Is Granite Mafic

Syenite diorite and monzonite are intermediate with an average silica content of 59 percent.

Is granite mafic. In contrast felsic rocks are rich in silica sodium and potassium. Width of sample 22 cm. Granite is the name given to intrusive felsic rocks whereas rhyolite is the name given to extrusive felsic rocks. Mafic rocks are relatively rich in iron magnesium and calcium.

And peridotite is an ultramafic rock with an. Granite is a light colored igneous rock with grains large enough to be visible with the unaided eye. Phlogopite with apatite greenish yellow and enstatite dark green in pegmatite. Granite is the common representative of the class of fel.

Granite is not a mafic rock. Basalt is the opposite of granite. Trondhjemite is a leucocratic igneous rock tonalite in which the sole mafic mineral is biotite hornblende is rare. Width of sample from norway is 10 cm.

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. Granite ˈ ɡ r æ n ɪ t is a common type of felsic intrusive igneous rock that is granular and phaneritic in texture. Rhyolite is not a mafic rock but a felsic rock high in silicates and similar to granite in composition. Gabbro and basalt are mafic with an average silica content of 48 percent.

Mafic rocks rocks composed mostly of pyroxene calcium rich plagioclase and minor amounts of olivine make up the mafic family of igneous rocks. It forms from the slow crystallization of magma below earth s surface. Felsic rocks are produced primarily in convergent plate boundaries in which an. Strictly speaking granite is an.

Compilations of many rock analyses show that rhyolite and granite are felsic with an average silica content of about 72 percent. Granite is a felsic rock. Load more geology mining igneous rock volcanoes oceans and seas the difference between. Basalt is a mafic dark coloured minerals rich in iron and magnesium fine grained rock formed from the rapid cooling and crystallisation of lava above ground.

Felsic rocks are less dense than mafic and ultramafic rocks and thus they tend to escape subduction whereas basaltic or gabbroic rocks tend to sink into the mantle beneath the granitic rocks of the continental cratons. Granite has a felsic composition and is more common in recent geologic time in contrast to earth s ultramafic ancient igneous history.