Kinetics of metamorphic layering in anisotropically stressed rocks.

Abstract

The combined activity of reaction and grain-boundary diffusion is considered responsible for metamorphic segregation in rocks subjected to uniaxial stresses. The phenomenological kinetic theory developed in the paper is based on equations expressing the processes of crystal growth/dissolution and intergranular species migration along grain boundaries that account for the spontaneous development of metamorphic layering. -M.S.