Mafic The mafic rocks also typically have a higher density than felsic rocks. The term roughly corresponds to the older "basic rock" class. 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. As a result, 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. Mafic Mafic is an adjective describing a silicate mineral or igneous rock that is rich in
Continental crust lower continental crust, which is more mafic in character. The continental crust consists of various layers, with a bulk composition that is intermediate to felsic. The average density of continental crust is about 2.7 g/cm, less dense than the ultramafic material that makes up the mantle, which has a density of around 3.3 g/cm. Continental crust is also less dense than oceanic crust, whose density is about 2.9 g/cm. At 25 to 70 km, continental crust is considerably thicker than oceanic crust, which has an average thickness of around 7–10 km. About 40% of Earth's surface is currently occupied by