METAMORPHISM

IN GEOCHEMISTRY
DR. SRIATUN, S.SI, M.SI
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY, DIPONEGORO UNIVERSITY
METAMORPHISM

• the transformation of existing rock (the protolith) to rock with a

different mineral composition or texture.
• takes place at temperatures in excess of 150 °C (300 °F), and often
also at elevated pressure or in the presence of chemically active
fluids, but the rock remains mostly solid during the transformation.
• distinct from weathering or diagenesis, which are changes that take
place at or just beneath Earth's surface
TYPE OF METAMORPHISM

• regional,
• contact,
• hydrothermal,
• shock, and
• dynamic metamorphism
These differ in the characteristic temperatures, pressures, and rate at which
they take place and in the extent to which reactive fluids are involved.
• Metamorphism occurring at increasing pressure and temperature
conditions is known as prograde metamorphism
• if decreasing temperature and pressure characterize retrograde
metamorphism.
 METAMORPHISM PROCESSES

• The set of processes by which existing rock is transformed physically or chemically at

elevated temperature, without actually melting to any great degree.
• The importance of heating in the formation of metamorphic rock was first recognized by
James Hutton.
• The pressure was important in metamorphism
Rock can be transformed without melting because heat causes atomic bonds to break, freeing
the atoms to move and form new bonds with other atoms. Pore fluid present between mineral
grains is an important medium through which atoms are exchanged. This
permits recrystallization of existing minerals or crystallization of new minerals with different
crystalline structures or chemical compositions (neocrystallization).[ The transformation
converts the minerals in the protolith into forms that are more stable (closer to chemical
equilibrium) under the conditions of pressure and temperature at which metamorphism takes
• Metamorphism is generally regarded to begin at temperatures of 100 to 200 °C (212 to 392 °F).
This excludes diagenetic changes due to compaction and lithification, which result in the
formation of sedimentary rocks.
The upper boundary of metamorphic conditions lies at the solidus of the rock, which is the
temperature at which the rock begins to melt. At this point, the process becomes
an igneous process. The solidus temperature depends on the composition of the rock, the
pressure, and whether the rock is saturated with water. Typical solidus temperatures range from
650 °C (1,202 °F) for wet granite at a few hundred megapascals (MPa) of pressure to about
1,080 °C (1,980 °F) for wet basalt at atmospheric pressure. Migmatites are rocks formed at this
upper limit, which contains pods and veins of material that has started to melt but has not fully
segregated from the refractory residu
RECRYSTALLIZATION

• The change in the grain size and orientation in the rock during the process of
metamorphism.
• For instance → the small calcite crystals in the sedimentary
rocks limestone and chalk change into larger crystals in the metamorphic
rock marble
• Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form
of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the
sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor.
• Limestone (calcium carbonate CaCO3) is a type of carbonate sedimentary
rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of
the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of CaCO3.
• Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals that recrystallize
under the influence of heat, pressure, and aqueous solutions (most commonly calcite
(CaCO3) or dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) and has a crystalline texture of varying thickness.
Marble is typically not foliated (layered),
• metamorphosed sandstone, recrystallization of the original quartz sand grains results
in very compact quartzite, also known as metaquartzite, in which the often larger
quartz crystals are interlocked.[14] Both high temperatures and pressures contribute to
recrystallization. High temperatures allow the atoms and ions in solid crystals to
migrate, thus reorganizing the crystals, while high pressures cause solution of the
crystals within the rock at their points of contact (pressure solution) and redeposition
in pore space.
• During recrystallization, the identity of the mineral does not change, only its texture.
Recrystallization generally begins when temperatures reach above half the melting
point of the mineral on the Kelvin scale