METAMORPHISM & ROCKS

© Marcia Anderson
 Metamorphic Rocks

• Metamorphic rocks are highly deformed.

• Usually caused by intruded igneous masses.
 Metamorphism:
• Transformation of rocks by
heat, pressure & chemically
active fluids.
• Change is textural and
mineralogical .
• Always occurs deep within
the earth.
• Provides clues @ geologic
processes w/in earth's
crust
• Must remain solid,
otherwise becomes
igneous.
• Rock becomes unstable
under heat & pressure &
gradually changes.
Calif.. Sin Nombre; ancient schist & gneiss
 Metamorphism:

• Occurs during mountain building; intense stress &

temperatures associated with large scale deformation.
• This Large scale deformation is regional
metamorphism.
 Regional Metamorphism
Alaska Copper Mountain

• Occurs during mountain building.

• Crust is squeezed and deformed, shortened and thickened.
• Thickening forms mountains.
• Cores of many mountains consist of intrusive igneous bodies
surrounded by high-grade metamorphic rocks.
 Regional Metamorphism

• Since they are formed under direct stress, metamorphic rocks are
usually foliated.
• Shale  slate  mica schist  feldspar/ hornblende  gneiss
• Appalachian Mts.: Ohio-->Cent. Pa -->E. Pa.-->NY -->Vt../ N.H.
 Metamorphism & Plate Tectonics

• Most metamorphism occurs at convergent zones.

• Compressional forces squeeze & deform the converging plates &
accumulated sediments along the continental margins.
• As lithosphere descends, pressure increases faster than temp.
• Material is continually transported to great depths at convergent
plate boundaries. At only a few km., clay becomes unstable, it
recrystallizes into minerals: (muscovite).
 Shields

• Extensive areas of metamorphic rocks & igneous

plutons on every continent.
• Canadian shields forms the bedrock over much of no.
Canada from Hudson Bay to No. Minnesota.
• Among oldest rocks on earth.
• Remnants of earlier mountain building.
Contact Metamorphism

• Molten rock comes in

contact with country rock
• Zone of alteration; aureole,
or halo forms @ the
magma body Near the
magma body, high temp
minerals form. le: garnet.
• Further away: low-grade
minerals like chlorite are
formed.
• Mineral composition and
amount of water will affect
the size of the aureole
produced.
 Contact
Metamorphism
• Clay minerals are 'baked'
forming fine- grained, dense
& hard rock.
• Since direct pressure is not a
factor: usually not foliated.
• Hard, non-foliated
metamorphic rock –hornfels.
• When water surrounds the
crystal, it acts as a catalyst
by aiding in ion migration.
• Minerals recrystallize to form
more stable configurations.
• Sometimes ion exchange
forms new minerals.
 Contact
Metamorphism
• When near or touching
magma intrusion: contact
metamorphism.
– High temps "bake" the
surrounding rock.
• Increased density.
• Larger crystals.
• Reorientation of mineral
grains into banded
appearance.
• Transformation of low temp.
minerals into high temp.
minerals.
• Introduction of ions generates
new minerals.
Dike at Deep Basin, N.C.
 Along Fault Zones

• When faulting occurs: frictional heat is produced.

• Angular pieces of Rocks are broken off along the fault line & lithified: fault
breccia.
 Heat as an Agent
High grade Metamorphism

• Intrusive igneous
body of ion-rich fluids
enters host rock.
• If quartz sandstone:
little alteration to
become quartzite.
 Heat
as an
Agent

• Recrystallization: encourages growth of larger crystals.

• Micas: sheet-like hornblende: elongated
• Minerals recrystallize with a preferred orientation.
• New orientation is I to compressional forces.
• Mineral alignment is horizontal, layered, banded : foliation
• Parallel alignment.
 Pressure as
an Agent

Slickenslide, N.Y. state Pa. Slate quarry

Directional stress can cause rocks to shear.

Shear: similar to slippage. Thin slabs slide past one another.
 Pressure as an Agent

• Confining pressure: stress exerted by the load above.

