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8-Metamorphic - Rocks NOTES 1
8-Metamorphic - Rocks NOTES 1
3- Metamorphic Rocks
Rocks that form when a pre-existing rock (protolith)
changes due to temperature or pressure, and/or as a result
of squashing or shearing.
A foliated
Outcrop
of Gneiss
Formation of Metamorphic Textures
How do metamorphic textures form?
Tabular /
Formation of Foliation
• Differential stress can result
in the formation of
foliations (planar fabrics) in
a variety of ways.
The Role of Hydrothermal Fluids
• Hydrothermal fluids - Include hot water, steam, and supercritical fluid.
Hydrothermal fluids are chemically-active in that they are able to dissolve certain
minerals, so hydrothermal fluids are solutions, not just water.
• Supercritical Fluid – A substance that forms under high temps and pressures that
has properties of both a gas and a liquid. Supercritical fluids permeate rocks like a
gas and react with minerals like a fluid.
• Where does this fluid come from?
1- groundwater that percolates downward.
2- water and volatiles released from magma
3- water is released during some metamorphic reactions
KAl3Si3O10(OH)2 + SiO2 KAlSi3O8 + Al2SiO5 + H2O
Muscovite Quartz K-Feldspar Sillamanite Water
• Hydrothermal fluids speed metamorphic reactions because fluids allow for easy
transport of ions and fluids are consumed in some reactions
• Metasomatism – The process by which a rock’s chemical composition changes
due to reactions with hydrothermal fluids.
• Metasomatism commonly results in the formation of veins, mineral filled cracks.
Veins
• Veins are different than joints
Veins:
– Filled with minerals
– Commonly wavy in shape
Joints:
– Usually planar
– Usually not mineralized,
i.e. just a crack
Types of Metamorphic Rocks
• Metamorphic rocks are grouped into two main
categories:
– Foliated Metamorphic Rocks
– Non-Foliated Metamorphic Rocks
• But what exactly is foliation?
Foliation
• Foliation – The repetition of planar surfaces or layers in a
metamorphic rock. Layers can be paper-thin or meters thick.
– Happens because when rocks are subjected to differential stress, platy
minerals align or alternating light and dark layers form, giving the rock a
planar fabric, called foliation. Note that this is different than bedding.
Migmatite
Nonfoliated Metamorphic Rocks
Metamorphic rocks that have recrystallized and/or neocrystallized but do not
typically have a foliation (usually because grains are not sufficiently elongated).
Distinguished based on composition, but may be foliated if subjected to
significant differential stress
• Hornfels – Rock that undergoes heating in the absence of significant differential
stress. Typically hornfels form when rocks are baked by igneous intrusions
(contact metamorphism). No foliation is present because crystals grow in random
orientations due to a lack of significant differential stress. Composition varies and
depends on composition of protolith.
• Amphibolite – Metamorphosed
mafic rock (basalt, gabbro) can’t
form felsic minerals, so they tend
to form amphibolites, which are
dominantly made of visible
crystals of hornblende and
plagioclase (Ca-feldspar). Can
often be foliated. Amphibolite
Quartzite
Nonfoliated
Metamorphic Rocks
• Quartzite – Metamorphosed quartz
sandstone with larger interlocking
quartz crystals. Matrix material and
pore space is eliminated. Sandstone
looks grainy, Quartzite looks glassier
or more crystalline.
Marble
Metamorphic Compositions
• Occasionally, for simplicity, geologists will simply refer to the
composition of a metamorphic rock
– Mafic (or Basic) Metamorphic Rock – lots of mafic minerals
– Calcareous Metamorphic Rock – Calcite-bearing protoliths (limestone)
– Quartzo-Feldspathic (i.e. felsic) Metamorphic Rocks – form from
protoliths than contain a lot of feldspar and quartz (e.g. granite, diorite)
Gneiss Mylonite
Regional Metamorphism
• Mountain belts commonly produce a range of metamorphic rocks.
• When subduction eats up all available oceanic crust, collisional
orogens (mountain building events) happen.
• Mountains get eroded and expose the once deep metamorphic rocks
(e.g. most of the High Country)
Regional Metamorphism
• Regional metamorphism creates foliated rocks.
• This type of metamorphism is, by far, the most
important in terms of the amount of rock altered.
– Collisional belts are often…
• 1000’s of km long.
• 100’s of km wide.
Hydrothermal Metamorphism
• Alteration by hot, chemically aggressive water.
• A dominant process near mid-ocean ridge magma.
– Cold ocean water seeps into fractured crust.
– Heated by magma, this water then reacts with mafic rock.
– The hot water rises and is ejected via black smokers.
Subduction Metamorphism
• Subduction creates the unique blueschist facies.
• Trenches and accretionary prisms have…
– Low temperature (low geothermal gradient)
– High pressures
• High P & Low T favor
glaucophane, a blue
amphibole mineral.
Weathering Metamorphism