Examples of Metamorphic rocks
Amphibolite
Amphibolite is a rock composed mostly of amphibole minerals.
Usually, it's a hornblende schist like this as hornblende is the
commonest amphibole.
Amphibolite forms when basaltic rock is subjected to higher
temperatures between 550 C and 750 C) and slightly greater
pressure range than that which yields greenschist. Amphibolite is
also the name of a metamorphic facies—a set of minerals that
typically forms at a specific range of temperature and pressure.
Argillite
This is the rock name to remember when you find a hard,
nondescript rock that looks like it could be slate but doesn't have
slate's trademark cleavage. Argillite is a low-grade
metamorphosed claystone that was subjected to mild heat and
pressure without strong directionality. Argillite does have a
glamorous side that slate can't match. It is also known as
pipestone when it lends itself to carving. The American Indians
favored it for tobacco pipes and other small ceremonial or
decorative objects.
Blueschist
Blueschist signifies regional metamorphism at relatively
high pressures and low temperatures, but it isn't always
blue, or even a schist.
High-pressure, low-temperature conditions are most
typical of subduction, where marine crust and sediments
are carried beneath a continental plate and kneaded by
changing tectonic motions while sodium-rich fluids
marinate the rocks. Blueschist is a schist because all traces
of original structure in the rock have been wiped out along
with the original minerals, and a strongly
layered fabric has been imposed. The bluest, most
schistose blueschist—like this example—is made from
sodium-rich mafic rocks like basalt and gabbro.
Petrologists often prefer to talk about the glaucophane-schist metamorphic facies rather than blueschist, because not
all blueschist is all that blue. In this hand specimen from Ward Creek, California, glaucophane is the major blue
mineral species. In other samples, lawsonite, jadeite, epidote, phengite, garnet, and quartz are also common. It
depends on the original rock that is metamorphosed. For instance, a blueschist-facies ultramafic rock consists mainly
of serpentine (antigorite), olivine and magnetite.
As a landscaping stone, blueschist is responsible for some striking, even garish effects.
Cataclasite
Cataclasite (kat-a-CLAY-site) is a fine-grained breccia produced
by grinding rocks into fine particles, or cataclasis. This is a
microscopic thin section.
Eclogite
Eclogite ("ECK-lo-jite") is an extreme metamorphic rock
formed by regional metamorphism of basalt under very
high pressures and temperatures. This type of metamorphic
rock is the name of highest-grade metamorphic facies.
This eclogite specimen from Jenner, California, consists of
high-magnesium pyrope garnet, green omphacite (a high-
sodium/aluminum pyroxene) and deep-blue glaucophane (a
sodium-rich amphibole). It was part of a subducting plate
during Jurassic times, about 170 million years ago, when it
formed. During the last few million years, it was raised and
mixed into younger subducted rocks of the Franciscan
complex. The body of eclogite is no more than 100 meters
across today.
Gneiss
Gneiss ("nice") is a rock of great variety with large mineral grains
arranged in wide bands. It means a type of rock texture, not a
composition.
This type of metamorphic was created by regional metamorphism,
in which a sedimentary or igneous rock has been deeply buried
and subjected to high temperatures and pressures. Nearly all
traces of the original structures (including fossils) and fabric (such
as layering and ripple marks) are wiped out as the minerals
migrate and recrystallize. The streaks contain minerals, like
hornblende, that don't occur in sedimentary rocks.
In gneiss, less than 50 percent of the minerals are aligned in thin,
foliated layers. You can see that unlike schist, which is more
strongly aligned, gneiss doesn't fracture along the planes of the
mineral streaks. Thicker veins of large-grained minerals form in it, unlike the more evenly layered appearance of
schist. With still more metamorphism, gneisses can turn to migmatite and then totally recrystallize into granite.
Despite its highly altered nature, gneiss can preserve chemical evidence of its history, especially in minerals like
zircon which resist metamorphism. The oldest Earth rocks known are gneisses from Acasta, in northern Canada, that
are more than 4 billion years old.
Gneiss makes up the largest part of the Earth's lower crust. Pretty much everywhere on the continents, you will drill
straight down and eventually strike gneiss. In German, the word means bright or sparkling.
