Basalt

For other uses, see Basalt (disambiguation).

Basalt

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Renewable	Yes
Stackable	Yes (64)
Tool
Blast resistance	4.2
Hardness	1.25
Luminous	No
Transparent	No
Flammable	No
Catches fire from lava	No
Map color	29 COLOR_BLACK
Note block instrument	Bass Drum
Sulfur cube archetype	Slow Bouncy

Basalt is a block found in the basalt deltas in the Nether along with soul sand valleys and bastion remnants.

Obtaining

Breaking

Basalt drops as an item if mined by any pickaxe. If mined by any other tool, it drops nothing.

Block	Basalt
Hardness	1.25
Tool
Breaking time (sec)[A]
Default	16.25 (JE) 6.25 (BE)
Wooden	10.95 (JE) 0.95 (BE)
Stone	10.5 (JE) 0.5 (BE)
Copper	10.4 (JE) 0.4 (BE)
Iron	10.35 (JE) 0.35 (BE)
Diamond	10.25 (JE) 0.25 (BE)
Netherite	10.25 (JE) 0.25 (BE)
Golden	10.2 (JE) 0.2 (BE)
Options
Efficiency	000
Haste	001 1JEBE

Legend

• incorrect tool, drops nothing
• correct tool, drops nothing or something other than the block itself
• correct tool, drops the block itself
• italicized can be instant mined

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 biomes.

Basalt can also be found naturally as part of bastion remnants.

Post-generation

Basalt also generates when lava flows 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 blocks point perpendicular to whatever block face they are placed on.

Crafting ingredient

Name	Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Polished Basalt	Basalt	4

Stonecutting ingredient

Name	Ingredients	Cutting recipe
Polished Basalt	Basalt

Smelting ingredient

Name	Ingredients	Smelting recipe
Smooth Basalt	Basalt + Any fuel	0.1

Sounds

Java Edition:

basalt sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	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​[until: JE 26.4]	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
	​Something falls on a block	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.basalt.fall	subtitles.block.generic.fall​	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:

basalt sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	Volume	Pitch
	​Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	dig.basalt	​ ?	1.0	0.8–1.0
	​Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	use.basalt	​ ?	1.0	0.8–1.0
	​Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	hit.basalt	​ ?	0.23	0.5
	​Something fell	Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	fall.basalt	​ ?	0.4	1.0
	​Footsteps	Players	Walking on the block	step.basalt	​ ?	0.19	1.0
	​Footsteps	Blocks	Jumping from the block	jump.basalt	​ ?	0.12	1.0
	​Footsteps	Blocks	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

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID[i 1]	Translation key
Basalt	basalt	489	Block & Giveable Item[i 2]	Identical[i 3] (Numeric: -234)	tile.basalt.name

Block states

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Videos

History

Announcement

January 12, 2014							On Reddit, Jens Bergensten 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

Java Edition
1.16			20w06a				Added basalt.
			20w12a				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.
							4 blocks of basalt can now be used in a 2×2 grid or stonecutting to create polished basalt.
			20w15a				Added the basalt deltas, a biome in which basalt is abundant.
			20w16a				Basalt now generates as part of bastion remnants.
							Basalt can now generate as part of ruined portals.
1.17			21w08a				Basalt can now be smelted to yield smooth basalt.
26.2			snap1				Added sulfur cubes, which have the ability to absorb basalt, providing the football/regular effect to the mob.
			snap6				Changed effect from football/regular to slow bouncy.

Bedrock Edition

Bedrock Edition
1.16.0			beta 1.16.0.51				Added 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 now generates as part of bastion remnants.
			beta 1.16.0.59				Basalt can now be used in the stonecutter.
1.16.100			beta 1.16.100.51				Basalt now takes longer to break.
							Basalt is said to be immune to ghast fireballs, but is still broken by them.[1]
1.16.200			beta 1.16.200.56				Basalt blocks now take slightly more time to destroy again.
							Basalt is now truly immune to ghast fireballs.
1.17.0			beta 1.17.0.50				Basalt can now be smelted to yield smooth basalt.
26.20 Experiment Drop 2 of 2026			Preview 26.20.23				Added sulfur cubes, which have the ability to absorb basalt, providing the football/regular effect to the mob.
26.30			Preview 26.30.20				Implemented all features from the "Drop 2 of 2026" experiment in vanilla gameplay.
			Preview 26.30.27				Basalt's sulfur cube archetype has been changed from regular to slow bouncy.

Issues

Issues relating to "Basalt" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed 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, much like those 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 and smooth variant.

Gallery

Renders

• 
  A basalt block on the east-west axes
• 
  A basalt block on the north-south axes

Screenshots

• 
  A basalt deltas biome with a magma cube in midair

In other media

• 
  Artwork of basalt from Block of the Week
• 
  Basalt as it appears in the MCC x Minecraft 15th Anniversary Party
• 
  Basalt pillars in the Eerie Mojang Office Party

References

External links

• "Block of the Week: Basalt" by Duncan Geere – Minecraft.net, July 8, 2020.