Deformation volume and cleavage development in metasedimentary rocks from the Ballarat slate belt

Psammites from the Ballarat slate belt in SE Australia exhibit well-developed differentiated or spaced cleavage defined by alternating phyllosilicate- and quartz-rich domains (termed P- and Q-domains, respectively). Strain estimates derived from independent microstructural and chemical observations suggest that the P-Q fabrics developed in response to plane-strain deformation dominated by solution transfer with the principal finite shortening in the P-domains approximately twice that in the adjacent Q-domains. Significant finite extensions are indicated by ubiquitous quartz-albite-chlorite overgrowths in both P- and Q-domains, while pressure-shadow development around syntectonic pyrite porphyroblasts suggest finite extension of at least 100%. This estimate is comparable with the extension predicted for constant-volume deformation and consequently there appears to have been no significant bulk material loss or gain on the hand-specimen scale. These observations are consistent with solute transfer scales as little as a few centimetres via diffusion in a stationary fluid and do not require, although do not necessarily preclude, large-scale advective fluid transport through the slate belt during cleavage formation as suggested in previous studies.     

Cleaved microgranite dykes of the Shap swarm in the Silurian of NW England

Felsite-microgranite dykes, chemically comparable with the Shap swarm and associated with the Shap intrusion, are present in Silurian sediments of the southern Lake District. They were emplaced after the country rocks had undergone Acadian (late Caledonian) folding and cleavage-formation but are themselves weakly cleaved. This confirms a ‘flattened buckle’ model for the Acadian deformation in NW England, which in turn establishes the link between sinistral transpression in this region and the clockwise transection of the folds by cleavage. The evidence also shows that the Acadian cleavage developed episodically, and that the Shap-Skiddaw magmatism occurred during one or more stress-relief episodes. The emplacement age of these intrusions thus constrains the age of the Acadian orogeny in NW England which was late in the Lower Devonian (according to currently available isotopic evidence), significantly later than the Silurian deformation of the Southern Uplands.     

Structure of the Ordovician succession around Aberdaron,southwest Llŷn,North Wales

Three deformation phases are recognizable within the Lower Ordovician metasedimentary sequence of the Aberdaron area and they are similar to those described for Lower Palaeozoic sequences in other parts of North Wales. There is no certain evidence however for a major Aberdaron Syncline as described by some previous workers. The first deformation phase produced southcast verging mesoscopic folds with steep to moderate dipping axial surfaces and a sporadic axial plane cleavage. The second deformation was relatively weak and produced only a low-dipping crenulation cleavage at a few favoured localities. The third phase gave rise to numerous small buckle folds, kinks in some pelitic units where the first cleavage was well developed, an axial plane cleavage, and a suite of quartz veins. The orientation of the third phase minor structures is not uniform and the fold trend and strike of axial plane cleavage varies from east-northeast to south-southeast, although retains a constant angular relationship to the local strike of bedding. The distribution of the third cleavage is bimodal and the third deformation phase may have been brought about by conjugate shears during a late brittle fracture stage of NW–SE compression. The structural sequence affecting the Ordovician cannot be correlated with that in the Mona Complex and it seems likely that the Mona Complex was deformed before the Arenig.     

Tangled up in folds: tectonic significance of superimposed folding at the core of the Central Iberian curve (West Iberia)

The amalgamation of Pangea during the Carboniferous produced a winding mountain belt: the Variscan orogen of West Europe. In the Iberian Peninsula, this tortuous geometry is dominated by two major structures: the Cantabrian Orocline, to the north, and the Central Iberian curve (CIC) to the south. Here, we perform a detailed structural analysis of an area within the core of the CIC. This core was intensively deformed resulting in a corrugated superimposed folding pattern. We have identified three different phases of deformation that can be linked to regional Variscan deformation phases. The main collisional event produced upright to moderately inclined cylindrical folds with an associated axial planar cleavage. These folds were subsequently folded during extensional collapse, in which a second fold system with subhorizontal axes and an intense subhorizontal cleavage formed. Finally, during the formation of the Cantabrian Orocline, a third folding event refolded the two previous fold systems. This later phase formed upright open folds with fold axis trending 100° to 130°, a crenulation cleavage and brittle–ductile transcurrent conjugated shearing. Our results show that the first and last deformation phases are close to coaxial, which does not allow the CIC to be formed as a product of vertical axis rotations, i.e. an orocline. The origin of the curvature in Central Iberia, if a single process, had to be coeval or previous to the first deformation phase.     