Greenschist
Greenschist forms by regional metamorphism under conditions of
high pressure and fairly low temperature. It isn't always green or even
a schist.
Greenschist is the name of a metamorphic facies, a set of typical
minerals that form under specific conditions—in this case relatively
cool temperatures at high pressures. These conditions are less than
those of blueschist. Chlorite, epidote, actinolite, and serpentine (the
green minerals that give these facies its name), but whether they
appear in any given greenschist-facies rock depends on what the rock
originally was. This greenschist specimen is from northern California,
where seafloor sediment has been subducted beneath the North
American plate, then thrust to the surface soon afterward as tectonic conditions changed.
This specimen consists mostly of actinolite. The vaguely defined veins running vertically in this image may reflect the
original bedding in the rocks from which it formed. These veins contain mainly biotite.
Greenstone
Greenstone is a tough, dark altered basaltic rock that once was solid
deep-sea lava. It belongs to the greenschist regional metamorphic
facies.
In greenstone, the olivine and peridotite that made up the fresh basalt
have been metamorphosed by high pressure and warm fluids into green
minerals—epidote, actinolite or chlorite depending on the exact
conditions. The white mineral is aragonite, an alternative crystal form
of calcium carbonate (its other form is calcite).
Rock of this kind is manufactured in subduction zones and is seldom
brought to the surface unchanged. The dynamics of the Californian
coastal region make it one such place. Greenstone belts are very
common in Earth's oldest rocks, of Archean age. Exactly what they
mean is still not settled, but they may not represent the kind of crustal rocks that we know today.
Hornfels
Hornfels is a tough, fine-grained rock that is made by contact
metamorphism where magma bakes and recrystallizes the
surrounding rocks. Note how it breaks across the original bedding.
Marble
Marble is made by regional metamorphism of limestone or dolomite
rock, causing their microscopic grains to combine into larger crystals.
This type of metamorphic rock consists of recrystallized calcite (in
limestone) or dolomite (in dolomite rock). In this hand specimen of
Vermont marble, the crystals are small. For fine marble of the sort
used in buildings and sculpture, the crystals are even smaller. The
color of marble can range from the purest white to black, ranging
through the warmer colors in between depending on the other mineral
impurities.
Like other metamorphic rocks, marble has no fossils and any layering
that appears in it probably does not correspond to the original bedding
of the precursor limestone. Like limestone, marble tends to dissolve in acidic fluids. It is quite durable in dry climates,
as in the Mediterranean countries where ancient marble structures survive.
Commercial stone dealers use different rules than geologists to distinguish limestone from marble.
Migmatite
Migmatite is the same material as gneiss but brought close to melting
by regional metamorphism so that the veins and layers of minerals
became warped and mixed.
This type of metamorphic rock has been buried very deep and
squeezed very hard. In many cases, the darker part of the rock
(consisting of biotite mica and hornblende) has been intruded by
veins of lighter rock consisting of quartz and feldspar. With its
curling light and dark veins, migmatite can be very picturesque. Yet
even with this extreme degree of metamorphism, the minerals are
arranged in layers and the rock is clearly classified as metamorphic.
If mixing is even stronger than this, a migmatite can be hard to distinguish from granite. Because it isn't clear that true
melting is involved, even at this degree of metamorphism, geologists use the word anatexis (loss of texture) instead.
Mylonite
Mylonite forms along deeply buried fault surface by crushing
and stretching of rocks under such heat and pressure that the
minerals deform in a plastic way (monetization).
Phyllite
Phyllite is one step beyond slate in the chain of regional
metamorphism. Unlike slate, phyllite has a definite sheen. The
name phyllite is from scientific Latin and means "leaf-stone."
It's typically a medium-gray or greenish stone, but here sunlight
reflects off its finely wavy face.
Whereas slate has a dull surface because its metamorphic
minerals are extremely fine-grained, phyllite has a sheen from tiny grains of sericitic mica, graphite, chlorite and
similar minerals. With further heat and pressure, the reflective grains grow more abundant and join each other. And
whereas slate usually breaks in very flat sheets, phyllite tends to have a corrugated cleavage.
This rock has nearly all of its original sedimentary structure erased, although some of its clay minerals persist. Further
metamorphism converts all of the clays into large grains of mica, along with quartz and feldspar. At that point,
phyllite becomes schist.
