Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Relating to or containing a group of light-colored silicate minerals that occur in igneous rocks, including minerals of the feldspathoid group and the minerals quartz, feldspar, and muscovite.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective mineralogy Enriched in the lighter elements such as silicon, oxygen, aluminium, sodium, and potassium.
  • noun A rock with such properties.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[fel(dspar) + s(ilica) + –ic.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Blend of feldspar and silica, with the suffix -ic.

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Examples

  • The magma here tends to be classified as felsic, with a much higher silicone content, which is more viscous in nature and allows for more gas to be trapped within.

    Thar She Blows « worlds in a grain of sand 2010

  • The magma here tends to be classified as felsic, with a much higher silicone content, which is more viscous in nature and allows for more gas to be trapped within.

    2010 April 20 « worlds in a grain of sand 2010

  • The magma here tends to be classified as felsic, with a much higher silicone content, which is more viscous in nature and allows for more gas to be trapped within.

    2010 April « worlds in a grain of sand 2010

  • One aspect of Iceland's volcanoes of particular interest to geoscientists is that within the magmas being extruded there are small amounts of lightweight, light-colored volcanic materials known as felsic rock, which "has no reason whatsoever for being there - it's the kind of stuff found in continental crust, not ocean crust," Seaman says.

    Newswise: Latest News 2010

  • One aspect of Iceland's volcanoes of particular interest to geoscientists is that within the magmas being extruded there are small amounts of lightweight, light-colored volcanic materials known as felsic rock, which "has no reason whatsoever for being there - it's the kind of stuff found in continental crust, not ocean crust," Seaman says.

    Newswise: Latest News 2010

  • One aspect of Iceland's volcanoes of particular interest to geoscientists is that within the magmas being extruded there are small amounts of lightweight, light-colored volcanic materials known as felsic rock, which "has no reason whatsoever for being there - it's the kind of stuff found in continental crust, not ocean crust," Seaman says.

    YubaNet.com 2010

  • The crescent-shaped floor of the caldera teems with a network of smaller volcanic mouths, cones, domes, lava channels, dikes, lavas from light felsic flows to viscid red lavas and black obsidian blocks, ochre plains of sandy alluvial deposits and red and black volcanic ejecta, scoria, lapilli and pumice, from a long series of basaltic effusions.

    Teide National Park, Spain 2008

  • But Teide's lava is more felsic in composition and is quiescent, complementing the other very active basaltic sites.

    Teide National Park, Spain 2008

  • Aaron Slate, phyllite, metasiltstone, metatuff, felsic volcanic rocks, and Virgilina Greenstone underlie Ecoregion 45c in Virginia.

    Ecoregions of Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia (EPA) 2008

  • Andesite and diorite are intermediate igneous rocks that have a chemistry between mafic and felsic (silica amounts between 53 to 65%).

    Igneous rock 2007

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