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How large must an intrusive body be to be called a batholith?
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In geology, a batholith is a large body of igneous rock formed beneath the Earth's surface. To be classified as a batholith, an intrusive body must have a surface exposure of 100 square kilometers (40 square miles) or larger. These formations are typically composed of coarse-grained rocks such as granite or granodiorite and have irregular shapes with steeply inclined side walls. Batholiths are deep-seated crustal intrusions, and while they were once thought to extend to unknown depths, studies suggest many are about 10 to 15 kilometers thick. A well-known example is found in the Sierra Nevada range in California.1