What do metamorphic rocks look like?
Because metamorphic rocks form under pressure, and the atoms making up the minerals have time to move around to form the minerals, many metamorphic rocks have a distinct texture. This makes some of them easy to identify. One kind of metamorphic rock, called gneiss (rhymes with ice, silent “g”), tends to have stripes of light and dark minerals. The stripes may be straight, or folded, or broken up into short little segments. It’s a little like a double hamburger – light bun, dark burger, light bun, dark burger, light bun. Click on thumbnail for larger image, then use Back Button to return to this page Figure 8. Gneiss is made up of alternating dark and light bands of different minerals. Click on thumbnail for larger image, then use Back Button to return to this page Figure 9. Schist outcrop in Brett Woods Conservation Area in Fairfield, Connecticut. Another rock, schist, has lots of shiny, flat mica flakes in it. These sometimes make schist break up easily and sometimes make it very shin
