Spatial correlation of deformation and mineral reaction in experimentally deformed plagioclase–olivine aggregates

Shear deformation of hot pressed plagioclase–olivine aggregates was studied in the presence and absence of mineral reaction. Experiments were performed at 900 °C, 1500 MPa, and a constant shear strain rate of 5×10⁻⁵ s⁻¹ in a solid medium apparatus. Whether the mineral reaction between plagioclase and olivine takes place or not is controlled by choosing the appropriate plagioclase composition; labradorite (An₆₀) does not react, anorthite (An₉₂) does. Labradorite–olivine aggregates deformed without reaction are very strong and show strain hardening throughout the experiment. Syndeformational reaction between olivine and anorthite causes a pronounced strain weakening. The reaction produces fine-grained opx–cpx–spinel aggregates, which accommodate a large fraction of the finite strain. Deformation and reaction are localised within a 0.5-mm-wide sample. Three representative samples were analysed for their fabric anisotropy R* and shape-preferred orientation α* (fabric angle with the shear plane) using the autocorrelation function (ACF). Fabric anisotropy can be calibrated to quantify strain variations across the sheared samples. In the deformed and reacted anorthite–olivine aggregate, there is a strong correlation between reaction progress and strain; regions of large shear strain correspond to regions of maximum reaction progress. Within the sample, the derived strain rate variations range up to almost one order of magnitude.     

Strain localisation in the subcontinental mantle — a ductile alternative to the brittle mantle

It is now admitted that the high strength of the subcontinental uppermost mantle controls the first order strength of the lithosphere. An incipient narrow continental rift therefore requires an important weakening in the subcontinental mantle to promote lithosphere-scale strain localisation and subsequent continental break-up. Based on the classical rheological layering of the continental lithosphere, the origin of a lithospheric mantle shear/fault zone has been attributed to the existence of a brittle uppermost mantle. However, the lack of mantle earthquakes and the absence of field occurrences in the mantle fault zone led to the idea of a ductile-related weakening mechanism, instead of brittle-related, for the incipient mantle strain localisation. In order to provide evidence for this mechanism, we investigated the microstructures and lattice preferred orientations of mantle rocks in a kilometre-scale ductile strain gradient in the Ronda Peridotites (Betics cordillera, Spain). Two main features were shown: 1) grain size reduction by dynamic recrystallisation is found to be the only relevant weakening mechanism responsible for strain localisation and 2), with increasing strain, grain size reduction is coeval with both the scattering of orthopyroxene neoblasts and the decrease of the olivine fabric strength (LPO). These features allow us to propose that grain boundary sliding (GBS) partly accommodates dynamic recrystallisation and subsequent grain size reduction.A new GBS-related experimental deformation mechanism, called dry-GBS creep, has been shown to accommodate grain size reduction during dynamic recrystallisation and to induce significant weakening at low temperatures (T < 800 °C). The present microstructural study demonstrates the occurrence of the grain size sensitive dry-GBS creep in natural continental peridotites and allows us to propose a new rheological model for the subcontinental mantle. During dynamic recrystallisation, the accommodation of grain size reduction by three competing deformation mechanisms, i.e., dislocation, diffusion and dry-GBS creeps, involves a grain size reduction controlled by the sole dislocation creep at high temperatures (> 800 °C), whereas dislocation creep and dry-GBS creep, are the accommodating mechanisms at low temperatures (< 800 °C). Consequently, weakening is very limited if the grain size reduction occurs at temperatures higher than 800 °C, whereas a large weakening is expected in lower temperatures. This large weakening related to GBS creep would occur at depths lower than 60 km and therefore provides an explanation for ductile strain localisation in the uppermost continental mantle, thus providing an alternative to the brittle mantle.     

