Metamorphic Bedrock Changes through heat and pressure
Many metamorphic rocks can have similar features to igneous and sedimentary.
What is different about the layers in metamorphic bedrock? What do you observe?
What is different about the crystals in metamorphic bedrock? What do you observe?
Metamorphic rocks form from igneous or sedimentary bedrock which is exposed to extreme heat and pressure underground.
Through extreme heat and pressure, the layers of sedimentary bedrock become wavy and thinner. Igneous bedrock is re-melted and the crystals are able to form more slowly, getting bigger and more pronounced
Look at these examples. Pay attention to the wavy lines, mixture of colors and large crystals.
Created with images by James St. John - "Lavender jadeitite (jadeite jade) (Hpakan-Tawmaw Jade Tract, Hpakan Ultramafic Body, Naga-Adaman Ophiolite, Late Jurassic, 147 Ma; alluvial clast (placer jade), upper reaches of the Uyu River, Kachin State, Indo-Burma Range, Burma) 2" • subarcticmike - "Metamorphic" • subarcticmike - "Cheshire Cat" • daveynin - "Painted Wall overlook" • James St. John - "Pyrite-quartz (latest Cretaceous to earliest Tertiary, 62-66 Ma; Butte Mining District, Montana, USA) 2" • James St. John - "Cherry blossom stones (pinite) in hornfels (mid-Cretaceous, 98 Ma; Mikata, Honshu Island, southern Japan)" • James St. John - "Mawsitsit (chromian jade) (Namshamaw Deposit, Hpakan-Tawmaw Jade Tract, Late Jurassic, 147 Ma; Maw Sit Sit, near Kansi, western Kachin State, Indo-Burma Range, northern Burma) 1" • skeeze - "molten volcano lava" • totravelandbeyond - "marble background backdrop" • McFlickr - "shale" • Grand Canyon NPS - "Grand Canyon National Park: Colorado River Runners 2804" • James St. John - "Quartzite 3" • Conor Lawless - "DSC_4040_BenCorr" • James St. John - "Muscovitic quartzite (Elmers Rock Greenstone Belt, Archean, >2.54 Ga; abandoned quarry north of Tunnel Road & west of Squaw Mountain, eastern flanks of the Laramie Range, southeastern Wyoming, USA)"