Notes #11

ROCKS: METAMORPHIC ROCKS

METAMORPHIC ROCKS
(Greek meta change and morphe form; change in form)
- Old rocks altered into new by heat, pressure, and chemical fluids in the Earth; produces
new mineral assemblages

The changes rocks undergo happen in the solid state so vestiges of its earlier
forms are preserved which presents to us a record of the history of its formation
When tectonic plates move and crustal fragments collide, rocks are squeezed,
stretched, bent, heated, and changed in complex ways

A. Limits to Metamorphism

1 Sedimentary Rock
2 Low-grade Metamorphism
3 Intermediate-grade
4 High-grade
5 Magma region

1
200 2

3
Pressure
4 B. Controlling Factors in
Metamorphism
1,200
5
1. Initial composition of
rocks
200 800 2.
Temperature Temperature
influenced by
presence or absence of fluids and duration of
exposure to high T and P
3. Pressure

C. Kinds of Metamorphism

1. Burial Metamorphism caused by pressure of overlying rocks (lithostatic pressure)

2. Contact Metamorphism takes place when contact with a body of magma / lava
alters the surrounding rock
3. Dynamic Metamorphism associated with fault (fractures along which movement
has occurred) zones where rocks are subjected to high differential pressures
4. Regional Metamorphism a result of plate tectonics; occurs at convergent plate
boundaries

D. Types of Metamorphic Rocks

1. Foliated exhibiting a layered or banded appearance

Examples:
Parent Rock Low-grade Intermediate- High-grade
 metamorphic rock grade Metamorphic rock
Metamorphic rock
Shale Slate Phyllite Schist & Gneiss
Basalt Greenschist Amphibolite Granulite

2. Non-Foliated no discernible orientation, consists of a mosaic of equidimensional

minerals
Examples:
Parent Rock Metamorphic Rock
Derivative
Calcite & Dolomite Marble
Quartz Sandstone Quartzite
Coal Anthracite

E. Metamorphic Facies Concept

For a given range of temperature and pressure, and for a given rock
composition, the assemblage of minerals formed during metamorphism is always the
same
Based on mineral assemblages a series of pressure and temperature ranges can
be defined and these are called metamorphic facies

F. Plate Tectonics and Metamorphism

The rock cycle, an interplay of processes driven both by the Suns energy and by
internal heat, interacts with the Plate Tectonic cycle which slowly but continually cycles
material through the mantle.