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Migmatite


Migmatite is a rock that is a mixture of metamorphic rock and igneous rock. It is created when a metamorphic rock such as gneiss partially melts, and then that melt recrystallizes into an igneous rock, creating a mixture of the unmelted metamorphic part with the recrystallized igneous part. They can also be known as diatexite.

Migmatites form under extreme temperature conditions during prograde metamorphism, where partial melting occurs in pre-existing rocks. Migmatites are not crystallized from a totally molten material, and are not generally the result of solid-state reactions. Commonly, migmatites occur within extremely deformed rocks that represent the base of eroded mountain chains, typically within Precambrian cratonic blocks.

Migmatites often appear as tightly, incoherently folded (ptygmatic folds) dikelets, veins and segregations of light-colored granitic composition called leucosome, within dark-colored amphibole and biotite rich material called the melanosome. If present, the mesosome, intermediate in color between a leucosome and melanosome, is mostly a more or less unmodified remnant of the original parent rock (protolith). The light-colored material has the appearance of having been mobilized or molten.

A leucosome is the lightest-colored part of migmatite. The melanosome is the darker part, and occurs between two leucosomes or, if remnants of the more or less unmodified parent rock (mesosome) are still present, it is arranged in rims around these remnants. When present, the mesosome is intermediate in color between leucosome and melanosome.

Migmatite textures are the product of thermal softening of the metamorphic rocks. Schlieren textures are a particularly common example of granite formation in migmatites, and are often seen in restite xenoliths and around the margins of S-type granites.


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