Cleavage strain in the Variscan fold belt,County Cork,Ireland, estimated from stretched arsenopyrite rosettes

In south-west Ireland, hydrothermally formed arsenopyrite crystals in a Devonian mudstone have responded to Variscan deformation by brittle extension fracture and fragment separation. The interfragment gaps and terminal extension zones of each crystal are infilled with fibrous quartz. Stretches within the cleavage plane have been calculated by the various methods available, most of which can be modified to incorporate terminal extension zones. The Strain Reversal Method is the most accurate currently available but still gives a minimum estimate of the overall strain. The more direct Hossain method, which gives only slightly lower estimates with this data, is more practical for field use. A strain ellipse can be estimated from each crystal rosette composed of three laths (assuming the original interlimb angles were all 60°) and, because actual rather than relative stretches are estimated, this provides a lower bound to the area increase in the plane of cleavage. Based on the average of our calculated strain ellipses this area increase is at least 114% and implies an average shortening across the cleavage of at least 53%. However, several lines of evidence suggest that the cleavage deformation was more intense and more oblate than that calculated, and we argue that a 300% area increase in the cleavage plane and 75% shortening across the cleavage are more realistic estimates of the true strain. Furthermore, the along-strike elongation indicated is at least 80%, which may be regionally significant. Estimates of orogenic contraction derived from balanced section construction should therefore take into account the possibility of a substantial strike elongation, and tectonic models that can accommodate such elongations need to be developed.     

Microstructure and cleavage development in selected slates

A detailed microstructural study of three slates by high voltage transmission electron microscopy is reported. The slates are mineralogically similar, come from minor fold cores and exhibit differing degrees of cleavage intensity. All three slates have domains of orientated phyllosilicates (cleavage lamellae) which contain only a low percentage of quartz and carbonate. Between these lamellae are lenticular domains which contain deformed phyllosilicates and which are enriched in secondary minerals. The initiation of cleavage lamellae can be clearly observed in electron micrographs from one of the slates studied. It occurs along zones of intense deformation, viz. along kinks and microfolds, which form from initial crenulations that are difficult to detect in a petrological microscope.The important observed re-orientation mechanisms of the phyllosilicates during cleavage development in the three slates are strain induced crystallization and the growth of metamorphically stable phyllosilicates together with mechanical rotation. Microstructural evidence suggests that the cleavage lamellae once initiated can extend laterally into the lenticular domains as deformation proceeds. Interference between adjacent phyllosilicates during deformation is commonly observed and resultant extension sites are often enriched in secondary minerals. Chlorite rich pods occur in all of the slates studied and have complex microstructures consisting of both deformed and undeformed phyllosilicates. It is concluded that these pods may form after cleavage initiation.     

Variation in fold geometry in the Yuso basin, northern Spain: implications for the deformation regime