Deformation-enhanced reaction in experimentally deformed plagioclase-olivine aggregates

The effects of deformation on the kinetics of the net-transfer reaction anorthite + forsterite → cpx + opx + spinel ± gt were studied using static and shear deformation experiments. Experiments were performed on dry anorthite-olivine (An₉₂–Fo₉₃) samples at 900°C and pressures between 1,000 and 1,600 MPa in a Griggs apparatus. Deformed (‘non-hydrostatic’) and undeformed (‘static’) samples are compared in terms of phase petrology, reaction rate and reaction mechanisms. Anorthite + olivine reactions are diffusion-controlled as seen from reaction rim structures. In undeformed samples, delayed reaction onset and low reaction rates demonstrate sluggish nucleation of reaction products and slow rates of diffusion at dry conditions, even at 700–900 MPa confining pressure overstepping. The reaction rate is enhanced in deformed An–Fo samples. The higher rate is mainly attributed to a combination of high stresses and viscous deformation processes of the reactants and products, which cause an increase in the nucleation rate of products. The results imply that viscous deformation processes alone can be responsible for the initiation and localisation of metamorphic reactions in dry rocks in the absence of fluid infiltration. A. A. de Ronde was supported by the Swiss National Fond grants 2100-057092.99 and 2000-065041.01.     

Large-strain deformation and strain partitioning in polyphase rocks: Dislocation creep of olivine–magnesiowüstite aggregates

Aggregates composed of olivine and magnesiowüstite have been deformed to large strains at high pressure and temperature to investigate stress and strain partitioning, phase segregation and possible localization of deformation in a polyphase material. Samples with 20 vol.% of natural olivine and 80 vol.% of (Mg_0.7Fe_0.3)O were synthesized and deformed in a gas-medium torsion apparatus at temperatures of 1127 °C and 1250 °C, a confining pressure of 300 MPa and constant angular displacement rates equivalent to constant shear strain rates of 1–3.3 × 10^− 4 s^− 1. The samples deformed homogeneously to total shear strains of up to γ  15. During constant strain rate measurements the flow stress remained approximately stable at 1250 °C while it progressively decreased after the initial yield stress at the lower temperature. Mechanical data, microstructures and textures indicate that both phases were deforming in the dislocation creep regime. The weaker component, magnesiowüstite, controlled the rheological behavior of the bulk material and accommodated most of the strain. Deformation and dynamic recrystallization lead to grain refinement and to textures that were not previously observed in pure magnesiowüstite and may have developed due to the presence of the second phase. At 1127 °C, olivine grains behaved as semi-rigid inclusions rotating in a viscous matrix. At 1250 °C, some olivine grains remained largely undeformed while deformation and recrystallization of other grains oriented for a-slip on (010) resulted in a weak foliation and a texture typical for pure dry olivine aggregates. Both a-slip and c-slip on (010) were activated in olivine even though the nominal stresses were up to 2 orders of magnitude lower than those needed to activate these slip systems in pure olivine at the same conditions.     

Simulating coseismic deformation of quartz in the middle crust and fabric evolution during postseismic stress relaxation — An experimental study

Non-steady state deformation and annealing experiments on vein quartz are designed to simulate earthquake-driven episodic deformation in the middle crust. Three types of experiments were carried out using a modified Griggs-type solid medium deformation apparatus. All three start with high stress deformation at a temperature of 400 °C and a constant strain rate of 10^− 4 s^− 1 (type A), some are followed by annealing in the stability field of α-quartz for 14–15 h at zero nominal differential stress and temperatures of 800–1000 °C (type A + B), or by annealing for 15 h at 900 °C and at a residual stress (type A + C).The quartz samples reveal a very high strength > 2 GPa at a few percent of permanent strain. The microstructures after short-term high stress deformation (type A) record localized brittle and plastic deformation. Statisc annealing (type A + B) results in recrystallisation restricted to the highly damaged zones. The new grains aligned in strings and without crystallographic preferred orientation, indicate nucleation and growth. Annealing at non-hydrostatic conditions (type A + C) results in shear zones that also develop from deformation bands or cracks that formed during the preceding high stress deformation. In this case, however, the recrystallised zone is several grain diameters wide, the grains are elongate, and a marked crystallographic preferred orientation indicates flow by dislocation creep with dynamic recrystallisation. Quartz microstructures identical to those produced in type A + B experiments are observed in cores recovered from Long Valley Exploratory Well in the Quaternary Long Valley Caldera, California, with considerable seismic activity.The experiments demonstrate the behaviour of quartz at coseismic loading (type A) and subsequent static annealing (type A + B) or creep at decaying stress (type A + C) in the middle crust. The experimentally produced microfabrics allow to identify similar processes and conditions in exhumed rocks.     

