Is Granite Mafic Or Felsic

Mafic rocks derive from basalt protoliths and some volcanogenic sediments.

Is granite mafic or felsic. Felsic minerals are usually light in color and have specific gravities less than 3. Granites can be predominantly white pink or gray in color depending on their mineralogy the word granite comes from the latin granum a grain in reference to the coarse grained structure of such a completely crystalline rock. The word mafic comes from ma for magnesium and f for ferrum or the latin for iron. Felsic refers to silicate minerals magma and rocks which are enriched in the lighter elements such as silicon oxygen aluminium sodium and potassium.

Load more geology mining igneous rock volcanoes oceans and seas the difference between. The term felsic describes igneous rocks that are relatively rich in the elements that form quartz and feldspar. The most common felsic rock is granite which represents the purified end product of the earth s internal differentiation process. Granite is a felsic rock.

Felsic rocks are usually light in color and have specific gravities less than 3. All felsic rocks contain a high percentage of silica. Common felsic minerals include quartz muscovite hornblende orthoclase and the sodium rich plagioclase feldspars. On the opposite side of the rock spectrum are the iron and magnesium rich mafic and ultramafic minerals.

Felsic rocks are composed of high levels of magma silicate materials and rocks which are also rich in potassium oxygen silicon and sodium. Felsic magma or lava is higher in viscosity than mafic magma lava. Rhyolite is not a mafic rock but a felsic rock high in silicates and similar to granite in composition. Mafic rocks are dark in color.

Mafic vs felsic mafic and felsic are categories into which igneous rocks are classified. For example granite contains around 70 of silica. The most common felsic rock is granite. Common mafic rocks include basalt dolerite and gabbro.

It is relating to denoting or containing a group of dark colored mainly ferromagnetic minerals such as pyroxene and olivine. 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. The most common felsic rock is granite.