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Amphibolite Facts

Amphibolite Facts
An amphibolite is a metamorphic rock that is coarse-grained and is composed mainly of black, brown, and green amphibole minerals and plagioclase feldspar. Normally, the amphiboles are members of the hornblende group. There are other metamorphic minerals contained in small amounts of the amphibolite. Many of these small amounts of minerals include biotite, kyanite, staurolite, garnet, epidote and others. Amphibolite is found around metamorphic and igneous rock intrusions that solidify between other rocks that are located within the Earth. Also, amphibolite has significant components found in both volcanic and plutonic rocks that range in composition from granitic to gabbroic. The formation of amphibolite took place millions of years ago and is found in various countries around the world today.
Interesting Amphibolite Facts:
Metamorphic rocks are formed by the heating of pre-existing rocks. The heat provided to a rock changes the mineralogical and physical changes which are called metamorphic rocks.
Amphibolite erodes over a long period of time. Wind erosion, sea erosion, glacier erosion and chemical erosion are all types of erosion that effect amphiboles.
The highest quality of amphibolite is quarried for specific uses in architectural design
Amphibolite often has features that are smooth to the touch, matrix variable, and shiny looking.
Because amphibolite is harder than limestone and heavier than granite, it is quarried and crushed and used for highway and railroad construction.
According to a variety of features like texture, appearance, hardness, streak, toughness, and resistance, an amphibolite is used for various antiquity uses such as artifacts, sculpture and small figurines.
Amphibolite is often used commercially in cemetery markers, commemorative tablets, and creating artwork
Amphibolite is used for exterior building stones, facing stones, curbing, and paving stone.
Amphibolite is used for interior countertops, entryways, floor tiles, and in hotels and kitchens.
When the presence of hydroxyl groups is found in the structure of amphiboles, it decreases their thermal stability relative to the more refractory (heat-resistant) pyroxenes.
Amphiboles have hydroxyl groups in their structure and are considered to be hydrous silicates that are stable only in hydrous environments where water can be found and incorporated into the structure
Most often, amphiboles form as asbestiform (fibrous) aggregates, radiating sprays, and long prismatic crystals.
Amphibolite can crystallize in igneous and metamorphic rocks with a wide range of bulk chemistries because of the large range of chemical substitutions allowed in the crystal structure.
According to the British mineralogist Bernard E. Leake, there are 5 major groups of amphibole that leads to 76 chemically defined compositions.
Amphibole, originates from the Greek word amphibolos, meaning "ambiguous," and was named by the famous French crystallographer and mineralogist Rene'-Just Hauy (1801)


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