protolith
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A protolith () is the original, unmetamorphosed rock from which a given metamorphic rock is formed.
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A protolith () is the original, unmetamorphosed rock from which a given metamorphic rock is formed.
For example, the protolith of a slate is a shale or mudstone. Metamorphic rocks can be derived from any other kind of non-metamorphic rock and thus there is a wide variety of protoliths. Identifying a protolith is a major aim of metamorphic geology.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “protolith” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.