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Porphyroblast
A porphyroblast is a large mineral crystal in a metamorphic rock which has grown within the finer grained matrix. Porphyroblasts are commonly euhedral crystals, but can also be partly to completely irregular in shape. The most common porphyroblasts in metapelites (metamorphosed mudstones and siltstones) are garnets and staurolites, which stand out in well- foliated metapelites (such as schists) against the platy mica matrix. A similar type of crystal is a ''phenocryst'', a large crystal in an igneous rock. Porphyroblasts are often confused with ''porphyroclasts'', which can also be large outstanding crystals, but which are ''older'' than the matrix of the rock. If a porphyroblastic mineral has small inclusions of minerals within it, the mineral is described as poikiloblastic. This observation can help interpret deformation history. A rock which has many porphyroblasts is described as having a ''porphyroblastic texture''. As porphyroblasts grow, the foliation may be prese ...
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Porphyroclast
image:garnet porphyroblast.JPG, 350px, A mylonite showing a number of (rotated) porphyroclasts: a clear red garnet left in the picture while smaller white feldspar porphyroclasts can be found all over. ''Location'': the tectonics, tectonic contact between the wiktionary:autochthonous, autochthonous Western Gneiss Region and rocks of the allochthonous Blåhø nappe on Otrøy, Caledonides, Central Norway. A porphyroclast is a clast or mineral fragment in a metamorphic rock, surrounded by a groundmass of finer grained crystals. Porphyroclasts are fragments of the original rock before dynamic recrystallisation or cataclasis produced the groundmass. This means they are older than the groundmass. They were Strength of materials, stronger pieces of the original rock, that could not as easily deformation (engineering), deform and were therefore not or hardly affected by recrystallisation. They may have been phenocrysts or porphyroblasts in the original rock. Porphyroclasts are often confuse ...
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Foliation (geology)
Foliation in geology refers to repetitive layering in metamorphic rocks.Marshak, Stephen, ''Essentials of Geology,'' W. W. Norton 3rd Ed, 2009 Each layer can be as thin as a sheet of paper, or over a meter in thickness. The word comes from the Latin , meaning "leaf", and refers to the sheet-like planar structure. It is caused by shearing forces (pressures pushing different sections of the rock in different directions), or differential pressure (higher pressure from one direction than in others). The layers form parallel to the direction of the shear, or perpendicular to the direction of higher pressure. Nonfoliated metamorphic rocks are typically formed in the absence of significant differential pressure or shear. Foliation is common in rocks affected by the regional metamorphic compression typical of areas of mountain belt formation ( orogenic belts). More technically, foliation is any penetrative planar fabric present in metamorphic rocks. Rocks exhibiting foliation i ...
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Staurolite
Staurolite is a reddish brown to black, mostly opaque, nesosilicate mineral with a white streak. It crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system, has a Mohs hardness of 7 to 7.5 and the chemical formula: Fe2+2Al9O6(SiO4)4(O,OH)2. Magnesium, zinc and manganese substitute in the iron site and trivalent iron can substitute for aluminium. Properties Staurolite often occurs twinned in a characteristic cross-shape, called cruciform penetration twinning. In handsamples, macroscopically visible staurolite crystals are of prismatic shape. The mineral often forms porphyroblasts. In thin sections staurolite is commonly twinned and shows lower first order birefringence similar to quartz, with the twinning displaying optical continuity. It can be identified in metamorphic rocks by its swiss cheese appearance (with poikilitic quartz) and often mantled porphyroblastic character. Name The name is derived from the Greek, ''stauros'' for cross and ''lithos'' for stone in reference to the com ...
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Poikiloblast
A poikiloblast is a porphyroblast mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2011): Mi ... with small inclusions of the previous rock in it. From the texture (if any) shown in the inclusion, the deformation history of the rock can be interpreted, as the inclusions are always older than the porphyroblast. References Petrology {{petrology-stub ...
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Schist
Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock generally derived from fine-grained sedimentary rock, like shale. It shows pronounced ''schistosity'' (named for the rock). This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes or plates. This texture (geology), texture reflects a high content of platy minerals, such as mica, talc, chlorite group, chlorite, or graphite. These are often interleaved with more granular minerals, such as feldspar or quartz. Schist typically forms during regional metamorphism accompanying the process of mountain building (orogeny) and usually reflects a medium Metamorphism#Metamorphic grades, grade of metamorphism. Schist can form from many different kinds of rocks, including sedimentary rocks such as mudstones and igneous rocks such as tuffs. Schist metamorphosed from mudstone is particularly common and is often very rich in mica (a ''mica schis ...
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Mineral
In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2011): Minerals'; p. 1. In the series ''Geology: Landforms, Minerals, and Rocks''. Rosen Publishing Group. The Geology, geological definition of mineral normally excludes compounds that occur only in living organisms. However, some minerals are often biogenic (such as calcite) or organic compounds in the sense of chemistry (such as mellite). Moreover, living organisms often synthesize inorganic minerals (such as hydroxylapatite) that also occur in rocks. The concept of mineral is distinct from rock (geology), rock, which is any bulk solid geologic material that is relatively homogeneous at a large enough scale. A rock may consist of one type of mineral or may be an aggregate (geology), aggregate of two or more different types of minerals, spaci ...
