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How do I recognize metamorphic rocks?

Metamorphic Rock Identification I

If the minerals in a rock seem to be layered into dark and light bands, and the bands are somewhat folded or faulted, it's a metamorphic rock (gneiss).

If the rock doesn't have layers, and if the crystals in it all seem to be shiny and flat (mica) then it's probably a metamorphic rock (schist, phyllite).

If the rock isn't very shiny, is mostly one color (for example, dark gray) and breaks into very hard, flat sheets it is probably a metamorphic rock (slate). (If the sheets are flat and crumbly, a soft rock, it's probably shale, which is sedimentary, not metamorphic.)

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12/4/2006 12:01:32 PM
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