Metamorphic Facies
A metamorphic facies is defined (by Fyfe and Turner, Contrib. Mineral. Petrol., 12, 354-364,
1966) as
"a set of metamorphic mineral assemblages, repeatedly associated in space and time, such
that there is a constant and therefore predictable relation between mineral composition (i.e.
mineral assemblage) and chemical composition."
This document summarises the metamorphic facies classification used by F.J. Turner (1968,
1981), and lists some of the characteristic mineral assemblages to be found in common rock
compositions. You should find it useful as a guide to the allocation of rocks to a metamorphic
facies, but it makes no attempt to be comprehensive. For more detail, refer to Turner (1981)
Metamorphic Petrology, Bucher and Frey (1994) (formerly Winkler 1976, 1979)
Petrogenesis of Metamorphic Rocks, or Yardley (1989) Introduction to Metamorphic
Petrology.
Figure 1. P-T diagram of the metamorphic facies
Facies of intermediate pressure
1. Zeolite Facies and Prehnite-Pumpellyite Facies
The characteristic assemblages of these facies are developed only from fine-grained unstable
starting materials such as glassy volcanic rocks, pyroclastics and greywackes. Diagnostic
minerals may also occur in veins cutting largely unrecrystallized rocks.
Metavolcanics and heulandite + analcite + quartz ± clay minerals
laumontite + albite + quartz ± chlorite
prehnite + pumpellyite + chlorite + albite + quartz
pumpellyite + chlorite + epidote + albite + quartz
greywackes:
pumpellyite + epidote + stilpnomelane + muscovite + albite
+ quartz
muscovite + chlorite + albite + quartz (indistinguishable
Metapelitic rocks: from greenschist facies)
Turner (1981) also distinguishes a pumpellyite-actinolite facies and a lawsonite-albite facies,
transitional between the prehnite-pumpellyite, blueschist and greenschist facies, but Yardley
considers these subdivisions too small to be of general practical use.
2. Greenschist facies
In many metamorphic belts, the diagnostic assemblages of the zeolite and prehnite-
pumpellyite facies are not seen, and the lowest grade rocks can be allocated to the greenschist
facies.
chlorite + albite + epidote ± actinolite, quartz
Metabasic rocks
albite + quartz + epidote + muscovite ± stilpnomelane
Metagreywackes
muscovite + chlorite + albite + quartz
chloritoid + chlorite + muscovite + quartz ± paragonite
Metapelites
biotite + muscovite + chlorite + albite + quartz + Mn-rich garnet
dolomite + quartz
Siliceous dolomites
3. Amphibolite facies
The following assemblages are characteristic of the intermediate pressure facies series. For
assemblages to be found in a low pressure facies series, see the hornblende hornfels facies,
section 8.
hornblende + plagioclase ± epidote, garnet, cummingtonite,
Metabasic rocks diopside, biotite
muscovite + biotite + quartz + plagioclase ± garnet, staurolite,
Metapelitic rocks kyanite/sillimanite
dolomite + calcite + tremolite ± talc (lower amph. f.)
Siliceous
dolomite + calcite + diopside and/or forsterite (upper amph. f.)
dolomites
4. Granulite facies
Forms under conditions of P(H2O) < P(total). The presence of orthopyroxene in metabasic
rocks is diagnostic of this and the pyroxene hornfels facies.
orthopyroxene + clinopyroxene + hornblende + plagioclase ± biotite
orthopyroxene + clinopyroxene + plagioclase ± quartz
Metabasic rocks
clinopyroxene + plagioclase + garnet ± orthopyroxene (higher P)
garnet + cordierite + sillimanite + K-feldspar + quartz ± biotite
Metapelitic sapphirine + orthopyroxene + K-feldspar + quartz ± osumilite (very
rocks high T)
Facies of high pressure
5. Blueschist facies
Otherwise known as the glaucophane-lawsonite schist facies, these rocks are almost entirely
restricted to Mesozoic and Tertiary orogenic belts such as the circum-Pacific belts and the
Alpine-Himalayan chain. In high pressure rocks, potassic white mica contains substantial Fe
and Mg in solid solution, i.e. it is phengite rather than muscovite.
