Basalt is an igneous rock found in the Nether.
Polished basalt is the polished version of basalt and can be found as part of ancient cities.
Smooth basalt is an ornamental rock smelted from basalt or found as part of amethyst geodes and ancient cities.
Obtaining[]
Natural generation[]
Basalt generates naturally as basalt pillars, which are found in the soul sand valley biome. They also generate in the basalt deltas biome as regular terrain and as part of basalt columns. In Java Edition, they also generate in blobs, which attempt to replace netherrack 75 times per chunk in blobs of radius 3—7, from levels 0 to 127, in basalt deltas biome.
Both basalt and polished basalt can be found naturally as part of bastion remnants.
Smooth basalt generates naturally as a part of the outer layer of amethyst geodes.
Polished basalt and smooth basalt also generate in ancient cities.
Breaking[]
Basalt drops as an item if mined using any pickaxe. If mined using any other tool, it drops nothing.
| Block | Basalt Polished Basalt Smooth Basalt | |
|---|---|---|
| Hardness | 1.25 | |
| Tool | ||
| Breaking time[A] | ||
| Default | 6.25 | |
| Wooden | 0.95 | |
| Stone | 0.5 | |
| Iron | 0.35 | |
| Diamond | 0.25 | |
| Netherite | 0.25 | |
| Golden | 0.2 | |
- ↑ Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.
Crafting[]
| Name | Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
|---|---|---|
| Polished Basalt | Basalt |
Smelting[]
| Ingredients | Smelting recipe |
|---|---|
| Basalt + Any fuel |
Stonecutting[]
| Name | Ingredients | Cutting recipe |
|---|---|---|
| Polished Basalt | Basalt |
Post-generation[]
A simple basalt generator.
Basalt can also be made by lava flowing into a space that is on top of soul soil and adjacent to blue ice. The flowing lava is then replaced with basalt.
Usage[]
Basalt's only current use is as building material. Like logs and quartz pillars, basalt and polished basalt point perpendicular to whatever block face they are placed on.
Note blocks[]
Basalt and polished basalt can be placed under note blocks to produce "bass drum" sounds.
Smelting ingredient[]
| Name | Ingredients | Smelting recipe |
|---|---|---|
| Smooth Basalt | Basalt + Any fuel |
Sounds[]
| Sound | Subtitles | Source | Description | Resource location | Translation key | Volume | Pitch | Attenuation distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Block broken | Blocks | Once the block has broken | block | subtitles | 1.0 | 0.8 | 16 | |
| Block placed | Blocks | When the block is placed | block | subtitles | 1.0 | 0.8 | 16 | |
| Block breaking | Blocks | While the block is in the process of being broken | block | subtitles | 0.25 | 0.5 | 16 | |
| None[sound 1] | Entity-Dependent | Falling on the block with fall damage | block | None[sound 1] | 0.5 | 0.75 | 16 | |
| Footsteps | Entity-Dependent | Walking on the block | block | subtitles | 0.15 | 1.0 | 16 |
| Sound | Source | Description | Resource location | Volume | Pitch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blocks | Once the block has broken | dig | 1.0 | 0.8-1.0 | |
| Blocks | When the block is placed | use | 1.0 | 0.8-1.0 | |
| Blocks | While the block is in the process of being broken | hit | 0.23 | 0.5 | |
| Players | Falling on the block with fall damage | fall | 0.4 | 1.0 | |
| Players | Walking on the block | step | 0.19 | 1.0 | |
| Players | Jumping from the block | jump | 0.12 | 1.0 | |
| Players | Falling on the block without fall damage | land | 0.14 | 1.0 |
Data values[]
ID[]
| Name | Identifier | Form | Block tags | Translation key |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basalt | basalt | Block & Item | base_stone_nether mineable/pickaxe | block.minecraft.basalt |
| Polished Basalt | polished_basalt | Block & Item | mineable/pickaxe | block.minecraft.polished_basalt |
| Smooth Basalt | smooth_basalt | Block & Item | mineable/pickaxe | block.minecraft.smooth_basalt |
| Name | Identifier | Numeric ID | Form | Item ID[i 1] | Translation key |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basalt | basalt | 489 | Block & Giveable Item[i 2] | Identical[i 3] | tile.basalt.name |
| Polished Basalt | polished_basalt | 490 | Block & Giveable Item[i 2] | Identical[i 3] | tile.polished_basalt.name |
| Smooth Basalt | smooth_basalt | 632 | Block & Giveable Item[i 2] | Identical[i 3] | tile.smooth_basalt.name |
Block states[]
| Name | Default value | Allowed values | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| axis | y
| x | The basalt is oriented east–west. |
y | The basalt is oriented vertically. | ||
z | The basalt is oriented north–south. |
| Name | Metadata Bits | Default value | Allowed values | Values for Metadata Bits |
Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pillar_axis | 0x10x2 | y
| x | 1 | The basalt is oriented east–west. |
y | 0 | The basalt is oriented vertically. | |||
z | 2 | The basalt is oriented north–south. |
History[]
| January 12, 2014 | On Reddit, Jeb says that he was considering adding basalt, but did not want to add yet another black block. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 28, 2019 |  Basalt is shown unnamed as part of basalt pillars in a clip at MINECON Live 2019. | ||||
| Java Edition | |||||
| 1.16 | 20w06a |   Added basalt. | |||
| 20w12a |    Added polished basalt.
