The name has come to be used most frequently as a textural term where it implies plagioclase rims around orthoclase in plutonic (intrusive) rocks.

Rapakivi granites have formation ages from Archean to recent and are usually attributed to anorogenic tectonic settings.

[citation needed] Rapakivi granites are often found associated with intrusions of anorthosite, norite, charnockite and mangerite.

[7][note 1] Rapakivi is enriched in K, Rb, Pb, Nb, Ta, Zr, Hf, Zn, Ga, Sn, Th, U, F and rare earth elements, and poor in Ca, Mg, Al, P and Sr. Fe/Mg, K/Na and Rb/Sr ratios are high.

[17] In 1770, a rapakivi granite monolith boulder, the "Thunder Stone", was used as the pedestal for the Bronze Horseman statue in Saint Petersburg, Russia.