstrable base Cupola: a dome-shaped projection from the top of a large subterranean intrusion Dike: a relatively narrow tabular discordant body, often nearly vertical Laccolith: concordant body with roughly flat base and convex top, usually with