Microstructural evidence for the transition from dislocation creep to dislocation-accommodated grain boundary sliding in naturally deformed plagioclase

We use quantitative microstructural analysis including misorientation analysis based on electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) data to investigate deformation mechanisms of naturally deformed plagioclase in an amphibolite gabbro mylonite. The sample is from lower oceanic crust exposed near the Southwest Indian Ridge, and it has a high ratio of recrystallized matrix grains to porphyroclasts. Microstructures preserved in porphyroclasts suggest that early deformation was achieved principally by dislocation creep with subgrain rotation recrystallization; recrystallized grain (average diameter ∼8 μm) microstructures indicate that subsequent grain boundary sliding (GBS) was active in the continued deformation of the recrystallized matrix. The recrystallized matrix shows four-grain junctions, randomized misorientation axes, and a shift towards higher angles for neighbor-pair misorientations, all indicative of GBS. The matrix grains also exhibit a shape preferred orientation, a weak lattice preferred orientation consistent with slip on multiple slip systems, and intragrain microstructures indicative of dislocation movement. The combination of these microstructures suggest deformation by dislocation-accommodated GBS (DisGBS). Strain localization within the recrystallized matrix was promoted by a transition from grain size insensitive dislocation creep to grain size sensitive GBS, and sustained by the maintenance of a small grain size during superplasticity.     

Deformation and ultrafine dynamic recrystallization of quartz in pseudotachylyte-bearing brittle faults: A matter of a few seconds

Tectonic pseudotachylytes, i.e. quenched friction-induced silicate melts, record coseismic slip along faults and are mainly reported from the brittle crust in association with cataclasites. In this study, we document the occurrence of recrystallization of quartz to ultrafine-grained (grain size 1–2 μm) aggregates along microshear zones (50–150 μm thick) in the host rock adjacent to pseudotachylytes from two different faults within quartzite (Schneeberg Normal Fault Zone, Eastern Alps), and tonalite (Adamello fault, Southern Alps) in the brittle crust. The transition from the host quartz to microshear zone interior includes: (i) formation of high dislocation densities; (ii) fine (0.3–0.5 μm) polygonization to subgrains defined by disordered to well-ordered dislocation walls; (iii) development of a mosaic aggregate of dislocation-free new grains. The crystallographic preferred orientation (CPO) of quartz towards the microshear zone shows a progressive misorientation from the host grain, by subgrain rotation recrystallization, to a nearly random CPO possibly related to grain boundary sliding. These ultrafine aggregates appear to be typically associated with pseudotachylytes in nature. We refer the crystal plastic deformation of quartz accompanied by dramatic grain size refinement to the coseismic stages of fault slip due to high differential stress and temperature transients induced by frictional heating. Microshear zones localized on precursory fractures developed during the stages of earthquake rupture propagation and the very initial stages of fault slip. Thermal models indicate that the process of recrystallization, including recovery processes, occurred in a time lapse of a few tens of seconds.     

Dynamic recrystallization near the brittle-plastic transition in naturally and experimentally deformed quartz aggregates

The electron backscattering diffraction technique (EBSD) was used to analyze bulging recrystallization microstructures from naturally and experimentally deformed quartz aggregates, both of which are characterized by porphyroclasts with finely serrated grain boundaries and grain boundary bulges set in a matrix of very fine recrystallized grains. For the Tonale mylonites we investigated, a temperature range of 300–380 °C, 0.25 GPa confining pressure, a flow stress range of ~ 0.1–0.2 GPa, and a strain rate of ~ 10^− 13 s^− 1 were estimated. Experimental samples of Black Hills quartzite were analyzed, which had been deformed in axial compression at 700 °C, 1.2–1.5 GPa confining pressure, a flow stress of ~ 0.3–0.4 GPa, a strain rate of ~ 10^− 6 s^− 1, and to 44% to 73% axial shortening. Using orientation imaging we investigated the dynamic recrystallization microstructures and discuss which processes may contribute to their development. Our results suggest that several deformation processes are important for the dismantling of the porphyroclasts and the formation of recrystallized grains. Grain boundary bulges are not only formed by local grain boundary migration, but they also display a lattice misorientation indicative of subgrain rotation. Dynamic recrystallization affects especially the rims of host porphyroclasts with a hard orientation, i.e. with an orientation unsuitable for easy basal slip. In addition, Dauphiné twins within porphyroclasts are preferred sites for recrystallization. We interpret large misorientation angles in the experimental samples, which increase with increasing strain, as formed by the activity of fluid-assisted grain boundary sliding.     

