Metamorphic rock facts for kids

Quartzite, a form of metamorphic sandstone

Folded strata in a metamorphic rock from near [Geirangerfjord], Norway

A metamorphic rock is a type of rock which has been changed by extreme heat and pressure. Its name is from 'morph' (meaning form), and 'meta' (meaning change).

The original rock gets heated (temperatures greater than 150 to 200 °C) and pressured (1500 bars). This causes profound physical and/or chemical change. The original rock may be sedimentary rock, igneous rock or another older metamorphic rock.

There is always more pressure and higher temperature under the Earth's surface. In the root of a mountain chain or a volcano these forces will be enough to change shape of the strata and the minerals it is made of. Sedimentary rock which has been near such forces often looks as if a giant had twisted it and heated it over a fire. Examples of metamorphic rock:

• Marble is a metamorphic rock formed from limestone.
• Slate is a metamorphic mudstone or shale.
• Quartzite is a metamorphic sandstone.

The recrystallisation of minerals after heating generally causes the destruction of any fossils the rocks might have contained.

Types of metamorphism

Regional metamorphism

Mississippian marble in Big Cottonwood Canyon, Wasatch Mountains, Utah

Regional metamorphism, or dynamic metamorphism, occurs in great masses of rock. Rocks can be metamorphosed just by being at great depths below the Earth's surface. There they get high temperatures and the great weight of the rock layers above.

Much of the lower continental crust is metamorphic, except for recent igneous intrusions. Horizontal tectonic movements such as the collision of continents create orogenic belts. High temperature, pressures and deformation occurs along these belts. If the metamorphosed rocks are later uplifted and exposed by erosion, they are seen as long belts or other large areas at the surface.

Contact metamorphism

A contact metamorphic rock made of interlayered calcite and serpentine from the Precambrian of Canada. Once thought to be a fossil called Eozoön canadense. Scale in mm.

Contact metamorphism occurs when magma is injected into the surrounding solid rock (country rock). The changes that occur are greatest where the magma comes into contact with the rock. The temperatures were highest there and decreased with distance from it.

Related pages

• List of rocks
• Igneous rock
• Sedimentary rock
• List of minerals

Images for kids

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  Metamorphic rock, deformed during the Variscan orogeny, at Vall de Cardós, Lérida, Spain

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  Amphibolite formed by metamorphism of basalt

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  Metamorphic rock containing staurolite and almandine garnet

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  A mylonite (through a petrographic microscope)

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See also

In Spanish: Roca metamórfica para niños