Aspects of this topic are discussed in the following places at Britannica.
A major part of rock texture is fabric or pattern, which is a function of the form and outline of its constituent grains, their relative sizes, and their mutual relationships in space. Many specific terms have been employed to shorten the description of rock fabrics, and even the sampling offered here may seem alarmingly extensive. It should be noted, however, that fabric provides some of the...
The fabricof a metamorphic rock results from the combined effects of mineral reactions and deformation throughout the metamorphic event and the subsequent return of the rock to the terrestrial surface. The study of metamorphic fabrics in outcrop and under the microscope has become a highly specialized subject aimed at revealing the nature and direction of the forces acting during dynamic...
The fabric of a sedimentary rock controls the rock’s porosity and permeability and therefore its ability to hold and/or transmit fluids such as oil and water. The orientation, or lack thereof, of the crystals or grains that make up a sedimentary rock constitutes one aspect of fabric. Genetically, there are two principal varieties of oriented fabrics: primary (or depositional) and secondary (or...
Link to this article and share the full text with the readers of your Web site or blog-post.
If you think a reference to this article on "fabric" will enhance your Web site,
blog-post, or any other web-content, then feel free to link to this article,
and your readers will gain full access to the full article, even if they do not subscribe to our service.
You may want to use the HTML code fragment provided below.
We welcome your comments. Any revisions or updates suggested for this article will be reviewed by our editorial staff. Contact us here.
Regular users of Britannica may notice that this comments feature is less robust than in the past. This is only temporary, while we make the transition to a dramatically new and richer site. The functionality of the system will be restored soon.