• Stress during Mt.. Building: applied force is directional,
squeezing the material.
• At great depths, warm rocks behave plastically; they flow and
bend into folds when subjected to shearing.
Chemical Activity
• Fluids, usually water,
with ions in solution,
aid metamorphism.
• With pressure: water is
forced out of mineral
structures and aids in
chemical reactions.
• Calcite and quartz
crystals react
chemically to form
wollastonite: CaSi03
from limestone w/
quartz (sand)
inclusions. C02 is
liberated.
 Chemical /
Hydrothermal
Activity
• Country rock adjacent to magma
body is altered by ion rich
hydrothermal (water) solutions.
• Many metallic ore deposits
formed from hydrothermal
activity.
• Marble: coarse crystalline rock
from limestone or dolomite.
• Quartzite: from quartz
sandstone. A hard, compact
rock.
 Texture
• Most metamorphic textures involve foliation.
Foliation is generally caused by a preferred
orientation of sheet silicates.
• If a rock has a slatey cleavage as its foliation, it is
termed a slate.
• If it has a phyllitic foliation, it is termed a phyllite.
• If it has a shistose foliation, it is termed a schist.
• A rock that shows a banded texture without a
distinct foliation is termed a gneiss.
• A rock that shows no foliation is called a hornfels if
the grain size is small, and a granulite, if the grain
size is large and individual minerals can be easily
distinguished with a hand lens.
 Common Metamorphic rocks
Meta- Rock Texture Meta- Environment Original Parent Rock

Slate Foliated Low grade Shale (clay minerals)

Phyllite Foliated Low to inter. Grade Shale
Mica schist Foliated Intermediate to high grade Shale
Gneiss Foliated High grade Granite, shale, andesite
Marble Nonfoliated Low to high grade Limestone ,
dolomite
Quartzite Nonfoliated Inter. to high grade Quartz sandstone
Metaconglomerate Nonfoliated Intermediate grade
Quartz-rich conglomerate
Amphibolite Foliated Medium to high grade Basalt, gabbro
Foliated rocks

• Rocks subjected to heat and differential pressure

during metamorphism have minerals arranged in
a parallel fashion that gives them a foliated
texture.
 Heat as an
Agent -
High grade
Metamorphism

Folded gneiss.

• Extreme conditions closer to melting.

• Features such as fossils, bedding planes, inclusions, vesicles
other rocks are completely destroyed or deformed.
• Under intense pressure & heat, rocks behave plastically, bend &
fold.
• Mineralogy determines the degree of metamorphism.
 Low grade Metamorphism
shale  slate

Slate beds at
Camp Hoover,

Newton, N.J.

• Becomes more compact and dense.

• Clay particles from shale realign in a more compact arrangement and
recrystallize into mica flakes.
• Flat surfaces are parallel.
Low grade Metamorphism
• Slate can be split
easily along these
layers of mica
resulting in slatey
cleavage.
• Mica grains are so
minute that slate is
not visibly foliated.
• Temp. & pressure
only slightly greater
than those
associated with
lithification of
sediments.

Pa. Slate mine

 Slate

• Slate: very fine grained & foliated.

• Minute mica flakes, results in excellent rock cleavage.
• Low-grade regional metamorphism.
• Both shale and slate split / cleave along bedding planes
• The grains cannot be seen w/o magnification; slatey cleavage.
• Black slate: carboniferous ; Red: iron oxide ; Green: chlorite
 Phyllite
slate  phyllite  schist

• Platy minerals: larger than slate, but not large enough for
ID.
• Similar to slate but glossy sheen (coarser grained)
• Rock cleavage & very fine crystals of muscovite or
chlorite.
 High grade Metamorphism

Micro muscovite mica-bio-garnet-schist

• Under higher temp. & pressure mica grains In state will

grow larger @ 1 cm.
• Rock looks platy or scaly: this foliation is Schistosity.
• This texture is schist. (most common: mica schist)
 Schist shale  slate  phyllite  schist

Almadine garnet in schist

• Strongly foliated formed by regional metamorphism.