First generation structures in greywackes of the Yuso Group from the Cantabrian Mountains of northern Spain show a distinct variation in geometry with depth in a regional synclinal structure (Curavacas and Lechada synclines); they are easily distinguished from other deformation events. In the structurally uppermost level we find ‘flap folds’. Flap folds are recumbent structures with the inverted limb preserved. Below this level ‘cascade folds’ are found. These structures have a vergence opposite to that of parasitic folds. The nomenclature adopted is from Harrison and Falcon. Characteristically, these structures have shallowly dipping axial surfaces, in agreement with the shallow dip of the axial plane (regional) cleavage. In the lowermost structural level, upright parasitic folds with a steep cleavage are present. The variation in fold geometry is accompanied by a general steepening of the regional cleavage with increasing depth. In the absence of overprinting relationships the F₁ fold geometries are included in a single deformation event.The steepening of the cleavage with depth reflects the change in orientation of the maximum shortening direction from sub-vertical in the upper part of the syncline to sub-horizontal in the lower part. With increasing depth the deformation regime during F₁ changed from bending to buckling. The deformation regime on the regional scale, however, is associated with basement subsidence and passive formation of the regional synclinal structure. Furthermore, the absence of a distinct microfabric for the different F₁ folds indicates that on a small scale a similar deformation regime was present. We conclude, therefore, that the scale at which we study a structure only reflects the deformation regime at that particular scale. Consequently, the overall deformation regime cannot be determined from single outcrops or microstructural analysis alone.     

On the structural age of the Rhoscolyn antiform,Anglesey, North Wales

In the Rhoscolyn area of Anglesey, the late Precambrian interbedded psammites and pelites of the Monian Supergroup are folded into a kilometre‐scale antiform, plunging about 25°NE and with an axial surface dipping about 40°NW. Numerous folds of up to a few tens of metres in wavelength are present on both limbs of this antiform. These smaller‐scale folds also plunge about 25°NE but clearly belong to two separate episodes of folding, and it has become a matter of longstanding controversy as to whether the larger antiform belongs to the first or second of these episodes. Close examination of the cleavage/bedding asymmetries from all the lithologies, however, shows that the large antiform is a second‐generation structure, and that on the gently dipping northwest limb, the sense of cleavage/bedding asymmetry of the earlier cleavage in the psammitic units has been almost uniformly and homogeneously reversed (so that it appears to be axial planar to the antiform), while in the pelitic units the sense of cleavage/bedding asymmetry of the earlier cleavage has been preserved. Many of the small‐scale complexities of the observed cleavage/bedding relationships may be explained by appealing to differences in the timing of the formation of buckling instabilities relative to this reorientation of the early cleavage in the psammites during the second deformation. A first‐order analysis of the finite strains from around the large‐scale antiform shows that the orientation of the first cleavage prior to the second deformation was steeply dipping to the southeast. The second deformation correlates with the southeast‐verging Caledonian deformation affecting the Monian and Ordovician units elsewhere in northwest Anglesey, while the northwest‐verging first deformation event, which is not present in the Ordovician rocks, must have occurred before they were deposited. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Syntectonic porphyroblast growth in phyllites: textures and processes

Abstract Porphyroblast textures in a Karakorum phyllite reveal that porphyroblast growth was syn-tectonic with respect to a cleavage forming deformation. During and after porphyroblast growth it partitions the deformation such that zones of intensified cleavage are developed which wrap around the porphyroblast whilst the porphyroblast and its strain shadow undergo little deformation. Porphyroblast strain shadows comprise quartz, calcite and felspar with little mica, and are probably formed by solution transfer during deformation. Unless the deformation is so strongly partitioned that no deformation of the porphyroblasts and their immediate surrounds occurs, inequidimensional porphyroblasts will rotate. Porphyroblasts undergo some dissolution after they have finished growing.     