Transition from fracturing to viscous flow in granulite facies perthitic feldspar (Lofoten,Norway)

Recrystallization of perthites in granulite facies (T = 700–730 °C, P = 0.65–0.8 GPa) shear zones in mangerite-charnockite rocks from Lofoten (Norway) is localized along intracrystalline bands parallel to fractures. Fracturing preferentially occurred along the cleavage planes (010) and (001). EBSD analysis of perthite porphyroclasts indicates a very low degree of internal misorientation (within 5°) and the lack of recovery features. Recrystallized grains show coarsening with increasing width of the bands, and chemical changes with respect to the host grains. Crystallographic orientation of the new grains does not show a host-control relation to the parent perthite grains. In summary, the microstructure and CPO data consistently indicate intragranular recrystallization by nucleation and growth from fractured grains. Perthite porphyroclasts are surrounded by a matrix of recrystallized plagioclase + K-feldspar ± amphibole ± biotite. There is extensive evidence of syndeformational nucleation of new phases and of phase boundary migration in the matrix, with plagioclase grains forming bulges and protrusions towards K-feldspar. The spatial distribution of K-feldspar and plagioclase in the recrystallized matrix is characterized by the predominance of phase boundaries over grain boundaries. All these observations are consistent with diffusion creep as the dominant deformation mechanism in the matrix, associated with grain boundary sliding. Accordingly, recrystallized plagioclase and K-feldspar show a very weak crystallographic preferred orientation, which is interpreted in terms of oriented growth during diffusion creep. Fracturing of perthites promoted extensive grain size reduction, recrystallization, fluid infiltration, and operation of grain-size sensitive creep, resulting in strain localization.     

Crystal bending,subgrain boundary development,and recrystallization in orthopyroxene during granulite-facies deformation

A prominent feature of a granulite-facies shear zone from the Hidaka Main Zone (Japan) is the folding of orthopyroxene (opx) porphyroclasts. Dislocation density estimated by transmission electron microscope (TEM) and chemical etching in homogeneously folded domains is too low to account for the amplitude of crystallographic bending, leading us to propose a model similar to “flexural slip” folding, where folded layers are micrometer-wide opx layers between thin planar clinopyroxene (cpx) exsolutions. Extension (compression) in the extrados (intrados) of the folded layer is accommodated by dislocations at the cpx–opx interfaces. Alternatively to distributed deformation, crystal bending also localizes in grain boundaries (GBs), mostly oriented close to the (001) plane and with various misorientation angles but misorientation axes consistently close to the b-axis. For misorientation up to a few degrees, GBs were imaged as tilt walls composed of regularly spaced (100)[001] dislocations. For misorientation angles of 7°, individual dislocations are no longer visible, but high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) observation showed the partial continuity of opx tetrahedral chains through the boundary. For 21° misorientation, the two adjacent crystals are completely separated by an incoherent boundary. In spite of these atomic-scale variations, all GBs share orientation and rotation axis, suggesting a continuous process of misorientation by symmetric incorporation of (100)[001] dislocations. In addition to the dominant GBs perpendicular to the (100) plane, boundaries at low angle with (100) planes are also present, incorporating dislocations with a component of Burgers vector along the a-axis. The two kinds of boundaries combine to delimit subgrains, which progressively rotate with respect to host grains around the b-axis, eventually leading to recrystallization of large porphyroclasts.     

Plastic Deformation and Recrystallization of Garnet: A Mechanism to Facilitate Diffusion Creep

Elongate and deformed garnets from Glenelg, NW Scotland, occurwithin a thin shear zone transecting an eclogite body that hasundergone partial retrogression to amphibolite facies at circa700°C. Optical microscopy, back-scattered electron imaging,electron probe microanalysis and electron back-scatter diffractionreveal garnet sub-structures that are developed as a functionof strain. Subgrains with low-angle misorientation boundariesoccur at low strain and garnet orientations are dispersed, aroundrational crystallographic axes, across these boundaries. Towardshigh-strain areas, boundary misorientations increase and thereis a loss of crystallographic control on misorientations, whichtend towards random. In high-strain areas, a polygonal garnetmicrostructure is developed. The garnet orientations are randomlydispersed around the original single-crystal orientation. Somegarnet grains are elongate and Ca-rich garnet occurs on thefaces of elongate grains oriented normal to the foliation. Commonly,the garnet grains are admixed with matrix minerals, and, wherein contact with other phases, garnet is well faceted. We suggestthat individual garnet porphyroclasts record an evolution fromlow-strain conditions, where dislocation creep and recoveryaccommodated deformation, through increasing strain, where dynamicrecrystallization occurred by subgrain rotation, to higheststrains, where recrystallized grains were able to deform bydiffusion creep assisted grain boundary sliding with associatedrotations. KEY WORDS: diffusion creep; EBSD; garnet; plastic deformation; recrystallization     