glaucophane + lawsonite + chlorite ± phengite/paragonite,
Metabasic rocks omphacite
quartz + jadeite + lawsonite ± phengite, glaucophane, chlorite
Metagreywackes
phengite + paragonite + carpholite + chlorite + quartz
Metapelites
aragonite
Carbonate rocks
6. Eclogite facies
Eclogites sensu stricto are metabasic rocks, occurring in a variety of associations, e.g. as
enclaves or tectonically-incorporated blocks in blueschists or medium to high grade gneisses,
or as nodules brought up in kimberlite pipes. In certain terrains, however, there are more
extensive regions where most rock types have preserved (albeit imperfectly) distinctive high-
pressure assemblages which can be assigned to the eclogite facies. Plagioclase is entirely
absent.
omphacite + garnet ± kyanite, quartz, hornblende, zoisite
Metabasic rocks
quartz + phengite + jadeite/omphacite + garnet
Meta-granodiorite
phengite + garnet + kyanite + chloritoid (Mg-rich) + quartz
Metapelites phengite + kyanite + talc + quartz ± jadeite
Facies of low pressure
Contact metamorphism, and low-pressure facies series of regional metamorphism
7. Albite-epidote hornfels facies
Likely to be recognized only in the outermost parts of thermal aureoles in country rocks
originally of very low metamorphic grade. This is the low-pressure equivalent of the
greenschist facies, and the assemblages are very similar.
albite + epidote + actinolite + chlorite + quartz
Metabasic rocks
muscovite + biotite + chlorite + quartz
Metapelites
8. Hornblende hornfels facies
The low pressure equivalent of the amphibolite facies. The assemblages described below can
also be found in regionally metamorphosed rocks belonging to the low pressure facies series,
metamorphosed at pressures of up to 4 kbar, i.e. at higher pressures than the arbitrary
boundary drawn between "contact" and "regional" facies on Figure 1.
hornblende + plagioclase ± diopside,
Metabasic rocks anthophyllite/cummingtonite, quartz
muscovite + biotite + andalusite + cordierite + quartz +
Metapelites plagioclase
K2O-poor sediments or cordierite + anthophyllite + biotite + plagioclase + quartz
metavolcanics
same as amphibolite facies
Siliceous dolomites
9. Pyroxene hornfels facies
Hornblende not stable. Developed in the inner parts of high temperature thermal aureoles,
such as those around large basic bodies. Assemblages similar to granulite facies, but can be
developed at P(H2O) = P(total).
orthopyroxene + clinopyroxene + plagioclase ± olivine or quartz
Metabasic rocks
cordierite + quartz + sillimanite + K-feldspar (orthoclase) ± biotite
Metapelites cordierite + orthopyroxene + plagioclase ± garnet, spinel
calcite + forsterite ± diopside, periclase
Calcareous rocks diopside + grossularite + wollastonite ± vesuvianite
10. Sanidinite facies
Rarely found, as the extremely high temperatures required are only achieved at direct
contacts with flowing basic magma, or in completely-immersed xenoliths.
Metapelitic cordierite + mullite + sanidine + tridymite (often inverted to quartz)
rocks
+ glass
wollastonite + anorthite + diopside
monticellite + melilite ± calcite, diopside
Calcareous
also tilleyite, spurrite, merwinite, larnite and other rare Ca- or Ca-Mg
rocks
silicates
The metamorphic grade classification of Winkler
HGF Winkler introduced this simple subdivision of metamorphic rocks by grade because he
believed that the existing facies scheme violates its own definition, in that different sets of
mineral assemblages representing the same bulk composition are in many cases grouped into
a single "facies". (Read the discussion in Chapter 6 of Winkler's Petrogenesis of
Metamorphic Rocks.)
The boundaries between "grades" are chosen to correspond to important discontinuous
reactions (which could be recognized in the field as major isograds), and they correlate
approximately with the scheme of metamorphic facies as follows:
Very Low Grade: Zeolite, prehnite-pumpellyite, and blueschist facies
Low Grade: Greenschist, Ep-Ab hornfels facies
Medium Grade: Amphibolite, hornblende hornfels facies
High Grade: Granulite, pyroxene hornfels, sanidinite facies
