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.     

Inhomogeneous substrate analysis using EM300 backscatter imagery

Backscatter reflectivity from multibeam echo-sounders provides a powerful tool to efficiently characterize seafloor substrates. A comprehensive EM300 bathymetric and backscatter survey has been completed of Cook Strait, in central New Zealand. This paper presents a detailed analysis of the realtime corrections applied to the raw EM300 multibeam data and additional corrections required to compute angular variations of the backscatter strength. The corrections, including the local absorption coefficient, the influence of seafloor topography and sound refraction in the water column, are determined for different Cook Strait seafloor substrates. Modifying MB-System software code, we extracted the backscatter signal parameters in order to quantify the raw backscatter strength and apply additional processing. Profiles of backscatter strength versus incidence angle were computed for a variety of sites characterized by flat seafloor and homogeneous substrates, and for which ground-truth data were available. For each homogeneous site, different but characteristic backscatter profiles are observed that can be interpreted in terms of sediment facies. To analyze heterogeneous substrates, we present a statistical technique, based on a 3-dimensional distribution of (incidence angle, backscatter strength) couples that preserves geological information of the substrate components. This analysis, using backscatter data acquired on a submarine volcano, north of New Zealand, clearly differentiates soft sediments and lava flows within a heterogeneous substrate.     

Remote estimation of surficial seafloor properties through the application Angular Range Analysis to multibeam sonar data

The variation of the backscatter strength with the angle of incidence is an intrinsic property of the seafloor, which can be used in methods for acoustic seafloor characterization. Although multibeam sonars acquire backscatter over a wide range of incidence angles, the angular information is normally neglected during standard backscatter processing and mosaicking. An approach called Angular Range Analysis has been developed to preserve the backscatter angular information, and use it for remote estimation of seafloor properties. Angular Range Analysis starts with the beam-by-beam time-series of acoustic backscatter provided by the multibeam sonar and then corrects the backscatter for seafloor slope, beam pattern, time varying and angle varying gains, and area of insonification. Subsequently a series of parameters are calculated from the stacking of consecutive time series over a spatial scale that approximates half of the swath width. Based on these calculated parameters and the inversion of an acoustic backscatter model, we estimate the acoustic impedance and the roughness of the insonified area on the seafloor. In the process of this inversion, the behavior of the model parameters is constrained by established inter-property relationships. The approach has been tested using a 300 kHz Simrad EM3000 multibeam sonar in Little Bay, NH. Impedance estimates are compared to in situ measurements of sound speed. The comparison shows a very good correlation, indicating the potential of this approach for robust seafloor characterization.     

Quartz deformation mechanisms during Barrovian metamorphism: Implications from crystallographic orientation of different generations of quartz in pelites

The behaviour of quartz during metamorphism is studied based on two case studies from the Barrovian terrains of Sulitjelma in arctic Scandinavia and Loch Tay in the Central Highlands Dalradian of Scotland. Both terrains preserve evidence for metamorphism in pelites involving nucleation and growth of garnet at different times in the deformation history. Data are presented on the size, shape and crystallographic orientation of quartz preserved as inclusions in garnet and as grains in the surrounding matrix. While quartz-grains remain small and dispersed between mica grains, deformation appears to be dominated by grain-boundary sliding accommodated by dissolution–precipitation. At amphibolite facies, textural coarsening occurs by dissolution of small quartz grains and growth of larger quartz grains, coupled with segregation of quartz from mica. As a result, quartz deforms by dislocation creep, developing crystallographic preferred orientations (CPO) consistent with both coaxial and non-coaxial strain. Quartz CPOs with <0001> axes lying parallel to foliation and stretching direction are commonly developed, and best explained by mechanical rotation of inequant (detrital?) quartz grains. There is no evidence for selective entrapment of quartz inclusions in garnet on the basis of quartz crystallographic orientation.     

From geometry to dynamics of microstructure: using boundary lengths to quantify boundary misorientations and anisotropy

The microstructure of a quartzite experimentally deformed and partially recrystallised at 900 °C, 1.2 GPa confining pressure and strain rate 10⁻⁶/s was investigated using orientation contrast and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). Boundaries between misoriented domains (grains or subgrains) were determined by image analysis of orientation contrast images. In each domain, EBSD measurements gave the complete quartz lattice orientation and enabled calculation of misorientation angles across every domain boundary. Results are analysed in terms of the boundary density, which for any range of misorientations is the boundary length for that range divided by image area. This allows a more direct comparison of misorientation statistics between different parts of a sample than does a treatment in terms of boundary number.The strain in the quartzite sample is heterogeneous. A 100×150 μm low-strain partially recrystallised subarea C was compared with a high-strain completely recrystallised subarea E. The density of high-angle (>10°) boundaries in E is roughly double that in C, reflecting the greater degree of recrystallisation. Low-angle boundaries in C and E are produced by subgrain rotation. In the low-angle range 0–10° boundary densities in both C and E show an exponential decrease with increasing misorientation. The densities scale with exp(−θ/λ) where λ is approximately 2° in C and 1° in E; in other words, E has a comparative dearth of boundaries in the 8–10° range. We explain this dearth in terms of mobile high-angle boundaries sweeping through and consuming low-angle boundaries as the latter increase misorientation through time. In E, the density of high-angle boundaries is larger than in C, so this sweeping would have been more efficient and could explain the relative paucity of 8–10° boundaries.The boundary density can be generalised to a directional property that gives the degree of anisotropy of the boundary network and its preferred orientation. Despite the imposed strain, the analysed samples show that boundaries are not, on average, strongly aligned. This is a function of the strong sinuosity of high-angle boundaries, caused by grain boundary migration. Low-angle boundaries might be expected, on average, to be aligned in relation to imposed strain but this is not found.Boundary densities and their generalisation in terms of directional properties provide objective measures of microstructure. In this study the patterns they show are interpreted in terms of combined subgrain rotation and migration recrystallisation, but it may be that other microstructural processes give distinctive patterns when analysed in this fashion.     

基于EM算法和单幅雷达图像阴影的控制点坡度校正

对在我国现有的条件下进行控制点坡度校正的必要性进行了阐述，并分析了EM算法。根据EM算法以及基于区域增长的余弦散射模型建立了控制点坡度校正模型，并用河北省张北地区的雷达影像进行了实验，取得了较高的精度初值。     

The interplay and effects of deformation and crystallized melt on the rheology of the lower continental crust,Fiordland, New Zealand

Microstructural, electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), and misorientation analyses of a migmatitic granulite-facies orthogneiss from the exhumed lower crust of a Cretaceous continental arc in Fiordland, New Zealand show how deformation was accommodated during and after episodes of melt infiltration and high-grade metamorphism. Microstructures in garnet, omphacite, plagioclase, and K-feldspar suggest that an early stage of deformation was achieved by dislocation creep of omphacite and plagioclase, with subsequent deformation becoming partitioned into plagioclase. Continued deformation after melt infiltration resulted in strain localization in the leucosome of the migmatite, where a change of plagioclase deformation mechanism promoted the onset of grain boundary sliding, most likely accommodated by diffusion creep, in fine recrystallized plagioclase grains. Our results suggest three distinctive transitions in the rheology of the lower crust of this continental arc, where initial weakening was primarily achieved by deformation of both omphacite and plagioclase. Subsequent strain localization in plagioclase of the leucosome indicates that the zones of former melt are weaker than the restite, and that changes in deformation mechanisms within plagioclase, and an evolution of its strength, primarily control the rheology of the lower crust during and after episodes of melting and magma addition.