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Greywacke or graywacke (German grauwacke, signifying a grey, earthy rock) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness (6–7 on Mohs scale), dark color, and poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or sand-size lithic fragments set in a compact, clay-fine matrix.
For instance, the small calcite crystals in the sedimentary rock limestone and chalk change into larger crystals in the metamorphic rock marble. [12] In 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 ...
Metamorphism is 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 the pioneering Scottish naturalist, James Hutton , who is often described as the father ...
Evaporite – Water-soluble mineral deposit formed by evaporation from an aqueous solution; Flint – Cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz; Geyserite – Form of opaline silica often found around hot springs and geysers; Greywacke – Sandstone with angular grains in a clay-fine matrix; Gritstone – Hard, coarse-grained, siliceous ...
In his pioneering work on metamorphic facies in the Scottish Highlands, G.M. Barrow identified the chlorite zone as the zone of mildest metamorphism. [12] In modern petrology, chlorite is the diagnostic mineral of the greenschist facies. [10] This facies is characterized by temperatures near 450 °C (840 °F) and pressures near 5 kbar. [13]
Quartzite can have a grainy, glassy, sandpaper-like surface. Quartzite is a hard, non-foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone. [1] [2] Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts.
While pure quartzite is usually white or gray, Baraboo Quartzite is typically dark purple to maroon in color, due to the presence of iron and other impurities. [2] Baraboo Quartzite may display strata created by progressive deposition of layers of sand in the original sandstone from which the quartzite was formed (through metamorphism ). [ 2 ]
A sample of banded hornfels, formed by contact metamorphism of sandstones and shales by a granite intrusion. Hornfels is the group name for a set of contact metamorphic rocks that have been baked and hardened by the heat of intrusive igneous masses and have been rendered massive, hard, splintery, and in some cases exceedingly tough and durable. [1]