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Metamorphism is the transformation of existing rock (the protolith) to rock with a different mineral composition or texture. Metamorphism 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. [ 1 ]
Augen gneiss, from the German: Augen, meaning "eyes", is a gneiss resulting from metamorphism of granite, which contains characteristic elliptic or lenticular shear-bound grains (porphyroclasts), normally feldspar, surrounded by finer grained material. The finer grained material deforms around the more resistant feldspar grains to produce this ...
These show the most well-developed schistosity, defined as the extent to which platy minerals are present and are aligned in a single direction, so that the rock easily splits into plates less than a centimeter (0.4 inches) thick. [24] Gneisses, which are more coarse grained and show thicker foliation than schists, with layers over 5mm thick. [23]
Pseudosection is an equilibrium phase diagram which shows all the stable mineral assemblages of a rock at different P-T ranges for a single whole-rock chemical composition (bulk-rock composition). [25] The stable mineral assemblages are marked as different areas in the P-T graph. [25]
The quartz percentage among felsic minerals in TTG rocks is usually larger than 20% but less than 60%. [1] In tonalite and trondhjemite, more than 90% of the feldspars are plagioclase, while in granodiorite, this number is between 65% and 90%. [1]
In some of the Blue Ridge Mountains occurrences, an epidotized augen gneiss is present exhibiting foliation structures. The dominant green epidote in unakite rocks is the metasomatic alteration product of plagioclase feldspar, while the orthoclase and quartz crystals remain unaffected.
Metamorphic rocks can be derived from any other kind of non-metamorphic rock and thus there is a wide variety of protoliths. Identifying a protolith is a major aim of metamorphic geology . Protoliths are non-metamorphic rocks and have no protoliths themselves.
Gneiss, a foliated metamorphic rock. Quartzite, a non-foliated metamorphic rock. Foliation in geology refers to repetitive layering in metamorphic rocks. [1] Each layer can be as thin as a sheet of paper, or over a meter in thickness. [1] The word comes from the Latin folium, meaning "leaf", and refers to the sheet-like planar structure. [1]