| ||||
| Polished basalt can currently be obtained only by smelting the normal basalt block. | |||||
| 20w13a | Basalt can now be formed when lava flows over soul soil next to blue ice, making it renewable. | ||||
| Basalt can no longer be smelted into polished basalt. | |||||
| Polished basalt can now be obtained by crafting 4 blocks of basalt in a 2×2 grid or stonecutting it, similar to other polished stones. | |||||
| 20w15a | Added the basalt deltas, a biome in which basalt is abundant. | ||||
| 20w16a | Basalt and polished basalt now generate as part of bastion remnants. | ||||
| Basalt can now generate as part of ruined portals. | |||||
| 1.17 | 21w08a |  Added smooth basalt.
| |||
| Basalt can now be smelted to yield smooth basalt. | |||||
| Smooth basalt now replaces tuff as the outer generation of amethyst geodes. | |||||
| 1.19 | Deep Dark Experimental Snapshot 1 | Polished basalt and smooth basalt now generate as part of ancient city. | |||
| Bedrock Edition | |||||
| 1.16.0 | beta 1.16.0.51 | Added basalt and polished basalt. | |||
| beta 1.16.0.57 | Basalt can now be formed when lava flows over soul soil next to blue ice, making it renewable. | ||||
| Added the basalt deltas, a biome in which basalt is abundant. | |||||
| Basalt and polished basalt now generate as part of bastion remnants. | |||||
| beta 1.16.0.59 | Crafting polished basalt now gives the correct amount of blocks in return.[1] | ||||
| Polished basalt can now be crafted using a stonecutter. | |||||
| 1.16.100 | beta 1.16.100.51 | Basalt now takes longer to break. | |||
| Basalt is said to be immune from ghast fireballs, but is still broken by them.[2] | |||||
| 1.16.200 | beta 1.16.200.56 | Basalt blocks now take slightly more time to destroy again. | |||
| Basalt is now immune to ghast fireballs. | |||||
| 1.17.0 | beta 1.17.0.50 | Basalt can now be smelted to yield smooth basalt. | |||
| Added smooth basalt. | |||||
| It generates as the outer layer of amethyst geodes. | |||||
| beta 1.17.0.52 | Smooth basalt are no longer available only through Experimental Gameplay. | ||||
Issues[]
Issues relating to "Basalt" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
Trivia[]
- Geologically, basalt is a volcanic rock that cools from mafic lava flows. Mafic lava is runny, much like lava in the Nether, and under the right conditions it can cool into the stacks of basalt columns seen in basalt deltas.
- Basalt makes up most of Earth's sea floor, as well as Iceland and the Hawaiian Islands.
- Despite being an extrusive igneous rock, basalt has a lower mining time than granite and diorite, which are intrusive.
- Basalt is the only rock-like block to have both a polished variant and a smooth variant.
References[]
External Links[]
- Block of the Week: Basalt – Minecraft.net on July 8, 2020