Phyllite

Common card · No. 458072

Phyllite ( FIL-yte) is a type of foliated metamorphic rock formed from slate that is further metamorphosed so that very fine grained white mica achieves a preferred orientation. It is primarily composed of quartz, sericite mica, and chlorite. Phyllite has fine-grained mica flakes, whereas slate has extremely fine mica flakes, and schist has large mica flakes, all mica flakes of which have achieved a preferred orientation. Among foliated metamorphic rocks, it represents a gradation in the degree of metamorphism between slate and schist. The minute crystals of graphite, sericite, or chlorite, or the translucent fine-grained white mica, impart a silky, sometimes golden sheen to the surfaces of cleavage, called "phyllitic luster". The word comes from the Greek phyllon, meaning "leaf". The protolith (or parent rock) for phyllite is shale or pelite; or slate, which in turn came from a shale protolith. Its constituent platy minerals are larger than those in slate but are not visible with the naked...

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