Editing Rockall (section)

==Geology==
[[File:Sills_in_Rockall_Trough.jpg|thumb|Seabed oil survey]]

Rockall is made of a type of [[peralkaline]] [[granite]] that is relatively rich in [[sodium]] and [[potassium]]. Within this granite are darker bands richer in iron because they contain two iron-sodium silicate minerals called [[aegirine]] and [[riebeckite]]. The darker bands are a type of granite that geologists have named "'''rockallite'''", although use of this term is now discouraged.<ref name="DSutherland1982"/><ref name="LeMaitre2002"/>

In 1975, a mineral new to science was discovered in a rock sample from Rockall. The mineral is called [[bazirite]], named after the chemical elements [[barium]] and [[zirconium]]. Bazirite has the chemical formula BaZrSi<sub>3</sub>O<sub>9</sub>.<ref name="MinScot"/>

Rockall forms part of the deeply eroded Rockall Igneous Centre that was formed as part of the [[North Atlantic Igneous Province]].<ref name="Ritchie"/> It was formed approximately 52 ± 8 million years ago based on [[rubidium–strontium dating]],<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Stoker|first1=Martyn S.|last2=Kimbell|first2=Geoffrey S.|last3=McInroy|first3=David B.|last4=Morton|first4=Andrew C.|date=February 2012|title=Eocene post-rift tectonostratigraphy of the Rockall Plateau, Atlantic margin of NW Britain: Linking early spreading tectonics and passive margin response|url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S026481721100211X|journal=Marine and Petroleum Geology|language=en|volume=30|issue=1|pages=98–125|doi=10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2011.09.007|bibcode=2012MarPG..30...98S |s2cid=129882933 }}</ref> as part of the breakup of [[Laurasia]]. Greenland and Europe separated and the northeast Atlantic Ocean was formed between them,<ref name=DSutherland1982/> eventually leaving Rockall as an isolated islet.

The [[RV Celtic Explorer|RV ''Celtic Explorer'']] surveyed the Rockall Bank in 2003.<ref name="gsise"/> The Irish Light Vessel ''Granuaile'' (the same name as the steamer on the [[Royal Irish Academy|RIA]] 1896 botany survey) was chartered by the [[Geological Survey of Ireland]], on behalf of the [[Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources|Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources]], to conduct a seismic survey of the Rockall Bank and the Hatton Bank in July 2004,<ref name=Gray/> as part of the [[Irish National Seabed Survey]].<ref name=Gray/>