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Pumice is composed of highly microvesicular glass pyroclastic with very thin, translucent bubble walls of extrusive igneous rock.It is commonly [4] but not exclusively of silicic or felsic to intermediate in composition (e.g., rhyolitic, dacitic, andesite, pantellerite, phonolite, trachyte), but basaltic and other compositions are known.
The series is divided into two branches, the continuous (felsic minerals: feldspars) and the discontinuous (mafic minerals).The minerals at the top of the illustration (given aside) are first to crystallize and so the temperature gradient can be read to be from high to low with the high-temperature minerals being on the top and the low-temperature ones on the bottom.
According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, color indices, 0–50 are felsic, 50–90 are mafic, and 90–100 are ultramafic. [6] An online geology textbook provides an example of the use of another classification scheme, in which color indices 0–15 are felsic, 15–45 are intermediate, 45–85 are mafic, and 85–100 are ultramafic. [9]
Felsic magmas and lavas have lower temperatures of melting and solidification than mafic magmas and lavas. Felsic rocks are usually light in color and have specific gravities less than 3. The most common felsic rock is granite. Common felsic minerals include quartz, muscovite, orthoclase, and the sodium-rich plagioclase feldspars (albite-rich).
Felsic magma, such as rhyolite, is usually erupted at low temperature and is up to 10,000 times as viscous as basalt. Volcanoes with rhyolitic magma commonly erupt explosively, and rhyolitic lava flows are typically of limited extent and have steep margins because the magma is so viscous.
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.
The glass transition temperature of basalt is about 700 °C (1,292 °F). [4] The mechanisms controlling formation of volcanic glass are further illustrated by the two forms of basaltic glass, tachylite and sideromelane. Tachylite is opaque to transmitted light because of the abundance of tiny oxide mineral crystals suspended in the glass ...
It is generally light in color due to its low content of mafic minerals, and it is typically very fine-grained or glassy. [ 5 ] An extrusive igneous rock is classified as rhyolite when quartz constitutes 20% to 60% by volume of its total content of quartz, alkali feldspar , and plagioclase ( QAPF ) and alkali feldspar makes up 35% to 90% of its ...