The effect of Dauphiné twinning on plastic strain in quartz

We present an electron backscatter diffraction analysis of five quartz porphyroclasts in a greenschist facies (T = 300–400°C) granitoid protomylonite from the Arolla unit of the NW Alps. Mechanical Dauphiné twinning developed pervasively during the incipient stage of deformation within two porphyroclasts oriented with a negative rhomb plane {z} almost orthogonal to the compression direction (z-twin orientation). Twinning was driven by the anisotropy in the elastic compliance of quartz and resulted in the alignment of the poles of the planes of the more compliant positive rhomb {r} nearly parallel to the compression direction (r-twin orientation). In contrast, we report the lack of twinning in two porphyroclasts already oriented with one of the {r} planes orthogonal to the compression direction. One twinned porphyroclast has been investigated with more detail. It shows the localization of much of the plastic strain into discrete r-twins as a consequence of the higher amount of elastic strain energy stored by r-twins in comparison to z-twins. The presence of Dauphiné twins induced a switch in the dominant active slip systems during plastic deformation, from basal <a> (regions without twinning) to {π} and {π′} <a> (pervasively twinned regions). Dynamic recrystallization is localized along an r-twin and occurred dominantly by progressive subgrain rotation, with a local component of bulging recrystallization. Part of the recrystallized grains underwent rigid-body rotation, approximately about the bulk vorticity axis, which accounts for the development of large misorientation angles. The recrystallized grain size piezometer for quartz yields differential stress of 100 MPa. The comparison of this palaeostress estimate with literature data suggests that mechanical Dauphiné twinning could have a potential use as palaeopiezometer in quartz-bearing rocks.     

Dynamic recrystallization and chemical evolution of clinoamphibole from Senja,Norway

Clinoamphibole from a mylonitic amphibolite exhibits microstructures characteristic of dynamic recrystallization, including porphyroclasts in a finer grained matrix of needle-shaped amphibole. The matrix amphibole defines an LS fabric and porphyroclasts have core and mantle structures with a core containing undulose to patchy extinction and (100) deformation twinning surrounded by a mantle of recrystallized grains. In addition intragranular grains also occur within the cores. TEM analyses of the porphyroclasts reveal that they contain a wide variety of lattice defects including high densities (5 × 10⁸cm^–2) of free dislocations and dislocation arrays, dissociated dislocations, stacking faults, and (100) micro-twins. TEM also shows that matrix grains and intragranular grains have relatively low defect densities, and that the intragranular new grains occur at localities in the porphyroclasts characterized by high densities of dislocations. These observations along with the chemical and orientation relationships between the recrystallized grains and porphyroclasts indicate that the new grains may have formed by heterogeneous nucleation and that further growth probably occurred by both strain assisted and chemically induced grain boundary migration or liquid film migration. This recrystallization event is interpreted to be synkinematic based on the fact that no recrystallization textures are present in the matrix grains and that the matrix grains define an LS fabric. However, the low defect densities in the matrix grains and the lack of intracrystalline strain in other phases indicate that post-kinematic recovery processes were active.     

Subgrain rotation and dynamic recrystallization of olivine, upper mantle diapirism, and extension of the basin-and-range province