Quartzite
Quartzite is a tough stone composed mostly of quartz. It may be
derived from sandstone or from chert by regional metamorphism.
This metamorphic rock forms in two different ways. In the first way,
sandstone or chert recrystallizes resulting in a metamorphic rock
under the pressures and temperatures of deep burial. A quartzite in
which all traces of the original grains and sedimentary structures are
erased may also be called metaquartzite. This Las Vegas boulder is a
metaquartzite. A quartzite that preserves some sedimentary features
is best described as a metasandstone or metachert.
The second method in which it forms involves sandstone at low
pressures and temperatures, where circulating fluids fill the spaces
between sand grains with silica cement. This kind of quartzite, also called orthoquartzite, is considered a sedimentary
rock, not a metamorphic rock because the original mineral grains are still there and bedding planes and other
sedimentary structures are still evident.
The traditional way to distinguish quartzite from sandstone is by viewing quartzite's fractures across or through the
grains; sandstone splits between them.
Schist
Schist is formed by regional metamorphism and has schistose
fabric—it has coarse mineral grains and is fissile, splitting into thin
layers.
Schist is a metamorphic rock that comes in almost infinite variety,
but its main characteristic is hinted at in its name: Schist comes from
the ancient Greek for "split," through Latin and French. It is formed
by dynamic metamorphism at high temperatures and high pressures
that aligns the grains of mica, hornblende, and other flat or elongated
minerals into thin layers, or foliation. At least 50 percent of the
mineral grains in schist are aligned this way (less than 50 percent
makes it gneiss). The rock may or may not be actually deformed in
the direction of the foliation, although a strong foliation probably is a
sign of high strain.
Schists are commonly described in terms of their predominant minerals. This specimen from Manhattan, for example,
would be called a mica schist because the flat, shiny grains of mica are so abundant. Other possibilities include
blueschist (glaucophane schist) or amphibole schist.
Serpentinite
Serpentinite is composed of minerals of the serpentine group. It forms
by regional metamorphism of deep-sea rocks from the oceanic
mantle.
It is common beneath the oceanic crust, where it forms by the
alteration of the mantle rock peridotite. It is seldom seen on land
except in rocks from subduction zones, where oceanic rocks may be
preserved.
Most people call it serpentine (SER-penteen) or serpentine rock, but
serpentine is the set of minerals that make up serpentinite (ser-PENT-
inite). It gets its name from its resemblance to snakeskin with a
mottled color, waxy or resinous luster and curving, polished surfaces.
This type of metamorphic rock is low in plant nutrients and high in toxic metals. Thus the vegetation on the so-called
serpentine landscape is dramatically different from other plant communities, and serpentine barrens contain many
specialized, endemic species.
Serpentinite can contain chrysotile, the serpentine mineral that crystallizes in long, thin fibers. This is the mineral
commonly known as asbestos.
Slate
Slate is a low-grade metamorphic rock with a dull luster and strong
cleavage. It is derived from shale by regional metamorphism.
Slate forms when shale, which consists of clay minerals, is put
under pressure with temperatures of a few hundred degrees or so.
Then the clays begin to revert to the mica minerals from which they
formed. This does two things: First, the rock grows hard enough to
ring or "tink" under the hammer; second, the rock gets a
pronounced cleavage direction, so that it breaks along flat
planes. Slaty cleavage is not always in the same direction as the
original sedimentary bedding planes, thus any fossils originally in
the rock are usually erased, but sometimes they survive in smeared
or stretched form.
With further metamorphism, slate turns to phyllite, then to schist or gneiss.
Slate is usually dark, but it can be colorful too. High-quality slate is an excellent paving stone as well as the material
of long-lasting slate roof tiles and, of course, the best billiard tables. Blackboards and handheld writing tablets were
once made of slate, and the name of the rock has become the name of the tablets themselves.
Soapstone
Soapstone consists largely of the mineral talc with or without other
metamorphic minerals, and it is derived from hydrothemal alteration of
peridotite and related ultramafic rocks. Harder examples are suitable for
making carved objects. Soapstone kitchen counters or tabletops are highly
resistant to stains and cracking.