By Eternal Bloom

      Schist, a rock that breaks into neat layers and is covered with shining little crystals,  is formed in a very  interesting way. It also has special characteristics and and is used for many different purposes.

      Schist is very unusual because it can be formed in many ways. Sometimes sea floor rocks get crushed and form schist. Sometimes volcanic sediments become schist. Most often, schist is formed by ocean plates moving under or over land.  Schist can contain many different minerals and rocks such as quartz,feldspar,mica,garnet and hornblende. There are four types of schist named for the minerals found in each.   Four types of schist are Garnet schist,  Mica schist,  Slate schist and Quartz schist.

     Schists colors are mostly gray,brown or silver,with red crystals that look like bright rubies or green crystals that look like beautiful emeralds. It does cleave and has a hardness of 4.5.

Schist also has great ways of what its used for.

Schist is mostly used for building material such as walls and counter tops.But its also used for many other things.

Over all Schist is a wonderful rock made of crystalline metamorphic rocks whose constituent mineral grains have a more or less parallel or foliated arrangement.

                                                                                   Bibliography

Crawford Luisa Maria."Schist". World Book Encyclopedia 2001 Edition

http://www.rockhounds.com/rockshop/rockkey/Peck.B. Donald,2001 6 Indian Rock Road,Warren,New Jersey