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Mafic is an adjective describing a silicate mineral or rock that is rich in magnesium and iron, and hence is a contraction of "magnesium" and "ferric".[1] Most mafic minerals are dark in color, and common rock-forming mafic minerals include olivine, pyroxene, amphibole, and biotite. Common mafic rocks include basalt, dolerite and gabbro.
In terms of chemistry, mafic rocks are on the other side of the rock spectrum from the felsic rocks. The term roughly corresponds to the older basic rock class.
Mafic lava, before cooling, has a low viscosity, in comparison to felsic lava, due to the lower silica content in mafic magma. Water and other volatiles can more easily and gradually escape from mafic lava, so eruptions of volcanoes made of mafic lavas are less explosively violent than felsic-lava eruptions. Most mafic-lava volcanoes are shield volcanoes, like those in Hawaii.
Volcanic rocks: Subvolcanic rocks: Plutonic rocks:
Lavic carbonatite Lamprophyre, Carbonatite
Komatiite, Picrite basalt Kimberlite, Lamproite Peridotite
Basalt Diabase (Dolerite) Gabbro
Andesite Diorite
Dacite Granodiorite
Rhyolite Aplite—Pegmatite Granite
Silicon dioxide, Mars, Feldspathoid, Feldspar, Sodium
Oxygen, Nitrogen, Carbon, Chromium, Sulfur
Basalt, Silicon dioxide, Gold, Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Earth
Iron, Carbon, Calcium, Manganese, Helium
International Standard Serial Number, Brill's New Pauly, John Peter Oleson
Granite, Silicon dioxide, Rhyolite, Mafic, Magnesium
Basalt, Granite, Silicon dioxide, Latin, Feldspathoid
Saskatchewan, Canada, Mackenzie Large Igneous Province, Earth, Nunavut