On the basis of an abrupt change of olivine grain size at certain depths in the upper mantle beneath the Basin-and-Range province in the western U.S.A., Mercier (1980b) proposed that subgrain rotation (SGR) recrystallization had taken place above the grain size discontinuity, and grain boundary migration (GBM) recrystallization at depths greater than the discontinuity.The rotation of subgrains and the characteristics of dynamically recrystallized neoblasts of olivine were analyzed in a series of dunite samples deformed experimentally to compressive strains of about 15–60%. Whereas the rotation angle between adjacent subgrains increases with strain, the mean rotation angle did not exceed 2° even in the most heavily deformed samples. Rotation angles between kink bands, which formed at all experimental conditions, also increase with strain; at the highest strains rotations of up to 110° are not uncommon. At low strains the dominant rotation axis between kinks is [001] and less frequently [ovw]; at high strains [uvw] rotation axes are common. Neoblasts did form mainly on old grain boundaries and less frequently within old grains. Rotation axes between intragranular neoblasts and their hosts are of the type [uvw] and the rotation angles are always large, features which seem to be inconsistent with SGR recrystallization and suggest GBM recrystallization. Neoblasts may have formed in highly strained regions of old grains where slip occurs with [uvw] rotation axes.The olivine textures and fabrics of lherzolite nodules originating in the uppermost mantle above the grain size discontinuity are similar to those of nodules from the Dreiser Weiher, Germany (Mercier, 1980b). A study of Dreiser Weiher samples shows, however, that they have features difficult to reconcile with the SGR mechanism.It is proposed here that GBM recrystallization occurred throughout a rising upper mantle diapir beneath the Basin-and-Range extension zone. As the upward flow crossed the regional lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary at about 65 km depth, it diverged causing flow velocities to decrease abruptly and the strain rate dropped approximately by an order of magnitude. As a consequence the differential stress decreased by about a factor of two and the olivine grain size increased by a factor of two.     

The role of deformation partitioning in the deformation and recrystallization of plagioclase and K-feldspar in the Woodroffe Thrust mylonite zone, central Australia

ABSTRACT In the Woodroffe Thrust mylonite zone, central Australia, recrystallization in plagioclase and K-feldspar involved subgrain rotation, assisted by grain-boundary or kink band boundary bulging, without contribution from a change in the chemical composition from host grains to new grains. The size of subgrains and new grains changes across the mylonite zone, apparently as a function of the strain rate and the H2O content of the rock. The partitioning of deformation into zones of progressive shearing and progressive shortening controls the sites of recovery and recrystallization in feldspar during mylonitization. The size of feldspar porphyroclasts in well developed mylonites is governed by the scale of deformation partitioning reached in the earlier stages of mylonitization, before the formation of a large proportion of fine-grained matrix that can accommodate the progressive shearing component of the deformation. Recrystallization occurs in microcline, apparently without involving a translation to a monoclinic structure, as microcline-twinned new grains are common adjacent to microcline-twinned host grains. K-feldspar triclinicity values calculated from XRD traces increase from the margins to the interior of the mylonite zone, in conjunction with deformation intensity. K-feldspar host grains locally have cores of orthoclase or untwinned microcline, surrounded by mantles of twinned microcline, suggesting a relationship between the presence of microcline twinning and the degree of K-feldspar triclinicity.     

Macro‐and Microstructural,Textural Fabrics and Deformation Mechanism of Calcite Mylonites from Xar Moron‐Changchun Dextral Shear Zone,Northeast China

The calcite mylonites in the Xar Moron-Changchun shear zone show a significance dextral shearing characteristics. The asymmetric(σ-structure) calcite/quartz grains or aggregates, asymmetry of calcite c-axes fabric diagrams and the oblique foliation of recrystallized calcite grains correspond to a top-to-E shearing. Mineral deformation behaviors, twin morphology, C-axis EBSD fabrics, and quartz grain size-frequency diagrams demonstrate that the ductile shear zone was developed under conditions of greenschist facies, with the range of deformation temperatures from 200 to 300°C. These subgrains of host grains and surrounding recrystallized grains, strong undulose extinction, and slightly curved grain boundaries are probably results of intracrystalline deformation and dynamic recrystallization implying that the deformation took place within the dislocation-creep regime at shallow crustal levels. The calculated paleo-strain rates are between 10~(–7.87)s~(–1) and 10~(–11.49)s~(–1) with differential stresses of 32.63–63.94 MPa lying at the higher bound of typical strain rates in shear zones at crustal levels, and may indicate a relatively rapid deformation. The S-L-calcite tectonites have undergone a component of uplift which led to subhorizontal lifting in an already non-coaxial compressional deformation regime with a bulk pure shear-dominated general shear. This E-W large-scale dextral strike-slip movement is a consequence of the eastward extrusion of the Xing'an-Mongolian Orogenic Belt, and results from far-field forces associated with Late Triassic convergence domains after the final closure of the Paleo-Asian Ocean.     

