Metamorphic

Group 5

Part 1: Introduction
 What is Metamorphic?
Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types
of rock in a process called metamorphism.
Metamorphic rocks started out as some other type of rock, but have been
substantially changed from their original igneous, sedimentary, or earlier
metamorphic form. Metamorphic rocks form when rocks are subjected to high
heat, high pressure, hot mineral-rich fluids or, more commonly, some
combination of these factors. Conditions like these are found deep within the
Earth or where tectonic plates meet.
Denoting or relating to rock that has undergone transformation by heat,
pressure, or other natural agencies, e.g. in the folding of strata or the nearby
intrusion of igneous rocks.
Process of Metamorphism:
The process of metamorphism does not melt the rocks, but instead transforms
them into denser, more compact rocks. New minerals are created either by
rearrangement of mineral components or by reactions with fluids that enter the
rocks. Pressure or temperature can even change previously metamorphosed
rocks into new types. Metamorphic rocks are often squished, smeared out, and
folded. Despite these uncomfortable conditions, metamorphic rocks do not get
hot enough to melt, or they would become igneous rocks!
 What is an example of a metamorphic?
Some examples of metamorphic rocks are gneiss, slate, marble, schist, and
quartzite. Slate and quartzite tiles are used in building construction. Marble is
also prized for building construction and as a medium for sculpture.
 What is the most common metamorphic rock?
Quartzite and marble are the most commonly used metamorphic rocks. They are
frequently chosen for building materials and artwork. Marble is used for statues
and decorative items like vases. Ground up marble is also a component of
toothpaste, plastics, and paper
 Why metamorphic rock is important?
valuable, because metamorphic minerals and rocks have economic value. For
example, slate and marble are building materials, garnets are used as gemstones
and abrasives, talc is used in cosmetics, paints, and lubricants, and asbestos is
used for insulation and fireproofing.

Part 2: Foliated
Foliated means the parallel arrangement of certain
mineral grains that gives the rock a striped appearance.)
Foliation forms when pressure squeezes the flat or
elongate minerals within a rock so they become aligned.
Some kinds of metamorphic rocks -- granite gneiss and
biotite schist are two examples -- are strongly banded or
foliated. (Foliated means the parallel arrangement of certain mineral grains that
gives the rock a striped appearance.) Foliation forms when pressure squeezes
the flat or elongate minerals within a rock so they become aligned. These rocks
develop a platy or sheet-like structure that reflects the direction that pressure
was applied.
 What are foliated metamorphic rocks made of?
The foliation of metamorphic rocks is due to the presence of sheet silicates such
as the micas and chlorite, or minerals that tend to form elongated crystals, such
as amphibole (hornblende). Foliated rocks may contain crystals of mineral that
tend for form in rounded or cubic crystals.
 Where are foliated metamorphic rocks formed?
The Earth's interior
Foliated metamorphic rocks are formed within the Earth's interior under
extremely high pressures that are unequal, occurring when the pressure is
greater in one direction than in the others (directed pressure).
One kind of foliation is called gneissic banding, which looks like bands of light
and dark layers. Any rock that contains more than one kind of mineral can be
the protolith for gneiss, which is the name for a metamorphic rock that exhibits
gneissic banding.
Slate is a type of metamorphic rock
that is used for a variety of purposes
in construction. A fine-grained rock
that breaks into pieces along flat planes, slate is usually bluish-gray in color, but
it also comes in shades of green, red, purple and brown. The parent rock – also
called the protolith – of slate can be shale or mudstone. Like other metamorphic
rocks, slate is transformed from shale or mudstone by a combination of high
temperature and high pressure. Often created as a result of regional
metamorphism, slate is usually found in large areas affected by tectonic forces,
such as near mountain ranges or where two tectonic plates converge.
Because slate is foliated and cleaves cleanly along parallel lines, it can easily be
broken into smaller slabs that are useful for a variety of purposes. A chemically
inert rock, slate is often used to build laboratory bench tops. Slate is thermally
stable, which means that it is relatively heat resistant – another property that
makes it useful in science labs.
Slate is found all over the world, from the Americas to Europe, Asia and
Australia. In the Americas, major slate producing regions include New York,
Vermont, Maine, Pennsylvania, Newfoundland and Brazil. In Europe, slate has
been extracted from Wales, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany and Norway.
China is the main slate producer in Asia, and
there are slate quarries across the continent of
Australia.
Schist is a foliated metamorphic rock made
up of plate-shaped mineral grains that are
large enough to see with an unaided eye. It
usually forms on a continental side of a
convergent plate boundary where sedimentary
rocks, such as shales and mudstones, have
been subjected to compressive forces, heat,
and chemical activity. This metamorphic environment is intense enough to
convert the clay minerals of the sedimentary rocks into platy metamorphic
minerals such as muscovite, biotite, and chlorite. To become schist, a shale must
be metamorphosed in steps through slate and then through phyllite. If the schist
is metamorphosed further, it might become a granular rock known as gneiss.
Schist is a rock that has been exposed to a moderate level of heat and a
moderate level of pressure.
Schists are often named according to the eye-visible minerals of metamorphic
origin that are obvious and abundant when the rock is examined. Muscovite
schist, biotite schist, and chlorite schist (often called "greenstone") are
commonly used names. Other names based upon obvious metamorphic minerals
are garnet schist, kyanite schist, staurolite schist,
What is schist rock made of?
Most schists are composed largely of platy minerals such as muscovite, chlorite,
talc, sericite, biotite, and graphite; feldspar and quartz are much less abundant in
schist than in gneiss.hornblende schist, and graphite schist.