• Readily split into flakes or slabs.
• Contains more than 50% platy & elongated materials. (usually
include micas & amphibole
• A wavy parting when broken.
Vishnu schist -Grand Canyon
Inner Gorge
Mica
Schist

• Mica schist: contains mostly micas & less quartz & feldspars
• Accessory minerals unique to metamorphic rocks: garnet,
staurolite, sillimanite.
• Also garnet, mica schist; chlorite schist; talc schist.
Blue Schist

• Rock is a poor
conductor of heat.
• Rock formed in high
pressure relative to
temp. is blue schist.
 Blue Schist

• The Blueschist Facies develops in terranes in which the

geothermal gradient is low or the overall P/T is moderate to
high.
• Typically, these facies series form on the outer (trench) side of
a paired metamorphic belt associated with a subduction zone.
 Gneiss shale  slate  phyllite  schist  gneiss

• Banded metamorphic rocks that contain mostly elongated and

granular minerals.
• Most common minerals: quartz, K feldspar & Na Feldspar.
• Segregation of light & dark silicates.
• Many form from metamorphism of granite.
Gneiss
Granite
gneiss

Ion migration can

cause minerals to
segregate i.e.:
gneiss.
Gneiss: a banded
appearance of
dark & light
minerals.
Can form from
metamorphosis
of granite or
gabbro.
 Non-foliated
rocks

• Mineral grains do not show a preferred orientation.

• They show a mosaic of mixed minerals.
• They are from contact or regional metamorphism where no platy
minerals were present.
• Fine grained limestone metamorphosed from small calcite
crystals combine to form interlocking crystals with texture of
coarse grained igneous rock.
• Marble Impurities: curved dark bands.
Miqmatites

• Partially melted & recrystallized rocks

• Migmitites – mixed rocks with both igneous and high grade
metamorphic characteristics.
• With streaks or lenses of granite mixed; with high-grade
ferromagnesian –rich metamorphic rocks.
• Wavy appearance.
 Greenstone

Serpentine

• Greenstone – any compact, dark green altered mafic

igneous rock that formed under low  high grade
metamorphic conditions.
• Green is from chlorite, epidote and hornblende.
Hornfels

• Hornfels – a fine
grained non-foliated
metamorphic rock
resulting from contact
metamorphism.
Usually from clays or
clay – rich sediments.
 • Organic sedimentary rocks form
Coal: Review from the build up and decay of
plant and animal material.
• This usually forms in swamp
regions in which there is an
abundant supply of growing
vegetation and low amounts of
oxygen. The bacteria that decay
the vegetation need oxygen to
survive.
• Because these decaying layers
are buried so fast the bacteria
use up what oxygen there is
available and can not finish the
decomposition of the vegetation.
• The overlaying layers become so
heavy that they squeeze out the
water and other compounds that
aid in decay.
Anthricite Coal • The longer and deeper that
coal is buried makes it of
higher quality.
• Peat is the first stage of coal
formation. Lignite is the
next grade of coal followed
by bituminous and the
highest grade, anthracite.
• Anthracite forms during
mountain building when
compaction and friction are
extremely high.
• This form of coal burns very
hot and almost smokeless.
• It is used in the production
of high grade steel.
 Thermal
• Complete alteration of
rock by hot mineral-rich
water i.e.: Yellowstone
National Park.
Metaconglomerate

• Conglomerate in which the quartz clasts have been

stretched like plastic, from heat and pressure.
Skarn Deposit
Skarns
• Skarns are rocks that originate from contact
metamorphism of limestone or dolostone.
• They show evidence of having exchanged
constituents with the intruding magma. 
• Skarns are generally composed of minerals like
calcite and dolomite, from the original
carbonate rock, but contain abundant Ca and
Mg silicate minerals like andradite, grossularite,
epidote, vesuvianite, diopside, and wollastonite
that form by reaction of the original carbonate
minerals with silica from the magma. 
• The chemical exchange is that takes place   is
called metasomatism.
 Mylonite: Lincolnville Falls, N.C.

