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A mafic mineral or rock is a silicate mineral or igneous rock rich in magnesium and iron. Most mafic minerals are dark in color, and common rock-forming mafic minerals include olivine, pyroxene, amphibole, and biotite. Common mafic rocks include basalt, diabase and gabbro. Mafic rocks often also contain calcium -rich varieties of plagioclase ...
Water is somewhat less soluble in low-silica magma than high-silica magma, so that at 1,100 °C and 0.5 GPa, a basaltic magma can dissolve 8% H 2 O while a granite pegmatite magma can dissolve 11% H 2 O. [45] However, magmas are not necessarily saturated under typical conditions.
Olivine. The mineral olivine (/ ˈɒl.ɪˌviːn /) is a magnesium iron silicate with the chemical formula (Mg, Fe)2 Si O 4. It is a type of nesosilicate or orthosilicate. The primary component of the Earth's upper mantle, [9] it is a common mineral in Earth's subsurface, but weathers quickly on the surface. Olivine has many uses, such as the ...
Mafic rocks have a relatively low silica content and are composed mostly of pyroxenes, olivines and calcic plagioclase. These rocks (basalt, gabbro) are usually dark coloured, and have a higher density than felsic rocks. Ultramafic rock is very low in silica, with more than 90% of mafic minerals (komatiite, dunite).
Petrology. Gabbro is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) igneous rock that is relatively low in silica and rich in iron, magnesium, and calcium. Such rock is described as mafic. Gabbro is composed of pyroxene (mostly clinopyroxene) and calcium-rich plagioclase, with minor amounts of hornblende, olivine, orthopyroxene and accessory minerals. [4]
Basalt (UK: / ˈbæsɔːlt, - əlt /; [1] US: / bəˈsɔːlt, ˈbeɪsɔːlt /) [2] is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low- viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90% of all volcanic rock on Earth is basalt.
One example concerns crystallization of melts that form mafic and ultramafic rocks. MgO and SiO 2 concentrations in melts are among the variables that determine whether forsterite olivine or enstatite pyroxene is precipitated, [11] but the water content and pressure are also important. In some compositions, at high pressures without water ...
The two kinds of granitoids have different magma origins: (a) melting of water-rich mafic materials formed older sodium-rich TTG and (b) melting of felsic materials (e.g. TTG and/or sediments [44]) formed younger potassium-rich GMS (see Table 3). [9] [43] They imply gradual chemical changes in the magma and the Earth's crust. [9]