Estimating quartz fabrics from piezoelectric measurements

An aggregate of piezoelectric minerals may itself be piezoelectric if the minerals are suitably aligned. Thus quartz-bearing rocks may be piezoelectric, since quartz is one such mineral. It has been shown that some rocks do possess this effect, termed a piezoelectric fabric (Bishop, 1981). The type of piezoelectric fabric may be determined by matching experimental data to theoretical models of piezoelectric fabrics. These theoretical models of pure quartz aggregates are derived by considering the symmetry of the preferred crystallographic directions of the aggregate grains. From the symmetry, the piezoelectric matrix of the model may be determined. The best-fitting model and the orientation of its fabric is obtained by equating the experimental data to each model in turn. For each model, the best fitting fabric orientation is determined by using an inversion routine. If the experimental data are due to a piezoelectric fabric and not to some random or nonpolar distribution of grains, the fabric type (c-axis point maximum or large-circle girdle) and its orientation with respect to the specimen may be determined. The positions and polarities of the quartz a-axes are also specified. A statistical examination of results from a quartz-mylonite shows that the problem of piezoelectric model fitting is well posed, in that the Eulerian angles that specify the fabric orientation are fairly independent important parameters and a sufficiently close fit of the model to the data can be obtained to determine the fabric.     

Deformation partitioning during folding and transposition of quartz layers

Banded iron formation (BIF) from the Quadrilátero Ferrı́fero (southeastern Brazil) shows a compositional layering with alternating iron-rich and quartz-rich layers. This layering was intensively folded and transposed at a centimeter/millimeter scale through a component of bedding-parallel shear related to flexural slip at middle to high greenschist facies conditions (400–450 °C). The microstructure and c-axis fabrics of normal limbs, inverted limb and hinge zones of a selected isoclinal fold were analyzed combining optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and digital image analysis. In the normal limbs, recrystallized quartz grains show undulose extinction, relatively dry grain boundaries, c-axes at high angle to foliation and a pervasive grain shape fabric (GSF) indicating operation of crystal-plastic processes. In the inverted limb, quartz grains show more serrated and porous (“wet”) grain boundaries; the GSF is similar to that of the normal limb, but c-axes are oriented at 90° to those of the normal limb. We interpreted these characteristics as reflecting operation of solution-precipitation deformation in inverted limbs, as a consequence of grains having been rotated to an orientation that was hard to basal 〈a〉 glide, but easy to dissolution-precipitation creep. This deformation partitioning between crystal-plasticity and solution-transfer during folding/transposition of quartz may explain the common occurrence of layered quartz rocks, where individual layers show alternating c-axis fabrics with opposite asymmetries but a consistent GSF orientation. Such characteristics may reflect an earlier event of pervasive folding/transposition of a preexisting layering.     

Quartz and sheet-silicate preferred orientations of low symmetry, Pikikiruna Schist, New Zealand

The Pikikiruna Schist of Nelson, New Zealand, displays a fabric in which the patterns of quartz c-axes, the poles to planes of inequidimensional quartz grains, and the statistical maxima of poles to sheet-silicate cleavages are oblique to each other. The quartz c-axes patterns consist of type-1 and type-2 crossed-girdles. The triclinic fabric can be explained in terms of one complex rotational deformation of an essentially plane strain nature. Rotation of approximately 90° about the intermediate strain-axis was combined at a late stage with subsidiary rotations about the extension axis. The quartz c-axes patterns can be related to the kinematic framework rather than the finite strain-axes. On the other hand, the dimensional quartz preferred orientation may be closely related to the finite strain-axes, though the quantity of strain can not be measured because of recrystallisation.     

