Burial metamorphism is here equated with depth or load metamorphism. The term was first used by Coombs (1961)to describe a process of metamorphism that resulted in large-scale recrystallization but with no strong penetrative deformation. Its products occur in large areas in New Zealand, Japan and elsewhere, and it defines the lowest stage of metamorphism. Ocean-floor metamorphism has many similar characteristics. Not uncommonly there is a gradation with decreasing metamorphism from greenschist facies rocks to rocks containing prehnite and/or pumpellyite, then into rocks containing zeolites, and finally into unrecrystallized rocks. As rocks that have suffered burial metamorphism can be distinguished readily from ordinary unmetamorphosed equivalents, there is clearly a difference between diagenesis and burial metamorphism. Nonetheless, many of the reactions and products are the same, so that a precise fixing of the points at which diagenesis ceases and burial metamorphism starts is...
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© 1989 Van Nostrand Reinhold
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Atherton, M.P. (1989). Burial metamorphism . In: Petrology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30845-8_31
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