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Phenocryst
image:montblanc granite phenocrysts.JPG, 300px, Granites often have large feldspar, feldspathic phenocrysts. This granite, from the Switzerland, Swiss side of the Mont Blanc massif, has large white phenocrysts of plagioclase (that have trapezoid shapes when cut through). 1 euro coin (diameter 2.3 cm) for scale. A phenocryst is an early forming, relatively large and usually conspicuous crystal distinctly larger than the grains of the rock Matrix (geology), groundmass of an igneous rock. Such rocks that have a distinct difference in the size of the crystals are called Porphyry (geology), porphyries, and the adjective porphyritic is used to describe them. Phenocrysts often have euhedral forms, either due to early growth within a magma, or by post-emplacement recrystallization (geology), recrystallization. Normally the term ''phenocryst'' is not used unless the crystals are directly observable, which is sometimes stated as greater than in diameter. Phenocrysts below this level, but s ...
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List Of Rock Textures
This page is intended to be a list of rock (geology), rock texture (geology), textural and morphology (materials science), morphological terms. A * Cumulate rocks, Adcumulate * agglomerate, Agglomeritic * Lustre (mineralogy)#adamantine, Adamantine a type of Lustre (mineralogy), lustre * Amygdule, Amygdaloidal * Anhedral (petrology), Anhedral * Antitaxial veins * Aphanitic * Aplite, Aplitic; aplite * Augen, Augen textured gneiss * Axiolitic texture B * Botryoidal * Brecciated * Foliation (geology), Bedding fissile; bedding fissility * Boudinage; Boudinage, boudins C * Cataclastic rock, Cataclastic * Chilled margin * Clastic; see also breccia * Cleavage (geology), Cleaved * crenulation, Crenulated * Cross-bedding * Cross-stratification; also trough-cross stratification. * Cumulate rock, Cumulate; see also layered intrusion D * Decussate * Devitirification; devitrified * Dendritic texture; dendrites * Diatextite; see also schlieren (geology), schlieren and migmatite E ...
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Thin Section Of Garnet-mica-schist
Thin may refer to: * ''Thin'' (film), a 2006 documentary about eating disorders * Thin, a web server based on Mongrel * Thin (name), including a list of people with the name * Mal language, also known as Thin See also * * * Body shape * Emaciation * Underweight * Paper Thin (other) * Thin capitalisation * Thin client, a computer in a client-server architecture network. * Thin film, a material layer of about 1 μm thickness. * Thin-layer chromatography Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) is a chromatography technique that separates components in non-volatile mixtures. It is performed on a TLC plate made up of a non-reactive solid coated with a thin layer of adsorbent material. This is called the sta ...
(TLC), a chromatography technique used in chemistry to separate chemical compounds * Thin layers (oceanography), congregations of phytoplankton and zooplankton in the water column * Thin lens, lens with a thickness that is negligible compared to the focal lengt ...
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Igneous Rock
Igneous rock ( ), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rocks are formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava. The magma can be derived from partial melts of existing rocks in either a planet's mantle or crust. Typically, the melting is caused by one or more of three processes: an increase in temperature, a decrease in pressure, or a change in composition. Solidification into rock occurs either below the surface as intrusive rocks or on the surface as extrusive rocks. Igneous rock may form with crystallization to form granular, crystalline rocks, or without crystallization to form natural glasses. Igneous rocks occur in a wide range of geological settings: shields, platforms, orogens, basins, large igneous provinces, extended crust and oceanic crust. Geological significance Igneous and metamorphic rocks make up 90–95% of the top of the Earth's crust by volume. Igneous rock ...
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Mica
Micas ( ) are a group of silicate minerals whose outstanding physical characteristic is that individual mica crystals can easily be split into fragile elastic plates. This characteristic is described as ''perfect basal cleavage''. Mica is common in igneous and metamorphic rock and is occasionally found as small flakes in sedimentary rock. It is particularly prominent in many granites, pegmatites, and schists, and "books" (large individual crystals) of mica several feet across have been found in some pegmatites. Micas are used in products such as drywalls, paints, and fillers, especially in parts for automobiles, roofing, and in electronics. The mineral is used in cosmetics and food to add "shimmer" or "frost". Properties and structure The mica group comprises 37 phyllosilicate minerals. All crystallize in the monoclinic system, with a tendency towards pseudohexagonal crystals, and are similar in structure but vary in chemical composition. Micas are translucent to opa ...
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Almandine
Almandine (), also known as almandite, is a mineral belonging to the garnet group. The name is a corruption of alabandicus, which is the name applied by Pliny the Elder to a stone found or worked at Alabanda, a town in Caria in Asia Minor. Almandine is an iron aluminum garnet, of deep red color, inclining to purple. It is frequently cut with a convex face, or en cabochon, and is then known as carbuncle. Viewed through the spectroscope in a strong light, it generally shows three characteristic absorption bands. Almandine is one end-member of a mineral solid solution series, with the other end member being the garnet pyrope. The almandine crystal formula is: Fe3Al2(SiO4)3. Magnesium substitutes for the iron with increasingly pyrope-rich composition. Almandine, , is the ferrous iron end member of the class of garnet minerals representing an important group of rock-forming silicates, which are the main constituents of the Earth's crust, upper mantle and transition zone. Alman ...
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