Comparison of quartz microfabric with strain in recrystallized quartzite

The relationship between quartz c-axis microfabric and strain is examined in six specimens of recrystallized quartzite conglomerate in which strain was measured using pebble shapes. Four rocks subjected to plane strain display a direct relationship between the strength of preferred orientation and the strain intensity. The c-axis distributions in these rocks, as well as a rock subjected to moderate extensional strain, are crossed-girdles with maxima near the intermediate principal strain axis and connecting girdles at acute angles to the direction of maximum shortening. A rock subjected to moderate flattening strain has several maxima clustered near the direction of maximum shortening and a weak connecting girdle through the intermediate principal strain axis.These results are generally similar to those of other studies comparing strain and tectonite fabrics and also with experimental and computer simulation studies of fabrics. The degree of preferred orientation is related to total strain, and therefore microfabrics in quartzites may be cautiously interpreted as qualitative indicators of strain intensity. Uncertainties are greater, however, for correlations of fabric patterns with shapes of the strain ellipsoid. An observed increase in recrystallized grain sizes with increasing strain suggests that flow stress was lower in the more strained rocks.     

Quartz ribbons in high grade granite gneiss: modifications of dynamically formed quartz c-axis preferred orientation by oriented grain growth

Quartz ribbons form a well-defined LS fabric in granitic gneisses sheared and metamorphosed in the upper-amphibolite facies. Boundaries of quartz grains are smooth and sub-perpendicular to ribbon walls, suggesting post-deformational growth, whereas c-axes display asymmetric girdle patterns consistent with the sense of shear indicated by mesoscopic fabrics. Subdivision of the microfabrics according to the proportion of ribbon length occupied by individual grains indicates that the c-axes of relatively short grains exhibit across-girdle pattern similar to that of the whole sample. Longer grains reproduce elements of the pattern of the short grains, suggesting that oriented grain growth occurred. Grain boundary mobility, which clearly ended in a post-deformational static regime, probably began during dynamic recrystallization. Owing to space limitations imposed by the feldspathic matrix, grain growth in the ribbons ceased before the initial dynamic fabric was erased. In summary, this study shows that the c-axes pattern of longer grains within quartz ribbons reproduces part of the dynamically formed pattern of the shorter grains, reflecting an oriented grain growth which concluded in a static episode, although possibly initiated in the dynamic regime.     

Quartz [0001]-axes preferred orientation, Bluff, New Zealand: Origin elucidated by grain-size measurements

Permian volcanic sediments at Bluff have been strained and thermally metamorphosed by Permian intrusives to metasediments of hornblende—hornfels facies. Quartz, which crystallised as a secondary mineral during metamorphism, has an unusual preferred orientation with c-axes either forming paired maxima in the plane containing the lineation (=maximum principal strain axis = direction of extension) and the perpendicular to schistosity (=minimum principal strain axis = shortening direction) or a broad maximum parallel to the lineation; the paired maxima are approximately 30° either side of the lineation. Some quartz grains are markedly elongate parallel to the lineation, and according to hypotheses of preferred orientation involving crystal plasticity, there should be some correlation between the shape of such grains and their c-axis orientations. Grain-size and shape analysis of Bluff quartz demonstrate that no such correlation exists; the analyses show that the preferred orientation results from oriented nucleation in the residual stress field immediately following the bulk straining of the rocks, with the distribution of c-axes as predicted by Kamb's hypothesis (1959). The time relationships of rock deformation, thermal metamorphism, and nucleation and growth of quartz are discussed.     

Nature and origins of granitic regolith in bauxite mine floors in the Darling Range,Western Australia

