Chemistry Reference and  Research
           
 
Periodic Table
- standard table
- large table
 
Chemical Elements
- by name
- by symbol
- by atomic number
 
Chemical Properties
 
Chemical Reactions
 
Organic Chemistry
 
Branches of Chemistry
Analytical chemistry
Biochemistry
Computational Chemistry
Electrochemistry
Environmental chemistry
Geochemistry
Inorganic chemistry
Materials science
Medicinal chemistry
Nuclear chemistry
Organic chemistry
Pharmacology
Physical chemistry
Polymer chemistry
Supramolecular Chemistry
Thermochemistry

Felsic

Felsic is a term used in geology to refer to silicate minerals, magmas, and rocks which are enriched in the lighter elements, such as silica, oxygen, aluminium, sodium, and potassium. The term combines the words "feldspar" and "silica."

Felsic minerals are usually light in color and have specific gravities less than 3. Common felsic minerals include quartz, biotite, muscovite, hornblende, orthoclase, and the sodium rich plagioclase feldspars. The most common felsic rock is granite.

On the opposite side of rock spectrum are the iron and magnesium rich "mafic" rocks.

Acid rock, such as granite, is igneous rock with over 60% by weight of silicon dioxide. The term is no longer current as it is incorrectly based on the idea that silicic acid is the chief form of silicon in rocks.

Felsite is a petrologic field term used to refer to very fine grained light colored volcanic rocks that may be later reclassified after more detailed microscopic or chemical analysis.

Rock TextureName of Felsic Rock
Pegmatitic Granite pegmatite
Coarse grained (phaneritic)Granite
Coarse grained and porphyriticPorphyritic granite
Fine grained (aphanitic)Rhyolite
Fine grained and porphyriticPorphyritic rhyolite
PyroclasticRhyolitic tuff or breccia
VesicularNone
Amygdaloidal None
Many small vesicles Pumice
Glassy Obsidian

See also: List of minerals and List of rocks

01-04-2007 01:16:19
The contents of this article are licensed from Wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. How to see transparent copy