Abstract
When an unstable aggregate of minerals reacts in a metamorphic environment, new minerals are formed in order to reduce the chemical free energy of the rock system concerned. However, even after the rock space has become fully occupied by grains of the new, stable minerals and the chemical potential energy has been reduced to a minimum, further changes can occur. These involve changes in grain shape, in response to interfacial free energy (grain-boundary energy). This energy is much smaller than the chemical free energy, but it is effective nevertheless in controlling the shapes of grains in metamorphic rocks, the grain boundaries arranging themselves in configurations that reduce the grain-boundary potential energy to a minimum.
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© 1976 R. H. Vernon
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Vernon, R.H. (1976). Stable Metamorphic Microstructures. In: Metamorphic Processes. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-1109-4_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-1109-4_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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