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Abbreviations of minerals: act = actinolite; chl = chlorite; ep = epidote; gt = garnet; hbl = hornblende; plag = plagioclase. Two minerals represented in the figure do not participate in the reaction, they can be quartz and K-feldspar. This reaction takes place in nature when a mafic rock goes from amphibolite facies to greenschist facies.
Dislocation creep is a non-linear (plastic) deformation mechanism in which vacancies in the crystal glide and climb past obstruction sites within the crystal lattice. [1] These migrations within the crystal lattice can occur in one or more directions and are triggered by the effects of increased differential stress.
Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock ( protolith ) is subjected to temperatures greater than 150 to 200 °C (300 to 400 °F) and, often, elevated pressure of 100 megapascals (1,000 bar ) or more, causing profound physical or chemical changes.
These rocks are fine-grained and sometimes cool so rapidly that no crystals can form and result in a natural glass, such as obsidian, however the most common fine-grained rock would be known as basalt. Any of the three main types of rocks (igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks) can melt into magma and cool into igneous rocks. [2]
Both the resultant crystalline mosaics and/or polymorphs are chemically identical—with a few minor exceptions due to certain relatively minute chemical alterations that occur during the reaction processes—to the minerals from which the aggraded crystals developed. [4] One common form of aggrading neomorphism is called porphyroid neomorphism.
The convention for analysing structural geology is to identify the planar structures, often called planar fabrics because this implies a textural formation, the linear structures and, from analysis of these, unravel deformations. Planar structures are named according to their order of formation, with original sedimentary layering the lowest at S0.
When rock behaves as a fluid, as in the case of very weak rock such as rock salt, or any rock that is buried deeply enough, it typically shows flow folding (also called passive folding, because little resistance is offered): the strata appear shifted undistorted, assuming any shape impressed upon them by surrounding more rigid rocks.
In geology, texture or rock microstructure [1] refers to the relationship between the materials of which a rock is composed. [2] The broadest textural classes are crystalline (in which the components are intergrown and interlocking crystals), fragmental (in which there is an accumulation of fragments by some physical process), aphanitic (in which crystals are not visible to the unaided eye ...