What block can be found everywhere in the ordinary world of Minecraft PE, serving as a link between cobblestone and quartz, and sounds like your scream when a zombie knocks on your door? It’s easy to guess – it’s diorite – the block of the week!
Diorite is one of the members of the magnificent trio that also includes andesite and granite. Typically, you can find diorite in the same locations as regular stone. It is most commonly encountered on the surface, especially in hilly or mountainous areas of Minecraft Pocket Edition. For those who can’t locate it or see it among the stones, there’s an easy way to obtain it – by combining cobblestone and Nether quartz.
As of this writing, diorite doesn’t have particularly useful properties. The exception is its ability to create decorative flooring through polishing the material. You can craft a special block at the crafting table by arranging 4 polished diorite blocks in a 2×2 grid. Diorite can also be used to produce granite or andesite, and in the Bedrock version of Minecraft PE, you can make slabs or comparators.
The most beneficial property of diorite is its resistance to explosions. By using it as a building material for your walls, you’ll protect yourself from creeper attacks or other threats in multiplayer. Additionally, the material has a white hue, and finding diorite is quite simple, making it an excellent choice for decorative structures.
Diorite and andesite are two stony siblings. They share similar properties and appearances but differ in their formation; andesite forms when lava flows onto the surface and meets air, while diorite forms deep within the Earth’s crust.
The spots found on the surface and inside diorite are due to crystals forming based on the magma’s composition from which diorite originated. In nature, this stone is typically found in volcanic regions and tectonic plate collision zones, such as the Andes in South America.
Naturally, discovering diorite in the real world is much more challenging than in Minecraft PE. This hard stone is difficult to cut, so it is mainly used for decorative purposes. One famous diorite artifact is the Code of Hammurabi – a list of laws from ancient Babylon inscribed on a two-meter piece of diorite. The stone’s durability is evidenced by the fact that the text has remarkably survived, making it one of the oldest fully translated fragments discovered around 1750 BC.
So next time you need to write rules for your Minecraft PE server, consider doing it on a piece of diorite. Who knows, maybe your writings will be uncovered by future archaeologists wondering why a half-cut tree could lead to a death sentence?
