1. Kinds of metamorphism
Lecture based on
And PowerPoint lecture of Dr. J.D. Winter

2. The Types of Metamorphism
Different approaches to classification
1. Based on principal process or agent
Dynamic Metamorphism
Thermal Metamorphism
Dynamo-thermal Metamorphism

3. 2. Based on setting (P-T conditions/tectonic)
Contact Metamorphism
Pyrometamorphism
Regional Metamorphism
Orogenic Metamorphism
Burial Metamorphism
Ocean Floor Metamorphism
Hydrothermal Metamorphism
Fault-Zone Metamorphism (cataclastic or mylonitic in your text)
Impact or Shock Metamorphism

4. Types of metamorphism based on pressure and temperature conditions

5. Blueschist metamorphism
Geothermal gradient: Indicates the average increase of temperature with depth
HIGH pressure/Low temperature
Typically associated with subduction zones
Example: Blueschist (from glaucophane)

6. Glaucophane in a blueschist (ppl).
1mm
Glaucophane in a blueschist (ppl).

7. Eclogite metamorphism
VERY HIGH pressure/moderate temperature
Happens in the mantle
Example: Eclogite (pyroxene/garnet)

8. Eclogite (xpl)
Eclogite (ppl)

9. Hydrothermal metamorphism
Low pressure/low temperature
Hot, chemically active waters react with the surrounding rocks
Example: Serpentinite, soapstone

10. Hydrothermal metamorphism
Usually involves METASOMATISM (metamorphism plus exchange of ions from an external source)
Difficult type to constrain: hydrothermal effects often play some role in most of the other types of metamorphism

11. Contact metamorphism Low pressure/HIGH temperature
“Country” rocks baked by igneous intrusion (pluton)
Example: Hornfels, skarn (baked carbonate rocks), quartzite, marble

13. Contact Metamorphism
Most easily recognized where a pluton is introduced into shallow rocks in a static environment
(Pluton=intrusive igneous body, like a batholith)
® Hornfelses (granofelses) commonly with relict textures and structures

14. Spotted hornfels

15. Pyrometamorphism A minor type of contact metamorphism
Very high temperatures at very low pressures, generated by a volcanic or subvolcanic body
Also developed in xenoliths (pieces of solid rocks carried up by magma)
Pyrometamorphism may be accompanied by various degrees of partial melting

16. Barrovian metamorphism
Also referred to as “regional” metamorphism
Intermediate pressure/Low-high temperature
Example: Slate-phyllite-schist-gneiss, also quartzite and marble

17. Regional Metamorphism sensu lato: metamorphism that affects a large body of rock, and thus covers a great lateral extent
Three principal types:
Orogenic metamorphism
Burial metamorphism
Ocean-floor metamorphism
The term, “regional metamorphism” is often used synonymously with “orogenic metamorphism” (OROGENY=mountain building)

18. Orogenic Metamorphism is the type of metamorphism associated with convergent plate margins
Dynamo-thermal: one or more episodes of orogeny with combined elevated geothermal gradients and deformation (differential stress)
Foliated rocks are a characteristic product

19. Quartz-muscovite schist (xpl)
Foliation
Slate (ppl)
Phyllite (xpl)
Quartz
Muscovite
Quartz-muscovite schist (xpl)

20. Crenulation cleavage in a muscovite-biotite-garnet schist (xpl)

21. Gneiss under a microscope (xpl)
Biotite
Feldspar
Quartz
Gneiss in hand specimen

22. Calcite (note cleavage)
Marble (xpl)

23. Burial metamorphism = low-grade metamorphism in sedimentary basins
Metamorphic effects attributed to increased temperature and pressure due to burial
Occurs in areas that have not experienced significant deformation or orogeny
Mild deformation, no igneous intrusions discovered

24. Restricted to large, relatively undisturbed sedimentary piles away from active plate margins
Term coined by Coombs (1961) based on Southland Syncline in New Zealand: thick pile (> 10 km) of Mesozoic volcaniclastics
Modern examples:
The Gulf of Mexico?
Bengal Fan?

25. Ocean-Floor Metamorphism affects the oceanic crust at ocean ridge spreading centers
A wide range of temperatures at relatively low pressure
Seawater penetrates down fracture systems, where it becomes heated, and leaches metals and silica from the hot basalts
Considerable metasomatic alteration, notably loss of Ca and Si and gain of Mg and Na

26. Highly altered chlorite-quartz rocks- distinctive high-Mg, low-Ca composition
Black smokers - Another example of hydrothermal metamorphism

27. Fault-Zone and Impact Metamorphism
High rates of deformation and strain with only minor recrystallization
(a) Shallow fault zone with fault breccia
(b) Slightly deeper fault zone (exposed by erosion) with some ductile flow and fault mylonite

28. Width of view=4mm

29. Fault-Zone and Impact Metamorphism
High rates of deformation and strain with only minor recrystallization
Impact metamorphism at meteorite (or other bolide) impact craters
Both correlate with dynamic metamorphism, based on process