Metamorphic Rock Features List
Click on a feature name to view an information page with images for that feature. The features collection is under construction, so only the highlighted (tan) names have images so far.
- Metamorphic Rock Only Features
- ductile deformation
- consistenly aligned mineral grains (foliation)
- gneissic banding
- mica-rich (schist)
- certain minerals present (e.g. staurolite, chloritoid)
- Metamorphic Rock Shared Features
- mosaic texture: Met and Ign (grains not rounded, crystalized in place)
- euhedral minerals: Met and Ign (crystal forms visible)
- garnet present: Met and Ign
- carbonate mineral-rich: Met (marbles), Sed (limstones), Ign (carbonatites)
- presence of layering: Met (metamophosed layered rock), Sed (bedding), Ign (lava flows, pyroclastic rocks)
- absence of layering: Met (metamorphosed igneous rock), Ign
- random orientation of grains : Met (granofels, conact metamorphic rocks), Ign, Sed
- cross-cutting relationships: Met (metamorphosed dike), Ign (dike)
- angular grains in matrix: Met (cataclastic), Ign (pyroclastic), Sed (immature)
- Features Metamorphic Rocks Do Not Have
- rounded grains
- fossils or trace fossils
- other sedimentary rock features (e.g. cross-bedding, ripple marks)
- elipsoidal holes (vesicles)
- glass
- other volcanic features (e.g. lava flow, spatter cone, etc.)
- pillow structures
- certain minerals (e.g. sanidine, leucite, pigeonite)
