METAMORPHIC
ROCKS
What are Metamorphic Rocks?
• 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.
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!
Foliated Metamorphic Rocks
• 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.
Non-Foliated Metamorphic Rocks
• 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, 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.
QUARTZITE
➢ a compact, hard, non-foliated, medium to coarsely
crystalline, and almost mono mineral metamorphic rocks
with granoblastic texture.
➢ The pure quartzite forms from the quartz-rich sedimentary
rocks, such as, pure sandstone, siltstone, and hornfels.
➢ It is widely available, massive, cheap, extremely resistant to
chemical weathering, and are often found in the form of
morphological elevations or areas that protrude from the
surrounding rocks.
➢ In the field of construction, quartzite is used as a decorative
stone and is suitable for railway ballast, roadways, dam site,
and building material such as walls, flooring, roofing tiles,
stair steps, and countertops in kitchens.
Properties and Composition
➢consists almost entirely of silicon dioxide, SiO2, iron
oxide and may contain trace amounts of the minerals
rutile, zircon, and magnetite. It also contains fossils.
➢ comparable to that of quartz and considerably
harder than sandstone with a Mohs hardness of 7.
➢breaks with a conchoidal fracture just like glass and
obsidian.
➢has a coarse texture makes it difficult to hone to a
fine edge
➢it’s interlocking crystal structure becomes apparent
under magnification.
Figure 1: Quartzite Metamorphic Rock
Figure 2: Magnified Quartzite
Figure 3: Quartzite Bricks used to cover Walls
Figure 4: Polished Quartzite used for Countertop
Formation of Quartzite
➢Mostly formed during mountain-building events
(regional metamorphism) but it can also occur by
contact metamorphism.
➢The chemical activity, heating, and pressure
recrystallizes the quartz grain creating a bond with
the cementing minerals such as silica and clay.
Figure 5: Regional and Contact Metamorphism
METAMORPHIC ROCKS
MARBLE
What is a Marble?
Marble is a metamorphic rock formed when
limestone is exposed to high temperatures and
pressures. Marble forms under such conditions
because the calcite forming the limestone
recrystallizes forming a denser rock consisting
of roughly equi-granular calcite crystals.
How marbles processed to create as a useful rock?
• Marble Mining
Marble is currently being obtained from open cast quarries.
• Arrival and Unloading of Marble Blocks
The blocks are unloaded and classified in the blocks yard prior to
being sawed.
• Marble Cutting
Marble is cut using multiwire or block cutters.
• Strengthening and Polishing
Slabs are taken to the production line for further processing.
• Slab Storage
The slabs will be ready for display or will go directly to
packaging ready for shipment.
• Loading
we will use different shipment methods depending on the
destination.
USES OF MARBLE
• Building and Sculptures
This rock is still used today as a decorative
construction material. Marble is used in both internal and
external applications. Marble has a translucent feature and
it allows light to enter and give out a soft glow. Marble can
also take a very high polish. Thus, it is also used in making
sculptures.
• Construction Aggregate
Crushed marble is often used as construction
aggregate and is used as fill. It has been found out that
marble cleaves more readily than limestone due to the
presence of calcite.
USES OF MARBLE
• Brightener, Filler, Pigment
Some marbles are extremely white. These type of
marbles are used to manufacture a white powder which is
popularly known as whiting. This is used as a brightener,
filler and pigment in paper, paint and some other products.
• Soil Treatment
This compound is used in agriculture for treating the
soil and basically to reduce the soil acidity. It is used in
combination with fertilizers to improve the yield of a soil.
USES
• Neutralizing Acids
OF MARBLE
One of the main compositions of marble is calcium carbonate.
Due to this, marbles can be crushed to form a powder and used in
neutralizing acids and removing impurities. Powdered marble is also
used in water treatment and as an acid-neutralizing agent in the
chemical industry.
• In Supplements
Powdered marble are also often used to produce animal
supplements. Crushed marbles are soft easily soluble, and rich in
calcium.
• Cemetery Marker
The most common use of marble that we can relate to is its use
as a tombstone or cemetery markers. It is easy to cut and engrave on
marbles.
Metamorphic Rocks
Slate is a metamorphic rock that originated as a
shale, a sedimentary rock. Slate is a fine-grained,
foliated metamorphic rock composed of clay or
volcanic ash formed through low-grade regional
metamorphism altering shale or mudstone. It is the
foliated metamorphic rock with the finest grain size. It
is also a foliated rock that shows "slaty cleavage."
It is considered as the
finest grained foliated
metamorphic rock, having
0.01 mm or less of space
occurring between each
layer or lamina.
Slate is mostly made up of clay minerals or
micas, depending on the degree of metamorphism it
has undergone. With increasing heat and pressure, the
initial clay minerals in shale transform into micas.
Slate can also contain a lot of quartz, along with
feldspar, calcite, pyrite, hematite, and other minerals.
