LECTURE 3a

Dynamic Earth: Igneous

Rocks continued
ENM200: Dynamic Earth
Dr Bryan T Cronin (ext.cronin1@rgu.ac.uk)

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Shapes of plutons

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Exposed, exhumed granite plutons in SW England

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Cornish Granite

Edinburgh Castle:
sitting on ancient
granite

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Surtsey Island, Iceland

Lava River, Hekla (Iceland) 1987

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Pillow Lavas, Devon (submarine lava)

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Pillow Lavas, eastern Turkey (Eocene)

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Though no pillow lavas have been seen forming in nature, this is probably what
happens.
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Horneblende Trachyte Iava

under the microscope)

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Mt St Helens, 90 minutes after eruption

Pyroclastic Flow:
Ash expelled high into the
atmosphere during eruption
falls back and flows off the
flanks of volcanos as
pyroclastic flows

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Pyroclastic flow (Mt Pinatubo)

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London Clay with Ash layers: easy to date

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Dynamic Earth:
Metamorphic Rocks

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We know that material converts with pressure

and temperature

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Metamorphism
Rocks deform, mineralogy
changes with temperature
and pressue

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Simple diagram to show how rocks are buried,23

then deform (metamorphism), then melt

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Metamorphic Rock Example: Gneiss (deformed granite)25

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Metamorphic Rock Example: Marble (deformed limestone)

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Metamorphic Rock Example: Slate (deformed mudstone)

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Granite slate contact

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Rosslare Gneiss

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Scottish
Metamorphic
Zones

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Chlorite Shale (Metamorphosed mudstone)

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