Schist Gneiss Quartzite Marble

Slate is a hard fine grained rock with a well developed rock cleavage or slaty cleavage caused by the incipient growth of platy micaceous minerals due to metamorphism of fine grained clastic sediments such as shale and siltstone and also volcanic tuffs.

Schist gneiss quartzite marble. Schist and gneiss are metamorphic rocks that display foliation the parallel layering of the minerals caused by immense pressures. Sedimentary protolith transforms in a step wise manner according to the level or grade of foliation. Slate schist and gneiss are three common foliated metamorphic rocks. Metamorphic rock 1.

Gneiss is available in black brown pink red white colors whereas marble is available in black blue brown grey pink white colors. You can see that unlike schist which is more strongly aligned gneiss doesn t fracture along the planes of the mineral streaks. Properties of rock is another aspect for gneiss vs schist. Properties of rock is another aspect for gneiss vs marble.

Slate is formed from low grade regional metamorphism of. List of top sixteen metamorphic rocks 1. The hardness of gneiss is 7 and that of schist is 3 5 4. Origin of schist and slate.

Foliated metamorphic rocks such as gneiss phyllite schist and slate have a layered or banded appearance that is produced by exposure to heat and directed pressure. Non foliated metamorphic rocks such as hornfels marble quartzite and novaculite do not have a layered or banded appearance. In addition to schist and gneiss some other examples of metamorphic rock include slate marble and quartzite. The hardness of gneiss is 7 and that of marble is 3 4.

These rocks change over time through various processes of heating and cooling. The problem with differentiating between schist and gneiss is that they might look quite similar especially to someone who is not well versed in geology. Gneiss is available in black brown pink red white colors whereas schist is available in black blue brown dark brown green grey silver colors. It first becomes slate then phyllite schist and finally gneiss.

Both schist and gneiss are thus known as foliated metamorphic rocks. Thicker veins of large grained minerals form in it unlike the more evenly layered appearance of schist. Pictures and brief descriptions of some common types. In gneiss less than 50 percent of the minerals are aligned in thin foliated layers.