Basalt

This article is about the block. For other uses, see Basalt (disambiguation).

Basalt
Renewable	Yes
Stackable	Yes (64)
Tool
Blast resistance	4.2
Hardness	1.25
Luminous	No
Transparent	No
Flammable	No
Catches fire from lava	No

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
Default	6.25
Wooden	0.95
Stone	0.5
Iron	0.35
Diamond	0.25
Netherite	0.25
Golden	0.2

Crafting

Name	Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Polished Basalt	Basalt	4

Smelting

Ingredients	Smelting recipe
Basalt + Any fuel	0.1

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	0.1

Sounds

Java Edition:

Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.basalt.break	subtitles.block.generic.break	1.0	0.8	16
	Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	block.basalt.place	subtitles.block.generic.place	1.0	0.8	16
	Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	block.basalt.hit	subtitles.block.generic.hit	0.25	0.5	16
	None	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.basalt.fall	None	0.5	0.75	16
	Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	block.basalt.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps	0.15	1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Blocks	Once the block has broken	dig.basalt	1.0	0.8-1.0
	Blocks	When the block is placed	use.basalt	1.0	0.8-1.0
	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	hit.basalt	0.23	0.5
	Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	fall.basalt	0.4	1.0
	Players	Walking on the block	step.basalt	0.19	1.0
	Players	Jumping from the block	jump.basalt	0.12	1.0
	Players	Falling on the block without fall damage	land.basalt	0.14	1.0

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

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

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID	Translation key
Basalt	basalt	489	Block & Giveable Item	Identical	tile.basalt.name
Polished Basalt	polished_basalt	490	Block & Giveable Item	Identical	tile.polished_basalt.name
Smooth Basalt	smooth_basalt	632	Block & Giveable Item	Identical	tile.smooth_basalt.name

Block states

See also: Block states

Java Edition:

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.

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Metadata Bits	Default value	Allowed values	Values for Metadata Bits	Description
pillar_axis	0x1 0x2	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.
					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.
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.

External Links

• Block of the Week: Basalt – Minecraft.net on July 8, 2020