A plutonic rock may be classified mineralogically based on the actual proportion of the various minerals of which it is composed (called the mode). In any classification scheme, boundaries between classes are set arbitrarily; however, if the boundaries can be placed closest to natural divisions or gaps between classes, they will seem less random and subjective, and the standards will facilitate universal understanding. In order to set boundaries nearest to the population lows (of constituent minerals) and to achieve an international consensus, a poll among the world’s petrologists was conducted and a modal classification for plutonic igneous rocks was devised. Based mainly on this poll, the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) Subcommission on the Systematics of Igneous Rocks in 1973 suggested the use of the modal composition for all plutonic igneous rocks with a colour index less than 90 (Figure 1) and for those plutonic ultramafic rocks with a colour index greater than 90.

The plotting of rock modes on these triangular diagrams is simpler than it may appear. If the colour index is less than 90 and quartz (Q) is present, then the three components, Q + A (alkali feldspar) + P (plagioclase), are recalculated from the mode to sum to 100 percent and Figure 1 is used. Each component is represented by the corners of the equilateral triangle, the length of whose sides are divided into 100 equal parts. Any composition plotting at a corner, therefore, has a mode of 100 percent of the corresponding component. Any point on the sides of the triangle represents a mode composed of the two adjacent corner components. For example, a rock with 60 percent Q and 40 percent A will plot on the QA side at a location 60 percent of the distance from A to Q (see point M in Figure 1). A rock containing all three components will plot within the triangle. Since the sides of the triangle are divided into 100 parts, a rock having a mode of 20 percent Q and 80 percent A + P (in unknown proportions for the moment) will plot on the line that parallels the AP side and lies 20 percent of the distance toward Q from the side AP. If this same rock has 30 percent P and 50 percent A, the rock mode will plot at the intersection of the 20 percent Q line described above, with a line paralleling the QA side at a distance 30 percent toward P from the QA side (see point N in Figure 1). The third intersecting line for the point is necessarily the line paralleling the QP side at 50 percent of the distance from the side QP toward A.

A rock with 25 percent Q, 35 percent P, and 40 percent A plots in the granite field, whereas one with 25 percent Q, 60 percent P, and 15 percent A plots in the granodiorite field. The latter is close to the average composition of the continental crust of Earth. Igneous rocks normally do not exceed about 50 percent quartz, and the feldspathoidal rocks are relatively rare. The most common plutonic rocks are those in fields numbered 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, and 15. These are found in what have been called granite (used in a loose sense) batholiths, which are irregularly shaped large bodies covering an area greater than 100 square kilometres. Batholiths constitute the cores of the great mountain ranges, such as the Rockies in western North America and the Sierra Nevada in California, U.S. Typically these batholiths are composites of smaller intrusions, each of which may display several different rock types. The average composition is close to that of a granodiorite, but in many batholiths the sequence of intrusions progresses from basic to acidic, with gabbro or quartz diorite being emplaced first. In the Sierra Nevada batholith, the dominant rocks are quartz monzonite and granodiorite, with intrusions including quartz diorite in the far western rim and granite in the east. Batholiths contain medium- to coarse-grained rocks with hypidiomorphic-granular texture. The rocks are generally leucocratic; diorites and quartz diorites typically contain less than 30 percent mafic minerals—e.g., hornblende and biotite. Pyroxenes are rare but are more commonly found in the gabbros. Mineralogically the ratio of hornblende to biotite, the colour index, the calcium content of the plagioclase feldspar, and the ratio of plagioclase to alkali feldspar decrease from diorite to quartz diorite to granodiorite and granite. Common accessory minerals include apatite, titanite, and an opaque mineral such as magnetite or ilmenite.

Ideally it would be preferable to use the same modal scheme for volcanic rocks. This is recommended whenever possible; hence, for this purpose, the volcanic or hypabyssal equivalent of the plutonic rocks are listed in parentheses in Figure 1. It should be noted that the dividing lines and boxes are identical to those for the plutonic rocks.