最大有效力矩准则的理论拓展

在分析"导致变形带内先存面理或层理发生转动的最大有效力矩与先存面理或层理方向有关"的基础上, 对最大有效力矩准则(M_eff=0.5(σ₁-σ₃) Lsin2αsinα)进行理论上的拓展, 提出了可以判定任意方向先存面理最大有效力矩的准则——泛最大有效力矩准则(M_G-eff=0.5(σ₁-σ₃)Lsin2αsin(α-θ)), 其中当先存面理与最大主压应力(σ₁)平行时, 则成为最大有效力矩准则。该准则的理论分析表明:①当先存面理与σ₁平行时, 在σ₁左右两侧±54.7°方向出现2个有效力矩的最大值, 形成共轭的变形带, 钝角(109.4°)对着σ₁方向; ②当先存面理与σ₁斜交时, 在σ₁的另一侧出现1个有效力矩的最大值, 从而只出现一个方向的变形带, 并随着先存面理偏离σ₁方向, 变形带与σ₁的夹角逐渐减小(从θ=0°时的54.7°, 减小到θ=90°时的35.3°), 而与先存面理之间的夹角逐渐增大(从θ=0°时的54.7°, 增加到θ=90°时的125.3°); ③当先存面理与σ₁垂直时, 在σ₁左右两侧± 35.3°方向出现2个有效力矩的最大值, 也形成共轭的变形带, 但锐角(70.6°)对着σ₁方向。在主应变平面上变形带与先存面理方向及变形带剪切方向(左旋或右旋)已知的情况下, 可以确定最大主压应力方向。泛最大有效力矩准则克服了最大有效力矩准则与滑移线理论不相容的问题, 可以解释大多膝褶带非共轭发育等多种现象, 预期在韧性变形域中具有广阔的应用前景。      

Chlorite-mica aggregates: morphology,orientation, development and bearing on cleavage formation in very-low-grade rocks

Chlorite-mica aggregates in slates from northern Spain have been investigated in very-thin thin sections. Specimens from various parts of a fold show different morphologies that are dependent on the operating deformation mechanism. From the limb to the hinge rigid-body rotation becomes less important and folding and intragranular kinking are more common. This is associated with an increasing aspect ratio (width/length) for the aggregates.Chlorite-mica aggregates were, in part, present before cleavage development and are statistically parallel to the bedding enveloping surface. Variation in degree of distortion of chlorite suggests continuous solution and growth during deformation. Muscovite, on the other hand, is generally more highly deformed, suggesting that it was all early. Splitting of micas along (001)-planes occurs, creating extension sites where chlorite growth can take place. Thus, an early diagenetic/metamorphic formation with mimetic growth of chlorite on detrital micas is favoured for the origin of the aggregates.The behaviour of the aggregates during deformation provides information on a mechanism for cleavage development. As a result of intragranular kinking, high angle boundaries are created, with parts of the deformed grains at a low angle to the cleavage plane. Mechanical rotation appears to be the important mechanism for cleavage development in these rocks. Modification by recrystallization, solution and growth processes can account for the observed microstructure.     

Estimation of the Deformation Value in Terrigenous Rocks by the Random Cross-Section Method (Belaya River,Northern Slope of the Greater Caucasus)

The deformation value in the Lower and Middle Jurassic terrigenous rocks from the valley of the Belaya River (the northern slope of the Greater Caucasus) is quantified by the morpholology of the cleavage zones. The numeral determination of the axis ratios of the deformation ellipses by the Fry method is performed as well. It is shown that for a statistical sample of the random cross-sections of the thin sections in the terrigenous rocks with cleavage structure the deformation value can be estimated correctly. The method of random cross-sections described in this work can be used for the quantitative estimation of deformation in nonoriented samples of terrigenous rocks.     

Bulk finite tectonic strain estimates from the deformation of neptunian dykes

Large sedimentary dykes, which penetrate down through their host sediments for several metres, are described from the Late Precambrian Dalradian sediments of Islay in the southwest Scottish Highlands. The sediments and their neptunian dykes have suffered a single penetrative deformation which produced a slaty cleavage during the evolution of the Islay nappe. Ratios of the three principal finite strains are calculated for the bulk or large-scale, homogeneous deformation of the sediments and their neptunian dykes using the method of Borradaile and Johnson (1973) and a new, more general method. Since the neptunian dykes result from the infilling of fractures in already consolidated sediments, subsequent considerable volume changes are unlikely to have occurred. Accepting constant volume post-diagenetic deformation the bulk tectonic strain is shown to have, in round figures: 70% shortening normal to slaty cleavage and extensions of 50% and 120% within the cleavage. The deformation accompanying the slaty cleavage lies within the field of true flattening.     

