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Mafic vs Intermediate - What's the difference?

mafic | intermediate |

As adjectives the difference between mafic and intermediate

is that mafic is describing rocks, such as silicate minerals, magmas, and volcanic and intrusive igneous rocks, which contain relatively high concentrations of magnesium and iron while intermediate is being between two extremes, or in the middle of a range.

As nouns the difference between mafic and intermediate

is that mafic is a rock with such properties while intermediate is anything in an intermediate position.

As a verb intermediate is

to mediate, to be an intermediate.

mafic

English

(wikipedia mafic)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (geology) Describing rocks, such as silicate minerals, magmas, and volcanic and intrusive igneous rocks, which contain relatively high concentrations of magnesium and iron.
  • *2004 , (Richard Fortey), The Earth , Folio Society 2011, p. 60:
  • *:As a whole, rocks of this type are referred to as mafic , because of the importance of magnesium and iron in their composition.

    • Derived terms

    * ultramafic

    Synonyms

    * basic

    Antonyms

    * felsic * acidic

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A rock with such properties.

    • intermediate

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Being between two extremes, or in the middle of a range.
    • {{quote-Fanny Hill, part=3 , which covered his belly to the navel and gave it the air of a flesh brush; and soon I felt it joining close to mine, when he had drove the nail up to the head, and left no partition but the intermediate hair on both sides.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= The machine of a new soul , passage=The yawning gap in neuroscientists’ understanding of their topic is in the intermediate scale of the brain’s anatomy. Science has a passable knowledge of how individual nerve cells, known as neurons, work. It also knows which visible lobes and ganglia of the brain do what. But how the neurons are organised in these lobes and ganglia remains obscure.}}

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Anything in an intermediate position.
  • An intermediary.
  • (chemistry) Any substance formed as part of a series of chemical reactions that is not the end-product.

    • Verb

    (intermediat)
  • to mediate, to be an intermediate
  • to arrange, in the manner of a broker
    • Central banks need to regulate the entities that intermediate monetary transactions.

    Derived terms

    * intermediation *