Word Finder - metamorphism

definition

The process by which rocks are changed into other forms by the application of heat and/or pressure.

definition

The process by which insects develop through life stages, for example, those of embryo, larva, pupa and imago. The life cycle of the butterfly is one of complete metamorphosis, in which the embryo grows within the egg, hatches into the larval stage caterpillar, enters the pupal stage within its chrysalis, and finally emerges as an adult butterfly imago.

definition

(by extension) Any dramatic change from one thing to another

They are typical products of "regional" metamorphism, and are in nearly all cases older than the fossiliferous sedimentary rocks.

Extensive subsequent metamorphism has been produced by the invasion of great masses of granite.

Not only is it extensive in area, but the stratigraphic break is very great, as shown by (I) the excess of metamorphism of the lower group as compared with the upper, and (2) the amount of erosion suffered by the older group before the deposition of the younger.

Tremolite-schist and anthophyllite-schist are in nearly all cases the representatives of the ultra-basic igneous rocks such as peridotite in regions of high metamorphism.

Archeozoic (Archean) Group.The oldest group of rocks, called the Archean, was formerly looked upon, at least in a tentative way, as the original crtist of the earth or its downward extension, much altered by the processes of metamorphism.

The Cambrian formations have not been notably metamorphosed, except in a few regions where dynamic metamorphism has been effective.

Simon Harley, Professor of Lower crustal Processes, is studying deep crustal metamorphism in the granulites of East Antarctica.

Further local retrograde metamorphism (possibly by dislocation) has resulted in the formation of epidote.

It has been variously attributed to metamorphism, consequent upon igneous intrusion, earth movements and other kinds of geothermic action, greater or less loss of volatile constituents during the period of coaly transformation, conditioned by differences of permeability in the enclosing rocks, which is greater for sandstones than for argillaceous strata, and other causes; but none of these appears to be applicable over more than limited areas.

These systems are separated one from another by unconformitics in most places, and the lower systems, as a rule, have sufferetl a greater degree of metamorphism than the upper ones, though this is not to be looked upon as a hard and fast rule.

In that region the Silurian rocks have been invaded by large bosses of granite and have undergone a variable amount of metamorphism which has in some places altered them into hard crystalline schists.

In the Southern Uplands, owing to the greater softness and uniformity of texture of the rocks, rock-tarns are comparatively infrequent, except in Galloway, where the protrusion of granite and its associated metamorphism have reproduced Highland conditions of rock-structure.

To the east of the dislocation of the Great Glen these puzzling rocks may also be met with, though in that tract most of the surface comprises sedimentary and igneous rocks, the metamorphism of which has varied much.