Chemical and physical weathering of primary minerals during the formation of laterite profiles in the Darling Range has formed distinct secondary mineral and morphological zones in the regolith. Erosion and human activity such as mining have exposed large areas of lateritic regolith, and its classification is important for land management, especially for mine rehabilitation. Preserved rock fabrics within regolith may enable the identification of parent rock type and degree of weathering, thus providing explanations for variations in important physical properties such as the strength and water retention of regolith. Feldspar, quartz, biotite and muscovite in porphyritic and fine-grained monzogranite in lateritic profiles have weathered via a series of gradational changes to form saprolite and pedolith consisting of kaolin, quartz, iron oxides, muscovite and gibbsite. Local reorganisation in the upper regolith or pedoplasmation zone has included illuviation of kaolin, which may be iron oxide-stained and which has disrupted the preserved rock fabric of saprock and saprolite. Quartz grain- or matrix-supported fabrics have developed, with greater pedoplasmation resulting in a quartz-grain-supported fabric. The recognition of these processes enables the use of gibbsite grainsize and distribution in regolith to infer original feldspar grainsize. Muscovite-rich or muscovite-deficient kaolin matrix indicates where plagioclase or alkali feldspar, respectively, was present in the parent rock. In some regolith, cementing by iron oxides has faithfully preserved rock fabric. The recognition of these various regolith types provides a basis for identifying the parent materials of lateritic regolith developed from granitic and doleritic rocks. Rock fabric is sometimes preserved in iron oxide-cemented bauxite mine floor regolith (Zh) due to the pseudomorphic gibbsite grains and iron oxide cement which forms a porous, rigid fabric. Plagioclase-rich granitoid is more likely to have weathered to dense clay-rich regolith (Zp), whereas albite and alkali feldspar have weathered to quartz-rich regolith (Zm) with the random orientation of quartz grains indicating that substantial reorganisation of rock fabric has occurred. It is possible to predict the response of regolith materials exposed in mine floors to management practices including ripping and re-vegetation, thus allowing targeted use of deep-ripping and planting density based on regolith type.     

Simulation of fabric development in recrystallizing aggregates—II. Example model runs

This study investigates the role of the coupling of dynamic recrystallization and lattice rotations in fabric development. A new two-dimensional computer simulation of polycrystalline deformation is used, which combines homogeneous straining, internal lattice rotations and dynamic recrystallization processes. Five example runs of the simulation are described here, which compare the progressive development of fabrics resulting from different recrystallization regimes and different straining geometries. It is found that these fabrics can evolve significantly with progressive strain from one strong fabric pattern to another. The effect of recrystallization is not only to create point maxima concentrations of c-axes, but also to modify and create girdle distributions. Correlations are made between the fabrics generated by this model and previously reported quartz and ice fabrics.     

Texture and fabric studies across the Kishorn Nappe, near Kyle of Lochalsh, Western Scotland

The progressive development of mylonitic fabrics in a series of Torridonian sandstones and shales has been studied along traverses across the Kishorn Nappe. The fabrics developed have been investigated using the following techniques.

1. 1. Optical examination of thin sections.

2. 2. Measurements of the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility.

3. 3. X-ray texture goniometry.

The results are used in support of a proposed deformation history of the area and the relative advantages of the techniques used are discussed.The early deformation was well lubricated with layer-parallel sliding and little internal deformation of the rocks, except for development, in the east, of a layer-parallel penetrative fabric with an extension direction to the ESE. This deformation produced a westward facing isoclinal anticline and a recumbent syncline in the Torridonian rocks which became at least partly decoupled from the basement.The important phases of fabric development post date this folding. In the west the sandstones developed a spaced, pressure solution cleavage, but in the east the grain shape fabric has been produced by both dislocation and diffusion processes. The shales reveal more details of the deformation episodes than do the sandstones and thus show different fabric intensities and orientations when measured by magnetic and X-ray techniques.The magnetic anisotropy technique of fabric analysis gives a rapid method of mapping the deformation domains formed by different deformation mechanisms and intensities. However, the rocks carry several magnetic components and these have different anisotropy tensors and different responses to deformation, also, measurements made at high fields (5 kOe) give magnitudes and orientations of the magnetic anisotropy tensor which are different from those made at low fields. It is concluded that it is not possible to relate variations in the magnitude and shape of the magnetic anisotropy ellipsoid quantitatively to the deformation.Chlorite and muscovite fabrics measured by X-ray techniques show variations in intensity and orientation similar to those of the magnetic anisotropy ellipsoid due to paramagnetic minerals. However, the data demonstrate the difficulty of correlating this fabric intensity with deformation intensity where there has been a change in deformation mechanisms with time and space.     

