Category Archives: metamorphism

Channel flow – hot rocks, big glaciers and the world’s tallest mountains

Leonardo da Vinci, famed artist and Renaissance “Renaissance Man” made some interesting remarks about Geology. When he looked at rocks in the Alps containing fossil molluscs, it was clear to his trained eye that the fossils were near identical to … Continue reading

Categories: metamorphism, mountains, tectonics

Geospeedometry – how fast is metamorphism?

Timescales in Geology are rather variable, to say the least. The earth has been around for billions of years so things can go sloooow and still be significant, like the build-up of oxygen produced by life. On the other hand, … Continue reading

Categories: metamorphism

Metamorphism: open or closed?

Thermobarometry is the art of inferring Pressure and Temperature conditions by relating the composition of a metamorphic rock to a thermodynamic model, assuming chemical equilibrium was achieved. That’s the single sentence summary, but as usual, things are more complicated if … Continue reading

Categories: metamorphism

Metamorphism: evolving ideas

‘Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny’ is such a lovely phrase. It was coined as a biological concept, and is now somewhat discredited. The idea was that as an organism develops as an embryo it passes through stages of growth corresponding to stages … Continue reading

Categories: metamorphism