Is Granite Felsic Intermediate Or Mafic

Compilations of many rock analyses show that rhyolite and granite are felsic with an average silica content of about 72 percent.

Is granite felsic intermediate or mafic. A common mafic rock is basalt. Mafic felsic and intermediate extrusive rocks. Granite is a great example of felsic rocks and muscovite quartz and some feldspar are the best examples of felsic minerals. Due to the color of the minerals forming them the rocks are either light or dark.

Additionally they contain somewhat more gas than do the mafic magmas but not quite as much as the felsic magmas see below. Felsic rocks are composed of high levels of magma silicate materials and rocks which are also rich in potassium oxygen silicon and sodium. It is commonly erupted as passive lava flows due to its low viscosity. Intermediate rocks are roughly even mixtures of felsic minerals mainly plagioclase and mafic minerals mainly hornblende pyroxene and or biotite.

Therefore rocks are divided into ultramafic mafic intermediate and felsic. Diorite is the name given to intrusive intermediate rocks whereas andesite is the name given to extrusive intermediate rocks. It is important to note that there are many intermediate steps in the purification process and many intermediate magmas which are produced during the conversion from mafic to felsic. Syenite diorite and monzonite are intermediate with an average silica content of 59 percent.

All felsic rocks contain a high percentage of silica. Granite is a felsic rock. Felsic rocks are mostly feldspar especially k feldspar at least 10 quartz and less than 15 mafic minerals biotite hornblende. Mafic rocks have about 50 percent silica and high amounts of iron magnesium and calcium and are dark in color.

More general terms for these rocks are mafic felsic and intermediate. Mafic vs felsic mafic and felsic are categories into which igneous rocks are classified. Part i volcanic extrusive rocks. Gabbro and basalt are mafic with an average silica content of 48 percent.

The most common felsic rock is granite which represents the purified end product of the earth s internal differentiation process. This is an order showing increased silica content. Basalt is an extrusive mafic volcanic rock. Whereas magma mixing occurs when two ascending bodies of magma join and mix together into a composition that is intermediate to the two original magmas.

There is little or no quartz. Mafic rocks have between 45 and 55 of silica whereas felsic rocks have over 65 of silica the highest of all types. Felsic intermediate mafic ultramafic. Intermediate magmas are somewhat more viscous than the mafic magmas.

The term felsic describes igneous rocks that are relatively rich in the elements that form quartz and feldspar. Gabbro is mafic obsidian is felsic granite is felsic andesite is intermediate.