quality:correction, structural:scholar_edition
Occurrence

Metamorphic rocks make up a large part of the Earth's crust and form 12% of the Earth's land surface. The lower continental crust is mostly metamafic-rock and pelite which have reached the granulite facies. The middle continental crust is dominated by metamorphic rock that has reached the amphibolite facies. Within the upper crust, which is the only part of the Earth's crust geologists can directly sample, metamorphic rock forms only from processes that can occur at shallow depth. These are contact (thermal) metamorphism, dynamic (cataclastic) metamorphism, hydrothermal metamorphism, and impact metamorphism. These processes are relatively local in occurrence and usually reach only the low-pressure facies, such as the hornfels and sanidinite facies. Most metamorphic rock is formed by regional metamorphism in the middle and lower crust, where the rock reaches the higher-pressure metamorphic facies. This rock is found at the surface only where extensive uplift and erosion has exhumed rock that was formerly much deeper in the crust.