Post-deformational annealing of calcite rocks

The evolution of microstructure and crystallographic preferred orientation (CPO) during post-deformational annealing was studied on three calcite rock types differing in purity and grain size: Carrara marble (98% calcite, mean grain size of 115 μm), Solnhofen limestone (96%, 5 μm) and synthetic calcite aggregates (99%, 7 μm). Samples were first deformed in torsion at 727 °C at a shear strain rate of 3 × 10^{− 4} s^{− 1} to a shear strain of 5 and subsequently heat-treated at 727 °C for various durations between 0 and 24 h. Microstructures and CPOs were analysed by optical microscopy, image analysis and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD).All rock types deformed in the dislocation creep field at the same applied conditions, but their microstructures and CPOs after deformation and after annealing differed depending on starting grain size and material composition. In Carrara marble and in the synthetic calcite aggregate, a strong CPO developed during deformation accompanied by dynamic recrystallisation with significant changes in grain size. During annealing, widespread grain growth and subtle changes of CPO occurred, and equilibrated foam microstructures were approached after long annealing times. The CPO is the only feature in annealed samples indicating an earlier deformation phase, although it is not always identical to the CPO formed during deformation. In the more impure Solnhofen limestone, secondary phases on grain boundaries suppressed grain boundary mobility and prevented both the formation of a recrystallisation CPO during deformation and grain size modification during deformation and annealing.     

Quartz microstructures developed during non-steady state plastic flow at rapidly decaying stress and strain rate

Synseismic loading to very high stresses (>0.5 GPa) and subsequent creep during stress relaxation in the uppermost plastosphere at temperatures of ca. 300–350 °C, near the lower tip of an inferred once seismically active crustal scale fault, was proposed based on peculiar microstructures identified in rocks exposed over >100 km² in the Sesia Zone, European Western Alps. Here we discuss the conspicuous and highly heterogeneous microstructural record of quartz in disseminated small-scale shear zones. Sub-basal deformation lamellae and arrays of elongate subgrains on the TEM-scale indicate an early stage of glide-controlled deformation at high stresses. Distributed brittle failure is indicated by healed microcracks. Very fine-grained recrystallised aggregates with a pronounced crystallographic preferred orientation reflect intense plastic flow by dislocation creep. Locally, a fine-grained foam microstructure indicates a final stage of static grain growth at low differential stress. For the previously inferred peak stresses of about 0.5 GPa and given temperatures, initial strain rates on the order of 10⁻¹⁰ s⁻¹ are predicted by available flow laws for dislocation creep of quartz. We emphasise the importance of short-term non-steady state deformation in the uppermost plastosphere underlying seismically active upper crust. The related heterogeneous record of quartz is governed by the local stress history at constant temperature.     

Deformation mechanism maps for feldspar rocks

Deformation mechanism maps for feldspar rocks were constructed based on recently published constitutive laws for dislocation and grain boundary diffusion creep of wet and dry plagioclase aggregates. The maps display constant temperature contours in stress-grain size space for strain rates ranging from 10⁻¹⁶ to 10⁻¹² s⁻¹.Two fields of dominance of grain boundary diffusion-controlled creep and dislocation creep are separated by a strongly grain size-sensitive transition zone. For wet rocks, diffusion-controlled creep dominates below a grain size of about 0.1–1 mm, depending on temperature, stress, strain rate and feldspar composition. Plagioclase aggregates containing up to 0.3 wt.% water as often found in natural feldspars are more than 2 orders of magnitude weaker than dry rocks. The strength of water-bearing feldspar rocks is moderately dependent on composition and water fugacity.For a grain size range of about 10–50 μm commonly observed in natural ultramylonites, the deformation maps predict that diffusion-controlled creep is dominant at greenschist to granulite facies conditions. Low viscosity estimates of 10¹⁸–10¹⁹ Pa·s from modeling postseismic stress relaxation and channel flow of the continental lower crust can only be reconciled with laboratory experiments assuming dislocation creep at high temperatures >900 °C or, at lower temperatures, diffusion creep of fine-grained rocks possibly localized in abundant high strain shear zones. For similar thermodynamic conditions and grain size, lower crustal rocks are predicted to be less than order of magnitude weaker than upper mantle rocks.     