Syn-emplacement recrystallization and deformation microstructures in the Poe Mountain anorthosite,Wyoming

 Plagioclase recrystallization microstructures and petrofabrics in the unmetamorphosed, 1.43 Ga Poe Mountain anorthosite, Wyoming, are indicative of very high-temperature deformation and recrystallization during the emplacement of the anorthosite body. The Poe Mountain anorthosite consists of a core of recrystallized, massive anorthosite transitional with a series of layered anorthositic cumulates at the margin of the intrusion. Irregular grain boundaries and dissected grain microstructures in the massive core and transitional anorthosites suggest that the anorthositic rocks recrystallized by “fast” grain boundary migration and possibly subgrain rotation recrystallization, at very high temperatures (≈1050°C) during emplacement of the intrusion in the mid-crust (3 kbar). The deformation and recrystallization of the Poe Mountain anorthosite was continuous from subliquidus to subsolidus temperature conditions during the emplacement of the intrusion. Anorthosites with the lowest modal percentages of ferromagnesian minerals and Fe-Ti oxides are always the most recrystallized. This suggests that melt interstitial to the plagioclase-crystal framework was removed during deformation and recrystallization of the intrusion. Bulging of plagioclase grain boundaries around Fe-Ti oxides together with deformed oikocrystic ferromagnesian minerals and plagioclase chadacrysts indicate that the deformation and recrystallization of the intrusion continued after the crystallization of the interstitial melt minerals. Received: 28 February 1995/Accepted: 20 July 1995     

The eastern Tonale fault zone: a ‘natural laboratory’ for crystal plastic deformation of quartz over a temperature range from 250 to 700 °C

Near the eastern end of the Tonale fault zone, a segment of the Periadriatic fault system in the Italian Alps, the Adamello intrusion produced a syn-kinematic contact aureole. A temperature gradient from 250 to 700 °C was determined across the Tonale fault zone using critical syn-kinematic mineral assemblages from the metasedimentary host rocks surrounding deformed quartz veins. Deformed quartz veins sampled along this temperature gradient display a transition from cataclasites to mylonites (frictional–viscous transition) at 280±30 °C. Within the mylonites, zones characterized by different dynamic recrystallization mechanisms were defined: Bulging recrystallization (BLG) was dominant between 280 and 400 °C, subgrain rotation recrystallization (SGR) in the 400–500 °C interval, and the transition to dominant grain boundary migration recrystallization (GBM) occurred at 500 °C. The microstructures associated with the three recrystallization mechanisms and the transitions between them can be correlated with experimentally derived dislocation creep regimes. Bulk texture X-ray goniometry and computer-automated analysis of preferred [c]-axis orientations of porphyroclasts and recrystallized grains are used to quantify textural differences that correspond to the observed microstructural changes. Within the BLG- and SGR zones, porphyroclasts show predominantly single [c]-axis maxima. At the transition from the SGR- to the GBM zone, the texture of recrystallized grains indicates a change from [c]-axis girdles, diagnostic of multiple slip systems, to a single maximum in Y. Within the GBM zone, above 630±30 °C, the textures also include submaxima, which are indicative of combined basal a- and prism [c] slip.     

Local disequilibrium of plagioclase in high-temperature shear zones of the Ivrea Zone, Italy

Abstract Microstructural and chemical analysis of plagioclase in 20 superficially similar amphibolite facies ductile shear zones in metagabbors and amphibolites of the Ivrea Zone in Italy reveals significant differences in An and Ba contents. Plagioclase, which was deformed at P-T conditions lower than those of the wall rocks, occurs in the following four different microstructural situations with different chemical compositions: (i) relatively undeformed porphyroclasts, (ii) dynamically recrystallized grains and subgrains rimming the porphyroclasts, (iii) infill of microcracks cross-cutting the porphyroclasts and (iv) fine-grained recrystallized grains in the matrix of the shear zones. The differences in the An and Ba contents are caused by partial chemical equilibration of plagioclase in the shear zones during and partly after deformation. Changes in An and Ba contents were caused by fluid-assisted grain-boundary migration recrystallization, as well as by solid-state diffusion, while fluid activity was high. The relation between the composition and microstructures of the plagioclase in the shear zones indicates that in the different shear zones, fluids ceased to be active during different stages in the late shear zone deformation history.
The interpretation of the variations in composition and microstructures reveals that only grains that developed by grain-boundary migration recrystallization and that are not adjacent to porphyroclasts reflect P-T conditions during the dominant shear-zone deformation.     