• Mylonites are cataclastic metamorphic rocks that are

produced along shear zones deep in the crust. 
• They are usually fine-grained, sometimes glassy, that are
streaky or layered, with the layers and streaks having
been drawn out by ductile shear forces.
 Index Minerals
• Certain minerals are known to form only within specific
temperatures and pressure ranges.
• Chlorite  biotite  amphibole  staurolite  sillimonite
• Index minerals: good indicators of metamorphic
environments in which they formed.
• Chlorite: formed at 200o C .
• Sillimanite forms at 600o C.
• Light colored silicates: melt first; (quartz & k-feldspar).
• Dark colored silicates (amphibole & boitite) will remain
solid.
• Light crystalline igneous rock or unmelted dark material.
 Index Rocks
• (textural type) Mineral Assemblage in Pelitic Rocks
• Chlorite (slates & phyllites) quartz, chlorite, muscovite, albite
• Biotite (phyllites & schists) biotite begins to replace chlorite, quartz,
muscovite, albite
• Garnet (phyllites and schists) quartz, muscovite, biotite, almandine, albite
• Staurolite (schists) quartz, biotite, muscovite, almandine,
staurolite, oligoclase
• Kyanite (schists) quartz, biotite, muscovite, oligoclase,
almandine, kyanite
• Sillimanite (schists & gneisses) quartz, biotite, muscovite, oligoclase,
almandine, sillimanite
Index Mineral: • Garnets as a group are
relatively common in
Garnet highly metamorphosed
rocks and in some
igneous formations.
They form under the
high temperatures
and/or pressures that
those types of rocks
must endure.
• Garnets can be used by
geologists as a gauge
of how much
temperature and
pressure the rock has
endured.
Raspberry garnet
Garnet

• Garnets are greatly

variable in colors
and varieties, and
many of these are
both rare and
beautiful,
producing
genuinely precious
gemstones.
 • As a gemstone, garnets
Garnet have had a mixed
reputation.
• Garnets do possess high
indices of refraction, are
hard enough, have pretty
colors, are wonderfully
transparent, lack
cleavage and are durable;
thus making good
candidates for
gemstones.
• Many people consider
garnets to be inferior to
other colored gems due to
garnet's relative
abundance and
widespread use, and
therefore a (typically) low
Almadine garnet in schist price.
 Crystalloblastic Series

In metamorphic rocks individual minerals may or

may not be bounded by crystal faces.
The crystalloblastic series: a listing minerals in
order of their tendency to be idioblastic. In the
series, each mineral tends to develop idioblastic
surfaces against any mineral that occurs lower in
the series.
Those that are bounded by their own crystal faces
are termed idioblastic.
Those that show none of their own crystal faces are
termed xenoblastic.
 Crystalloblastic Series
• rutile, sphene, magnetite
• tourmaline kyanite, staurolite, garnet, andalusite
• epidote, zoisite, lawsonite, forsterite
• pyroxenes, amphiboles, wollastonite
• micas, chlorites, talc, stilpnomelane, prehnite
• dolomite, calcite
• scapolite, cordierite, feldspars
• quartz
• This series can enable us to determine the
origin of a given rock.
Slate Quarry • A roofing slate quarry in Pa.
Slate

• A low grade metamorphic material, that is easily split

along lines of foliation, slate has long been a roofing,
flooring and paving material.
 Slate Quarry

• Black and gray slate, such as this, is highly

carboniferous.
 Marble
These are rocks composed
mostly of calcite, and less
commonly of dolomite.
They result from
metamorphism of limestone
and dolostone. 
Some foliation may be
present if the marble
contains micas.

Washington Monument, Washington,

D.C. , is made of white marble from
Baltimore, Maryland encasing a Maine
granite core.
 Marble

Jefferson Memorial,
Washington, D.C.