Petrofabric analysis of Saxony Granulites by optical and X-ray diffraction methods

The regional development of distinct patterns of preferred orientation of quartz c-axes in the Saxony Granulites has been well documented in the literature. A suite of specimens representative of these fabrics has been examined both by optical universal stage, to determine quartz c-axis orientation, and by X-ray diffraction, to obtain orientation data from r, z, m and a. The data are combined to yield inverse pole figures of schistosity and lineation.The finite strain of the Saxony Granulites is thought to be essentially a flattening and there is no evidence that the deformation path is other than one of continuous flattening. Elongation in the plane of the schistosity is local and not extreme. Because of this apparently simple deformation picture, and because preliminary transmission electron microscopy reveals the presence of dislocation structures similar to those found in deformed metals, an attempt is made to interpret the quartz orientation in terms of dislocation slip mechanisms. There is some evidence that the activation of different mechanisms is perhaps primarily controlled by temperature. At least some of the patterns of preferred orientation of quartz were probably produced by deformation in the field of stability of α-quartz.     

Fabric development during shear deformation in the Main Central Thrust Zone, NW-Himalaya, India

Quartz microfabrics and associated microstructures have been studied on a crustal shear zone—the Main Central Thrust (MCT) of the Himalaya. Sampling has been done along six traverses across the MCT zone in the Kumaun and Garhwal sectors of the Indian Himalaya. The MCT is a moderately north-dipping shear zone formed as a result of the southward emplacement of a part of the deeply rooted crust (that now constitutes the Central Crystalline Zone of the Higher Himalaya) over the less metamorphosed sedimentary belt of the Lesser Himalaya. On the basis of quartz c- and a-axis fabric patterns, supported by the relevant microstructures within the MCT zone, two major kinematic domains have been distinguished. A noncoaxial deformation domain is indicated by the intensely deformed rocks in the vicinity of the MCT plane. This domain includes ductilely deformed and fine-grained mylonitic rocks which contain a strong stretching lineation and are composed of low-grade mineral assemblages (muscovite, chlorite and quartz). These rocks are characterized by highly asymmetric structures/microstructures and quartz c- and a-axis fabrics that indicate a top-to-the-south sense that is compatible with south-directed thrusting for the MCT zone. An apparently coaxial deformation domain, on the other hand, is indicated by the rocks occurring in a rather narrow belt fringing, and structurally above, the noncoaxial deformation domain. The rocks are highly feldspathic and coarse-grained gneisses and do not possess any common lineation trend and the effects of simple shear deformation are weak. The quartz c-axis fabrics are symmetrical with respect to foliation and lineation. Moreover, these rocks contain conjugate and mutually interfering shear bands, feldspar/quartz porphyroclasts with long axes parallel to the macrosopic foliation and the related structures/microstructures, suggesting deformation under an approximate coaxial strain path.On moving towards the MCT, the quartz c- and a-axis fabrics become progressively stronger. The c-axis fabric gradually changes from random to orthorhombic and then to monoclinic. In addition, the coaxial strain path gradually changes to the noncoaxial strain path. All this progressive evolution of quartz fabrics suggests more activation of the basal, rhomb and a slip systems at all structural levels across the MCT.     

Quartz fabrics in shear-zone mylonites: Evidence for a major imprint due to late strain increments

Geometrical relations between quartz C-axis fabrics, textures, microstructures and macroscopic structural elements (foliation, lineation, folds…) in mylonitic shear zones suggest that the C-axis fabric mostly reflects the late-stage deformation history. Three examples of mylonitic thrust zones are presented: the Eastern Alps, where the direction of shearing inferred from the quartz fabric results from a late deformation oblique to the overall thrusting; the Caledonides nappes and the Himalayan Main Central Thrust zone, where, through a similar reasoning, the fabrics would also reflect late strain increments though the direction of shearing deduced from quartz fabric remains parallel to the overall thrusting direction. Hence, the sense of shear and the shear strain component deduced from the orientation of C-axis girdles relative to the finite strain ellipsoid axes are not simply related nor representative of the entire deformation history.     