弱片理化石英砂岩构造微区特征

采自韧性剪切带外侧的弱片理化石英砂岩不同构造微区特征,显示岩石的片理化受到多方面因素的制约和影响,如岩石中砂粒的含量和砂粒的粒度。片理化过程砂粒有旋转和拉伸变形,粒度较小的颗粒优先旋转并有较大的拉伸应变量,颗粒粒度敏感变形机制是该岩石的主要变形机制。      

Mesoscopic structural fabric of early Paleozoic rocks in the northern Sierra Nevada, California and implications for Late Jurassic plate kinematics

Analysis of the mesoscopic structure of the early Paleozoic Shoo Fly complex, northern Sierra Nevada, California, reveals three phases of deformation and folding. The first phase of folding is pre-Late Devonian and the second two are constrained by regional relations as due to the Late Jurassic Nevadan orogeny. Main phase Nevadan deformation produced penetrative slaty cleavage which is steep, NNW-trending and parallel to tectonostratigraphic terranes of the region. Cleavage is axial-planar to ubiquitous isoclinal similar folds. Fold axes define a NNW-trending girdle with a distinct, near-vertical maximum. Main phase Nevadan folds have nearly ideal class 2 orthogonal thickness geometry although some class 1C forms exist in more competent units. The overall geometry of main phase folds suggests formation by progressive deformation in a flattening regime with cleavage as the flattening plane and a steep extension axis defined by the fold axis maximum. A steep extension axis direction for main phase Nevadan deformation is supported by analysis of interference relations where folds of this generation deform pre-Late Devonian folds. Late Nevadan folds range from kink flexures to ideal class 2 similar folds with incipient axial-planar cleavage. The kinematic significance of late Nevadan folds cannot be evaluated because of their varying style and orientation throughout the northern Sierra Nevada.Penetrative ductile deformation and near-vertical extension during the Nevadan orogeny was synchronous with accretion of oceanic and/or island arc rocks against the western margin of the northern Sierra Nevada. The kinematic framework of deformation defined for Nevadan deformation is consistent with essentially orthogonal convergence of these exotic terranes with the Sierran margin and argues against a transform/transpressive regime.     

南天山造山带中段推覆体内部变形及其与逆冲构造的关系

南天山造山带是古生代期间塔里木板块与伊犁—伊塞克湖板块对接、碰撞的产物 ,主体由向南逆冲的推覆体组成。推覆体内部变形构造在垂直于主断面方向上呈规律性变化。从推覆体底部向上 ,褶皱从 A型褶皱 ,紧闭、等斜的 B型褶皱 ,前翼褶皱经斜歪、倒转褶皱渐变为对称的尖棱或箱状 B型褶皱 ;构造面理从发育主断面近平行的 S-面理及剪切滑移的 C-面理渐变为只发育与主断面近垂直的 D-面理。据此 ,可把推覆体自下而上划分成为递进剪切、过渡和等轴挤压三个变形域。变形过程分析表明 ,存在水平挤压变形和随后的简单剪切变形两个变形阶段 ,前者发育于主断裂面形成之前 ,后者发育于主断裂面形成之后。这指示南天山造山带以变形扩展速率高于断裂扩展速率为特征     

The nature of grain boundaries in slates implications for mass transport processes during low temperature metamorphism

The structure of grain boundaries in some very low-grade slates has been studied with transmission electron microscopy. All phyllosilicate boundaries have structural widths of less than 1 nm. A range of structural types have been observed from apparently coherent basal layer chlorite-muscovite boundaries, semi-coherent chlorite-chlorite boundaries and incoherent boundaries which are commonly defined by a thin layer, 7–10 nm thick, of crystalline second phase. Remnants of isolated fluid inclusions are only found at quartz-quartz boundaries. The cleavage microstructures suggest that a large amount of volume loss occurred during cleavage development at low temperatures. This is most likely to have been achieved by diffusion and/or advection through a fluid-filled network present along grain boundaries or grain edges. The phyllosilicate grain boundaries in their present state could not have acted as the pathways for extensive fluid-assisted mass transport. This suggests that the grain boundary structure during cleavage formation was different from the present state. An interconnected fluid network may be maintained along grain boundaries during deformation by hydrofracturing or by grain boundary migration during dehydration reactions, but as deformation and reactions cease the grain boundaries develop an equilibrium structure with very narrow structural widths and restricted fluid distribution.     

