Topic summary
Metamorphic
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Metamorphic rock.
Classification
Metamorphic rocks are one of the three great divisions of all rock types, and so there is a great variety of metamorphic rock types. In general, if the protolith of a metamorphic rock can be determined, the rock is described by adding the prefix meta- to the protolith rock name. For example, if the protolith is known to be basalt, the rock will be described as a metabasalt. Likewise, a metamorphic rock whose protolith is known to be a conglomerate will be described as a metaconglomerate. For a metamorphic rock to be classified in this manner, the protolith should be identifiable from the characteristics of the metamorphic rock itself, and not inferred from other information.