Mylonitic microfabrics from the rocks of MCT zone in Alakhnanda valley,Garhwal Himalaya

MCT Zone of Alakhnanda valley is a major ductile shear zone in Garhwal Himalaya, which is characterised by different types of mylonite rocks. On the basis of grain size and the percentage of matrix in the rock, zones comprising protomylonite, augen mylonite, mylonite and ultramylonite have been identified. The study of microstructures, grain size and crystallographic preferred orientation of quartz c-axis fabric reveals that the rocks of the MCT zone were deformed by a combination of intracrystalline creep (power law creep) and grain boundary migration (sliding super plasticity).     

Sense of shear and displacement estimates in the Abeibara-Rarhous late Pan-African shear zone,Adrar des Iforas,Mali

The late Pan-African Abeibara-Rarhous shear zone in the Adrar des Iforas (Mali) is described and studied with the aim of defining the direction, sense of movement and amount of displacement along the zone. It is a strike-slip shear zone, the dextral sense of which is demonstrated at the scale of the map by the rotation of the related mylonitic foliation and at the scale of the thin section with characteristic microstructures. Preferred orientation of quartz c-axes is tentatively used; three quartz-rich samples of 35% or more quartz indicate dextral strike-slip movement, but other samples do not show preferred orientation of quartz c-axes. Strain measurements have been performed on one half of the shear zone using established techniques and a new technique using the thickness of mylonitic layering. The results vary along the length of the shear zone when using the same method and for the same cross-section when using the three methods together. A mean value of 4 km is obtained for total displacement which is low when considering the apparent width of the shear zone. This result is discussed in view of the assumptions involved in the strain estimation. The tectonic history of the Abeibara-Rarhous shear zone and its significance in the Trans-Saharan Pan-African collisional belt are discussed.     

Construction of crossed girdles by superposing four subfabrics,each with a single maximum

Commonly, basal glide is the predominant deformation mechanism of quartz in tectonites. Therefore, local deformation is probably mostly progressive simple shear rotating the sheared domains as well as deforming them. If a tectonite body is constrained to be deformed irrotationally and approximately homogeneously throughout, it is necessarily traversed by closely spaced material surfaces that are approximately plane and orthogonal originally, and stay so through time. These surfaces act as internal boundaries and enforce cancellation of the rigid-body rotations of, in the general case, four distinct families of domains, with slip planes and directions mutually mirror-symmetric. The overall symmetry of the fabric is orthorhombic, with the mirror planes coinciding with the principal planes of strain. Certain grains with basal planes in favorable orientation for one of the four ideal simple shears could initiate the deformation, and because of the need for compatibility, entrain neighboring grains into a similar strain, making the surroundings of an initiating grain a shear zone. Compatibility also requires thec-axes of grains in a domain to be rotated progressively toward the direction of maximum shortening. If the original orientation of crystallographic axes was random, domains of one family thus acquire a fabric with a single maximum, and the four resulting fabrics with single maxima combine to form crossed-girdle patterns. Depending on the orientation of the average shear planes and slip directions in the four families, the crossed girdles can be of different types; most fabric types that have been observed in quartz tectonites can be obtained by superposition. Crossed-girdle fabrics with low symmetry result from non-coaxial strain histories.     

Domainal and fabric heterogeneities in the Cap de Creus quartz mylonites

A characteristic domainal configuration is reported for both micro-structures and c-axis fabrics in the Cap de Creus pure quartz mylonites as displayed in 50 samples from the centres of different shear zones. Three types of domains are found a, b and c. Each domain has a distinct c-axis orientation pattern. These three fabric elements, also labelled a, b and c make up the total fabric. c-axis fabrics are symmetric or asymmetric with respect to the main mylonitic foliation depending on the presence or absence of the b domain and its fabric element. The boundaries of the domains are parallel to the main mylonitic foliation. Two domain types, a and b display an internal foliation defined by preferred grain boundary alignment parallel to the direction of optical orientation within the domain. The internal foliations are oblique to the main mylonitic foliation in two different senses giving the sample a herring-bone appearance. These internal foliations are shown to be related to extensional crenulations. Domains are not produced by host-controlled recrystallization. The fabric elements and corresponding domains are the expression of kinematic heterogeneities on the scale of the thin section.     