Gneiss is a coarse to medium grained banded

metamorphic rock formed from igneous or
sedimentary rocks during regional
metamorphism. Rich in feldspars and quartz,
gneisses also contain mica minerals and
aluminous or ferromagnesian silicates.
Gneiss, metamorphic rock that has a distinct banding, which is apparent in hand
specimen or on a microscopic scale. Gneiss usually is distinguished from schist
by its foliation and schistosity; gneiss displays a well-developed foliation and a
poorly developed schistosity and cleavage. For the casual student, it is
convenient to think of a gneiss as a rock with parallel, somewhat irregular
banding which has little tendency to split along planes. In contrast, schist
typically is composed of platy minerals with a parallel to subparallel geometric
orientation that gives the rock a tendency to split along planes; banding is
usually not present.
Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is
formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on
formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher
temperatures and pressures than schist. Gneiss nearly always shows a banded
texture characterized by alternating darker and lighter colored bands and
without a distinct cleavage.

Part 3: Non-Foliated
 What is the definition of non-foliated?
'Non-foliated' means 'not banded' or 'not layered. ‘Some metamorphic rocks
form so that they look as though they have layers,
and these are said to be foliated.
 What is a non-foliated rock?
Non-foliated metamorphic rocks lack foliated texture because they often lack
platy minerals such as micas. They commonly result from contact or regional
metamorphism. Examples include marble, quartzite, greenstone, hornfel, and
anthracite.
Non-foliated metamorphic rocks do not have a platy or sheet-like structure.
There are several ways that non-foliated rocks can be produced. Some rocks,
such as limestone are made of minerals that are not flat or elongate. No matter
how much pressure you apply, the grains will not align! Another type of
metamorphism, contact metamorphism, occurs when hot igneous rock intrudes
into some pre-existing rock. The pre-existing rock is essentially baked by the
heat, changing the mineral structure of the rock without addition of pressure.
 How are Non-foliated rocks formed?
Non-foliated rocks form when pressure is uniform, or near the surface where
pressure is very low. They can also form when the parent rock consists of
blocky minerals such as quartz and calcite, in which individual crystals do not
align because they aren't longer in any one dimension.

Quartzite rock
Quartzite is a metamorphic rock formed when quartz-rich
sandstone or chert has been exposed to high temperatures and
pressures. Such conditions fuse the quartz grains together
forming a dense, hard, equigranular rock.
Most quartzite forms during mountain-building events at
convergent plate boundaries where sandstone was deposited on a continental
plate. There, the sandstone is metamorphosed into quartzite by the intense
pressure of a plate collision and often by deep burial.
Quartzite is usually white to gray in color. Some rock units that are stained by
iron can be pink, red, or purple. Other impurities can cause quartzite to be
yellow, orange, brown, green, or blue.
Is quartz and quartzite the same rock?
The biggest difference between quartz and quartzite is that quartz is a man-
made material, while quartzite is a natural stone. A quartzite countertop begins
as sandstone, which under a natural process of heat and pressure is fused with
sparkly quartz crystals to form quartzite
Marble is a metamorphic rock that
forms when limestone is subjected to the
heat and pressure of metamorphism. It is
composed primarily of the mineral
calcite (CaCO3) and usually contains
other minerals, such as clay minerals,
micas, quartz, pyrite, iron oxides, and
graphite.

The transformation of limestone into

marble usually occurs at convergent plate boundaries where large areas of
Earth's crust are exposed to the heat and pressure of regional metamorphism.
Some marble also forms by contact metamorphism when a hot magma body
heats adjacent limestone or dolostone. This process also occurs at convergent
plate boundaries
Marble is usually a light-colored rock. When it is formed from a limestone with
very few impurities, it will be white in color. Marble that contains impurities
such as clay minerals, iron oxides, or bituminous material can be bluish, gray,
pink, yellow, or black in color.

Part 4: The difference and similarities between foliated and

Non-Foliated
Difference
Foliated metamorphic rocks exhibit layers or stripes caused by the elongation
and alignment of minerals in the rock as it undergoes metamorphism. In
contrast, nonfoliated metamorphic rocks do not contain minerals that align
during metamorphism and do not appear layered.
Foliated metamorphic rocks have layered or banded appearance produced by
exposure to high temperatures and pressures while non-foliated metamorphic
rocks do not have layered appearance.

Similarities
In very simple terms, Foliation develops due to pressure exerted. So foliated
rocks are mainly Metamorphic rocks (low grade). Now since both igneous and
sedimentary rocks can undergo metamorphism, so foliation can develop in any
of them when pressure ( or stress) is applied. Non- Foliated rocks on other hand
is a very generalized term, it can include any rock ( may it be sedimentary,
igneous or metamorphic). We can say that non-foliated rocks have not
undergone significant stresses but it may not be always true since foliation can
be destroyed through crystallization or in higher temperature regimes (high
grade metamorphism).
The foliation of metamorphic rocks is due to the presence of sheet silicates such
as the micas and chlorite, or minerals that tend to form elongated crystals, such
as amphibole (hornblende). Foliated rocks may contain crystals of mineral that
tend for form in rounded or cubic crystals.

How will you describe the characteristics of foliated and non-foliated rocks?
Foliation is the repetitive layering of rocks due to intense directed pressure.
Foliated rocks are characterized by linear streaks that vary in width. Non-
foliated metamorphic rocks do not have these streaks.