metamorphism

The process by which rocks are altered in composition, texture, or internal structure by extreme heat, pressure, and the introduction of new chemical substances.

The process of metamorphosing, or changing the form or structure; specifically, chemical change and rearrangement of the constituents of a rock by which they are made to assume new forms and enter into new combinations, the most important result of these changes being that the rock becomes harder and more crystalline in structure.

The state or quality of being metamorphic; the process by which the material of rock masses has been more or less recrystallized by heat, pressure, etc., as in the change of sedimentary limestone to marble.

The process by which rocks are changed into other forms by the application of heat and/or pressure.

The process by which insects development through life stages — as, for example, those of embryo, larva, pupa and imago. The life cycle of the butterfly is one of complete metamorphosis, in which the embryo grows within the egg, hatches into the larval stage caterpillar, enters the pupal stage within its chrysalis, and finally emerges as an adult butterfly imago.

change in the structure of rock by natural agencies such as pressure or heat or introduction of new chemical substances