Made of Danby marble

from Vermont. The
interior is Tennessee
pink marble and the
ring around the base is
Missouri gray marble.
 Marble
A highly used building stone throughout
the ages, due to it’s beauty, ease of
carving and abundance. The Leaning
Tower of Pisa is made of Italian marble.
Marble • Vulc mine:
• meta-marble zone
 Serpentine Quarry
Albene Stone Division of the Georgia Marble Co.
 Serpentine
Serpentinites are
rocks that formed
by hydro-thermal
metamorphism of
ultra-basic
igneous rocks.
Serpentines vary
greatly in
consistency and
use: from
asbestos to
serpentine
marble.
 Serpentine
• Serpentine is a major
rock forming mineral
and is found as a
constituent in many
metamorphic and
weather igneous rocks.
• It often colors many of
these rocks green.
• Most rocks that have a
green color probably
have serpentine in some
amount.
 Uses: many industrial applications,
Serpentine including brake linings and fireproof
fabrics and as an ornamental stone.
 Serpentines
• The following is a list of these minerals, their formulas and
symmetry class:
• Antigorite; (Mg,Fe)3Si2O5(OH)4; monoclinic.
• Clinochrysotile; Mg3Si2O5(OH)4; monoclinic.
• Lizardite; Mg3Si2O5(OH)4; trigonal and hexagonal.
• Orthochrysotile; Mg3Si2O5(OH)4; orthorhombic.
• Parachrysotile; (Mg,Fe)3Si2O5(OH)4; orthorhombic.
• Their differences are minor and almost indistinguishable in
hand samples.
• The chrysotile minerals are more likely to form serpentine
asbestos, while antigorite and lizardite form
cryptocrystalline masses sometimes with a lamellar or
micaceous character.
• Asbestos was used for years as a fire retarding cloth in
ceiling tiles, pipe insulation and in brake linings. Its links
to cancer have led to the development of alternative
materials for these purposes.
Quartzite
• Quartz arenites & chert
are both composed
mostly of SiO2. 
• Since quartz is stable
over a wide range of
pressures and
temperatures,
metamorphism of
quartz arenites and
cherts will result only in
the recrystallization of
quartz forming a hard
rock with interlocking
crystals of quartz.  
Quartz Sandstone --> Quartzite

• Another example
of sandstone
and a
comparable
piece of
quartzite.
ULM Quartzite Quarries - NUQQ

• Products from quartzite:

• Standard Coarse
• Aggregates
• Railroad Ballast
• Surface Seals
• Road Base
• Natural Filter Media
• Manufactured Sands,
100% Crushed
The NUQQ quarry company produces: 
· Four different sizes of concrete aggregate
· Six sizes of bituminous aggregates including
manufactured sands
· Rip Rap
· Railroad ballast
· Crushed road base
· Seal coat chips
· Aggregate for concrete products such as pre-cast
building panels and concrete pipe
· Decorative landscape rock
· Ganister and filtration media
· Filter rock for sewage treatment plants 
The 2nd largest manufacturer of crystalline mineral poultry
grit in the U.S., under the name Cherry Stone.
The grit is also sold as a traction agent on ice and snow.
 Quartzite

• Trilobite fossil in quartzite from Morocco

• Ancient quartzite tool from Morocco
 Blue
Schist as
an Ancient
Building
Material

• This 12th-century medieval citadel and a domes municipals

(town hall) sits upon an ultramafic dome.
• Many of the stones used in the citadel are blue schist and
other ultramafic rocks, derived from the Braganca Massif. 
Blue Schist
Blue Schist as an Ancient
Building Material

Ancient Roman Bridge in Portugal

 Blue
Schist

Detail of Ancient
Roman Bridge.

• The rocks in this area have been interpreted as fragments of the

mantle below an island arc that existed in NW Spain and
Northern Portugal during the mountain building period called
Variscan (sometimes called the Herycnian) orogeny. 
 Blue
Schist

• This mountain building period is interpreted as a result of a late

Paleozoic period of collision between the attached North America
and European continents with Gondwana to form the major
portion of the supercontinent Pangaea. 
Portuguese country home made of varied
metamorphic rocks including blue schist.