Syndeformational recrystallization – dynamic or compositionally induced?

Dynamic recrystallization in the strict sense of the term is the reconstitution of crystalline material without a change in chemical composition, driven by strain energy in the form of dislocations. Driving potentials additional to internal strain energy may contribute to the recrystallization of naturally deformed minerals, which form solid solutions such as feldspar, amphiboles and pyroxenes, if they change their composition during recrystallization. To estimate the relative importance of these driving potentials, the chemical composition of porphyroclasts and recrystallized grains of plagioclase, clinopyroxene and hornblende have been investigated in samples from a high grade shear zone of the Ivrea Zone, Italy. The plagioclases show two different recrystallization microstructures: bulging recrystallization at grain boundaries and discrete zones of recrystallized grains across porphyroclasts probably involving fracturing. Deformation took place under amphibolite facies conditions on a retrograde P,T-path. Porphyroclast and recrystallized compositions from bulging recrystallization microstructures differ only in their Or-content and yield a ΔG between mean host grain and mean recrystallized grain composition at fixed P,T-conditions of approximately 5 Joules/10⁻⁴ m³. Extreme compositional variations yield approximately 60 J/10⁻⁴m³. The increase of free energy due to dislocations calculated for common glide systems in plagioclase are on the order of 100 Joules/10⁻⁴m³ for high values of dislocation densities of 10¹⁴m⁻². Thus, the effect of chemically induced driving energies on grain boundary velocity appears small for mean compositions but may be as great as that of deformational energies for larger chemical differences. In the other type of microstructure, porphyroclasts and recrystallized grains in discrete zones differ in their anorthite content. The maximum ΔG induced by the compositional disequilibrium is on the order of 100 J/10⁻⁴m³. This maximum value is of the same magnitude as the ΔG derived from high dislocation densities of 10¹⁴ m⁻². The resulting combined ΔG is approximately twice as high as for deformational ΔG alone, and heterogeneous nucleation may become a feasible recrystallization mechanism which is evident from the microstructures. The recrystallization mechanism depends on the nature of the driving potential. Grain boundary migration (GBM) and heterogeneous nucleation can release Gibbs free energy induced by compositional disequilibrium, whereas this is not likely for subgrain rotation. Therefore, only GBM and heterogeneous nucleation may link metamorphism and deformation, so that syndeformational recrystallization may represent a transitional process ranging from dynamic recrystallization to metamorphic reaction. Received: 8 July 1996 / Accepted: 17 November 1997     

The deformation and recrystallization of biotite in the Woodroffe Thrust mylonite zone

The deformation and recrystallization microstructures in biotite from the Woodroffe Thrust mylonites are described and interpreted. The degree of strain causing recrystallization and the nucleation mechanisms differ across the mylonite zone. These differences are associated with the contrast in water content between the granulite and amphibolite facies felsic gneisses on either side of the zone. p]In moderately mylonitized granulite facies felsic gneisses (0.1–0.6% H₂O) subgrains form in intensely deformed host biotite and recrystallization mechanisms involve subgrain rotation both on host grain boundaries and associated with kink band bulge. In the amphibolite facies felsic gneisses (0.9–1.2% H₂O) the biotite recrystallizes by a mechanism involving localized internal kinking of the host and subsequent migration of high angle boundaries generated on the kink limbs. This combined with rotation due to the concurrent deformation generates high angle grain boundaries around the entire original kink limb and thus a new grain.     

主要造岩矿物动态重结晶作用及其变质条件

动态重结晶是一种重要的矿物变形作用,主要包括膨凸、亚晶粒旋转和颗粒边界迁移重结晶作用三种变形机制。随着变质程度的不断增强,膨凸、亚晶粒旋转和颗粒边界迁移重结晶作用顺次出现。动态重结晶作用是温度、压力、应力以及流体等多方面综合作用的结果,而不仅仅与变形温度有关,因此我们认为以变质相带代替温度变化作为主要造岩矿物动态重结晶机制的转变条件应该更为合理。通过大量薄片观察和综合分析,我们概述了不同变质相条件下主要造岩矿物的变形特征组合,并提出了主要造岩矿物的动态重结晶发生的相对顺序大致应为方解石→黑云母→石英→长石→角闪石→橄榄石→辉石,与前人有所不同。     

