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
Geology of Wisconsin and metavolcanics formed first, followed by granites more than 2.7 billion years ago. The rock record contains an uncertain age gap with younger 2.3 billion year old Proterozoic quartzofeldspathic and migmatite gneiss, with amphibolite and biotite schist. Around 1.9 billion years ago, mafic, intermediate and felsic rocks, in some cases with subordinate metasedimentary rocks, began to form and metamorphosed, reaching greenschist and amphibolite grade on the sequence of metamorphic facies. The Ironwood and Riverton Iron formations are recognized from aerial magnetic surveys. Metamorphosed argillite, quartzite, greywacke conglomerate and marble with small areas of interbedded metavolcaic rocks make up the Tyler