Most slates are gray in color and come in a
variety of hues ranging from light to dark gray. Slate
comes in a variety of colors, including green, red, black,
purple, and brown. The amount and kind of iron and
organic material contained in the rock usually
determine the color of slate.
➢Slates appear green because
of chlorite, a group of
common sheet silicate
minerals that develop during
the early phases of
metamorphism.
➢They most commonly occur in
rock situations where heat,
pressure, and chemical activity
affect minerals.
➢Slate takes on a green hue
when chlorite is present in
high enough concentrations.
➢Blue slate is an aquatic
sedimentary rock that is
frequently crossed with grey to
produce a blue-grey tone.
Calcium carbonate is the most
common mineral found in it.
➢Carbonaceous particles or
finely split iron sulfide give
dark slates their color.
➢Hematite is the mineral that
causes purple and red slate.
➢Slates created from deposits
established in oxidizing
conditions include hematite,
an iron oxide. It is the most
resistant type of iron and is
unaffected by environmental
factors.
• Slate is formed through the regional metamorphosis of
mudstone or shale under low-pressure conditions.
• When shale or mudstone is exposed to heavy pressure and
heat from a tectonic plate activity, its clay mineral
components metamorphose into mica minerals.
• Mica minerals such as biotite, chlorite, and muscovite, are the main
components of slate.
• Formed through the process of foliation.
• Layers of rocks are then formed perpendicular to the
direction of the pressure of metamorphic compression. This
gives slate its ability to cleave along flat planes.
Foliation is the repetitive lamination of
metamorphic rocks caused by shearing forces or
differential pressure.
• Slate is durable and attractive.
• Most of the slate collected around the world is used to make
roofing tile. Slate is a good choice for this work since it can be
carved into thin sheets, absorbs little moisture, and holds up
well when exposed to freezing water.
• Interior flooring, external pavement, dimension stone, and
decorative aggregate.
• Chalkboards, student writing slates, billiard tables, cemetery
markers, whetstones, and tabletops have all been made of
slate in the past.
• Also utilized for early electric panels and switch boxes since it
is a strong electrical insulator.
The hardness of minerals is
measured through the Mohs scale.
This 1 to 10 scale has been widely
used in mineral identification since
1812. Slate is considered to be in
between 2.5 to 4 on this scale in
terms of hardness, which means
that it is, on average, almost as hard
as marble and limestone, but not as
hard as granite or natural quartz.
GNEISS
Metamorphic Rocks
DESCRIPTION
• It is a medium- to coarse-grained, semi
schistose metamorphic rock.
• It is a high-grade metamorphic rock.
• It is characterized by alternating light
and dark bands differing in mineral
composition.
• It is formed by the metamorphosis
of granite (orthogneiss),
or sedimentary rock (paragneiss).
Color Variable in color, usually alternating light and dark bands
Medium to coarse grained; crystals are visible to the naked
Grain size
eye
Hardness Hard
Banded, foliated, layered, aggregates, of platy or linear
Texture
grains forming lenses or blades
Light Bands = quartz, feldspar, muscovite
Minerals
Dark Bands = hornblende, biotite, graphite, garnet
Gneiss is the main rock in Precambrian regions but occur
Occurrences world-wide in a lot of different metamorphic geological
unit
Other features Generally rough to touch
COMPOSITION
It is rich in feldspar and Gneiss can also be Unlike slate and schist, gneiss
quartz, and it also contains composed of does not preferentially break
mica minerals and aluminous gabbro or shale along planes of foliation because
or ferromagnesian silicates less than 50% of the minerals
formed during the metamorphism
are aligned in thin layers.
MINERAL COMPOSITION IS NOT AN ESSENTIAL
FACTOR TO BE CALLED “GNEISS”
FORMATION
• Most commonly, Gneiss forms from shale (a sedimentary
rock).
• At convergent plate boundaries, shale transforms into slate,
then phyllite, then schist, and finally into gneiss. During this
transformation, clay particles in shale transform into micas
and increase in size. Finally, the platy micas begin to
recrystallize into granular minerals. The appearance of
granular minerals is what marks the transition into gneiss.
• It is a high-grade metamorphic rock in which mineral grains
recrystallized under intense heat and pressure.
VARIETIES OF GNEISS
Banded Gneiss Lenticular Gneiss Biotite-Gneiss Hornblende-Gneiss
Granite-Gneiss Diorite-Gneiss Syenite-Gneiss
USES AND
APPLICATIONS
• Metamorphic Gneiss has
many uses as a building
material such as flooring,
ornamental stones,
gravestones, facing
stones on buildings and
work surfaces.
GNEISS
Metamorphic Rocks
METAMORPHIC
ROCKS
DESCRIPTION
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COMPOSITION
FORMATION
SCHISTOSITY
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VARIETIES
USES AND
APPLICATIONS
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