Microfabric of folded quartz veins in metagreywackes: dislocation creep and subgrain rotation at high stress

The microfabrics of folded quartz veins in fine‐grained high pressure–low temperature metamorphic greywackes of the Franciscan Subduction Complex at Pacheco Pass, California, were investigated by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy including electron backscatter diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy. The foliated host metagreywacke is deformed by dissolution–precipitation creep, as indicated by the shape preferred orientation of mica and clastic quartz without any signs of crystal‐plastic deformation. The absence of crystal‐plastic deformation of clastic quartz suggests that the flow stress in the host metagreywacke remained below a few tens of MPa at temperatures of 250–300 °C. In contrast, the microfabric of the folded quartz veins indicates deformation by dislocation creep accompanied by subgrain rotation recrystallization. For the small recrystallized grain size of ～8 ± 6 μm, paleopiezometers indicate differential stresses of a few hundred MPa. The stress concentration in the single phase quartz vein is interpreted to be due to its higher effective viscosity compared to the fine‐grained host metagreywacke deforming by dissolution–precipitation creep. The fold shape suggests a viscosity contrast of one to two orders of magnitude. Deformation by dissolution–precipitation creep is expected to be a continuous process. The same must hold for folding of the vein and deformation of the vein quartz by dislocation creep. The microfabric suggests dynamic recrystallization predominantly by subgrain rotation and only minor strain‐induced grain boundary migration, which requires low contrasts in dislocation density across high‐angle grain boundaries to be maintained during climb‐controlled creep at high differential stress. The record of quartz in these continuously deformed veins is characteristic and different from the record in metamorphic rocks exhumed in seismically active regions, where high‐stress deformation at similar temperatures is episodic and related to the seismic cycle.     

Characterisation of deformation and flow mechanics around porphyroclasts in a calcite marble ultramylonite by means of EBSD analysis

This paper studies the flow heterogeneity around porphyroclasts associated with greenschist facies deformation of a calcite marble shear zone. Microstructural data from electron backscatter diffraction analyses (EBSD) are used to constrain the flow mechanics of this dominantly non-coaxial type of deformation. The microstructure of the undisturbed ultramylonite (grain-size range 5–100 μm, mean 40 μm) is interpreted to represent steady-state (time-independent) flow conditions with flow planes parallel to the shear zone boundary. Single calcite porphyroclasts (grain-size 1–3 mm) caused flow perturbation in the fine-grained marble ultramylonite. It is the shape, in particular, of these rigid porphyroclasts that controls their rotational behaviour during deformation and, therefore, the development of specific flow fabrics. The flow planes around elongated-rhomboidal, stable porphyroclasts change the orientation to become roughly parallel to the porphyroclast margin, whereas the geometry of flow planes around nearly equant, rotating porphyroclasts describes a δ-type flow pattern. We infer that to some extent decoupling at the clast–matrix interface has occurred to guarantee a stable orientation of elongated porphyroclasts, but was not sufficient to reduce the rotation rate of equant clasts to zero. According to the flow deflection, the general crystallographic preferred orientation (CPO) with its single c-axis maximum perpendicular to the flow plane is rotated about an axis which is (sub)parallel to the kinematic rotation axis of the shear zone. Ultramylonite microstructures, CPOs and misorientation data are best explained by the dual operation of grain-size-insensitive (dislocation creep with recovery and recrystallization) and grain-size-sensitive (diffusion creep) mechanisms. The limited grain-size reduction around porphyroclasts suggests that the grain-size-insensitive mechanisms controlled rheology.     

Low-Temperature Plasticity of Naturally Deformed Calcite Rocks

Optical, cathodoluminescence and transmission electron microscope (TEM) analyses were conducted on four groups of calcite fault rocks, a cataclastic limestone, cataclastic coarse-grained marbles from two fault zones, and a fractured mylonite. These fault rocks show similar microstructural characteristics and give clues to similar processes of rock deformation. They are characterized by the structural contrast between macroscopic cataclastic (brittle) and microscopic mylonitic (ductile) microstructures. Intragranular deformation microstructures (i.e. deformation twins, kink bands and microfractures) are well preserved in the deformed grains in clasts or in primary rocks. The matrix materials are of extremely fine grains with diffusive features. Dislocation microstructures for co-existing brittle deformation and crystalline plasticity were revealed using TEM. Tangled dislocations are often preserved at the cores of highly deformed clasts, while dislocation walls form in the transitions to the fine-grained