Blueschist

Blueschist on Île de Groix, France
Photomicrograph of a thin section of blueschist facies metamorphosed basalt, from Sivrihisar, Turkey

Blueschist ( /ˈblʃɪst/), also called glaucophane schist, is a metavolcanic rock[1] that forms by the metamorphism of basalt and rocks with similar composition at high pressures and low temperatures (200–500 °C (392–932 °F)), approximately corresponding to a depth of 15–30 km (9.3–18.6 mi). The blue color of the rock comes from the presence of the predominant minerals glaucophane and lawsonite.

Blueschists are schists typically found within orogenic belts as terranes of lithology in faulted contact with greenschist or rarely eclogite facies rocks.

  1. ^ "Blueschist". About.com Education. Archived from the original on 2016-10-08. Retrieved 2015-12-12.