Quartz microfabric of the Laxfordian Canisp Shear Zone,NW Scotland

The Canisp Shear Zone transects layered Lewisian gneisses near Lochinver, NW Scotland. It is a vertical ductile shear zone with a dextral shear sense, formed during Laxfordian amphibolite facies metamorphism, transposing the layering to new foliation and linear structures. Minerals in the layered gneisses show little or no shape fabric, while a strong shape fabric defines the foliation. For quartz, this shape fabric is accompanied by development of a preferred crystal orientation with fabric patterns reflecting the geometry of the shear deformation. The quartz fabric shows a pole-free area around the lineation with the c-axes concentrated in an asymmetric cross-girdle or a point maximum perpendicular to the shear plane, and a monoclinic symmetry consistent with the shear sense.     

Polyhalite microfabrics in an Alpine evaporite mélange: Hallstatt,Eastern Alps

In the Hallstatt salt mine (Austria), polyhalite rocks occur in 0.5–1 m thick and several metre long tectonic lenses within the protocataclasite to protomylonite matrix of the Alpine Haselgebirge Fm.. Thin section analysis of Hallstatt polyhalites reveals various fabric types similar to metamorphic rocks of crust-forming minerals, e.g. quartz and feldspar. Polyhalite microfabrics from Hallstatt include: (1) polyhalite mylonites, (2) metamorphic reaction fabrics, (3) vein-filling, fibrous polyhalite and (4) cavity-filling polyhalite. The polyhalite mylonites contain a wide range of shear fabrics commonly known in mylonitic quartzo–feldspathic shear zones within the ductile crust and developed from a more coarse-grained precursor rock. The mylonites are partly overprinted by recrystallised, statically grown polyhalite grains. Metamorphic reaction fabrics of polyhalite fibres between blödite (or astrakhanite) [Na₂Mg(SO₄)₂.4H₂O] and anhydrite have also been found. According to previous reports, blödite may occur primarily as nodules or intergrown with löweite. Reaction fabrics may have formed by exsolution, (re-)crystallisation, parallel growth or replacement. This fabric type was only found in one sample in relation with the decomposition of blödite at ca. 61 °C in the presence of halite or slightly above, testifying, therefore, a late stage prograde fabric significantly younger than the main polyhalite formation.     

The deformation and recrystallization of quartz in a mylonite zone, Central Australia

Hydrolytic weakening in quartz has been extensively demonstrated by experimental deformation of single crystals and aggregates. This paper describes the deformation and recrystallization microstructures and preferred orientations of quartz in a mylonite zone separating granulite facies (0.2% H₂O) from amphibolite facies (1.0% H₂O) acid gneisses. The transition from slightly deformed country rock on both sides to the ultimate product of mylonitization (a phyllite) is described and the following major differences are noted:

1. (1) The strain prior to recrystallization is higher on the granulite side.

2. (2) Misorientations across deformation-band boundaries are much higher on the granulite side.

3. (3) Subgrains and new grains are considerably smaller at the same stage of recrystallization on the granulite side.

4. (4) Preferred orientation of [0001] developes more rapidly with respect to strain on the amphibolite side.

5. (5) There is a closer orientation relationship between host and recrystallized (new) grains on the granulite side.

The microstructures and preferred-orientation development on both sides are related to concurrent ductile deformation, dynamic recovery and recrystallization processes. The differences between the two sides is attributed to the difference in bulk H₂O content of the rocks and a resultant difference in strain rate. The suggested effect of water on recovery processes is favoured over its possible role in slip processes.