The orientation of paleomagnetic directions of deformed Carboniferous rocks from the Zaysan Depression (Eastern Kazakhstan)

We present new paleomagnetic data on Carboniferous volcano-sedimentary rocks from a section located in the northern part of Zaysan Depression (Narym Zone, Eastern Kazakhstan) which are transformed by shear deformation to different degrees. These data suggest that rocks which have experienced shear acquire magnetization whose orientation coincides with the deformation surface (e.g. cleavage etc.). Moreover, it is shown that in steeply inclined strata deformational processes resulted in the shallowing of inclination of the paleomagnetic vectors in stratigraphic coordinates so that finally the characteristic directions may be completely reoriented parallel to the bedding surface. No noticeable mechanical reorientation of mineral grains was observed in deformed rocks both with old paleomagnetic directions deflected away from the original position and with new paleomagnetic directions acquired due to deformation as well (brittle deformation).     

Cleavage/fold relationships in the Silurian metapelites,southeastern Anglo-Brabant fold belt (Ronquières,Belgium)

The presence of convergent cleavage fans in folded Silurian pelitic deposits along the southern extremity of the Brabant Massif has commonly been considered as an indication for a polyphase deformation history. Recent field work on the classic section at Ronquières shows, however, that all the structural elements can be explained by a single progressive deformation, taking place at gradually higher structural levels. This deformation is considered to have occurred at the time of the Acadian orogeny. The section under study contains a fold train of five gentle to open first-order folds, unconformably overlain by gently S-dipping Givetian rocks. Although the Silurian turbidite deposits are predominantly pelitic, the folds are characterized by convergent cleavage fans. The trend of the cleavage fan axes remains constant in the various folds throughout the section. In contrast, the trend of the folds hinge lines gradually changes along the section from a clockwise relation with the cleavage fan axis in the northern part (anticlockwise cleavage transection) towards an anticlockwise relation in the southern part (clockwise cleavage transection). Individual fault/fault intersections have a constant trend throughout the section, parallel to the cleavage fan axes and the mean fold hinge line. Small kink bands and small transverse joints reflect the same structural trend. The coaxial disposition of the structural elements seems at first sight incompatible with the presence of both clockwise and anticlockwise cleavage-transected folds. This disposition may, however, be explained by an en-echelon periclinal nature of the fold train, possibly formed in a slightly constrictional deformation environment.     

Strain patterns and shortening in a folded thrust sheet: An example from the southern appalachians

Total strain patterns estimated across the Pulaski thrust sheet of the southwest Virginia Appalachians show an approximately homogeneous, plane strain deformation associated with folding and distortion above a subsurface décollement. Estimated strains are low (1.2 < < 2.0) with a subvertical extension. Chlorite fibers in pressure fringes on framboidal pyrite indicate that non-rotational deformation produced weak cleavage and pencil structure in mudrock. Variations in shape of pencils and fiber lengths in pressure fringes define highest strains in fold hinges and adjacent to contraction faults. Fabric transitions, delineated by distribution and intensity of cleavage, pencil structure and bedding fissility across the thrust sheet are strain dependent. Balanced cross-sections suggest 35% horizontal shortening due to regional folding and faulting within the Pulaski sheet. Strain integration techniques give 17–35% horizontal shortening associated with cleavage formation. Removal of this strain indicates that cleavage was superposed on open to tight, class-3 folds. Pre-existing thickness variations and anomalous low strains in tight folds require early folding accomodated by intergranular deformation (perhaps controlled grainboundary sliding). Suppression of cleavage formation and penetrative strain was possibly due to higher pore fluid pressure in the early stages of thrust sheet deformation. Observed variations in bedding-cleavage angle and low cleavage fans are compatible with this deformation sequence.