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The mafic rocks also typically have a higher density than felsic rocks. The term roughly corresponds to the older basic rock class. [9] Mafic lava, before cooling, has a low viscosity, in comparison with felsic lava, due to the lower silica content in mafic magma. Water and other volatiles can more easily and gradually escape from mafic lava.
Gabbro (/ ˈɡæbroʊ / GAB-roh) is a phaneritic (coarse-grained and magnesium- and iron-rich), mafic intrusive igneous rock formed from the slow cooling magma into a holocrystalline mass deep beneath the Earth 's surface. Slow-cooling, coarse-grained gabbro is chemically equivalent to rapid-cooling, fine-grained basalt.
Dike (geology) A magmatic dike (vertical) cross-cutting horizontal layers of sedimentary rock, in Makhtesh Ramon, Israel. In geology, a dike or dyke is a sheet of rock that is formed in a fracture of a pre-existing rock body. Dikes can be either magmatic or sedimentary in origin. Magmatic dikes form when magma flows into a crack then solidifies ...
A laccolith is a type of igneous intrusion, formed when magma forces its way upwards through the Earth's crust but cools and solidifies before reaching the surface. Laccoliths are distinguished from other igneous intrusions by their dome-shaped upper surface and level base. They are assumed to be fed by a conduit from below, though this is ...
Eruption. Oruanui eruption impact North Island in terms of approximate 10cm ash deposit (white shading) and approximate ignimbrite from pyroclastic flow (yellow shading). [2]: 529 The central red area is the Oruanui caldera with surrounding collapse crater in lighter red. It is superimposed on present day New Zealand although at the time New ...
The tholeiitic magma series (/ ˌθoʊliˈaɪtɪk /) is one of two main magma series in subalkaline igneous rocks, the other being the calc-alkaline series. A magma series is a chemically distinct range of magma compositions that describes the evolution of a mafic magma into a more evolved, silica rich end member. Rock types of the tholeiitic ...
Igneous rock (igneous from Latin igneus 'fiery'), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rocks are formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava. The magma can be derived from partial melts of existing rocks in either a planet 's mantle or crust.
Archean felsic volcanic rocks are felsic volcanic rocks that were formed in the Archean Eon (4 to 2.5 billion years ago). [2] The term "felsic" means that the rocks have silica content of 62–78%. [3] Given that the Earth formed at ~4.5 billion year ago, [4] Archean felsic volcanic rocks provide clues on the Earth's first volcanic activities ...