Microfabrics of calcite ultramylonites as records of coaxial and non-coaxial deformation kinematics: Examples from the Rocher de l'Yret shear zone (Western Alps)

Microfabrics were analysed in calcite mylonites from the rim of the Pelvoux massif (Western Alps, France). WNW-directed emplacement of the internal Penninic units onto the Dauphinois domain produced intense deformation of an Eocene-age nummulitic limestone under lower anchizone metamorphic conditions (slightly below 300 °C). Two types of microfabrics developed primarily by dislocation creep accompanied by dynamic recrystallisation in the absence of twinning. Coaxial kinematics are inferred for samples exhibiting grain shape fabrics and textures with orthorhombic symmetry. Their texture (crystallographic preferred orientation, CPO) is characterised by two c-axis maxima, symmetrically oriented at 15° from the normal to the macroscopic foliation. Non-coaxial deformation is evident in samples with monoclinic shape fabrics and textures characterised by a single oblique c-axis maximum tilted with the sense of shear by about 15°. From the analysis of suitably oriented slip systems for the main texture components under given kinematics it is inferred that the orthorhombic textures, which developed in coaxial kinematics, favour activity of <10–11> and <02–21> slip along the f and r planes, respectively, with minor contributions of basal-<a> slip. In contrast, the monoclinic textures, which developed during simple shear, are most suited for duplex <a> slip along the basal plane. The transition between the dominating slip systems for the orthorhombic and monoclinic microfabrics is interpreted to be due to the effects of dynamic recrystallisation upon texture development. Since oblique c-axis maxima documented in the literature are most often rotated not with but against the shear sense, calcite textures alone should not be used as unequivocal shear sense indicators, but need to be complemented by microstructural criteria such as shape preferred orientations, grain size estimates and amount of twinning.     

Recrystallisation,phase mixing and strain localisation in peridotite during rapid extrusion of sub-arc mantle lithosphere

The Anita Peridotite, in southwestern New Zealand, is a ∼1 × 20 km ultramafic massif that was rapidly extruded from beneath a Cretaceous arc within the 4 km wide mylonitic Anita Shear Zone. The peridotitic body contains a spectacular array of textures that preserve evidence for changing temperature, stress, and deformation mechanisms during the exhumation process. Olivine and orthopyroxene microstructures and lattice-preferred orientations (LPO) record a three-phase deformation history. Dislocation glide on the C- and E-type slip systems is recorded by coarse pre-mylonitised olivine grains, and occurred under hydrous conditions at T ∼650 °C, stress ∼200–700 MPa and strain rate ∼10⁻¹⁵ s⁻¹, probably within hydrated sub-arc mantle lithosphere. Rare protomylonite pods record deformation by dislocation creep in porphyroclasts and dislocation-accommodated grain boundary sliding in the matrix on {0kl}[100] in olivine and (100)[001] in orthopyroxene, under conditions of T ∼730–770 °C, stress ∼52–700 MPa and strain rate ∼10⁻¹⁵ s⁻¹. The massif, however, is dominated by mylonite and ultramylonite that wrap the protomylonite pods, comprising mostly fine-grained olivine neoblasts that lack internal distortions and have uniform LPOs. These textures indicate deformation occurred by grain-size sensitive (GSS) creep at T ∼650 °C, stress ∼69–137 MPa and strain rate ∼10⁻¹⁵ s⁻¹, and thus during conditions of cooling and decreasing stress. GSS creep became more dominant with time, as the proportion of randomly-oriented neoblasts increased and formed interlinked networks that accommodated much of the strain. Grain boundary pinning allowed GSS creep to be maintained in polyphase regions, following mixing of olivine and orthopyroxene, which may have occurred by grain boundary transport in a fluid phase during a “creep cavitation” process. The results indicate that the Anita Peridotite recrystallised and underwent rheological weakening at a constant strain rate, with strain distributed across the entire section. This widespread deformation caused rapid exhumation of the peridotite from the lithospheric mantle into the overlying arc crust. The massif therefore records multiple overprinting phases of deformation under mantle and crustal conditions associated with the rapid exhumation of a large orogenic peridotite.     

Late Cenozoic transpressional ductile deformation north of the Nazca–South America–Antarctica triple junction

The southern Andes plate boundary zone records a protracted history of bulk transpressional deformation during the Cenozoic, which has been causally related to either oblique subduction or ridge collision. However, few structural and chronological studies of regional deformation are available to support one hypothesis or the other. We address along- and across-strike variations in the nature and timing of plate boundary deformation to better understand the Cenozoic tectonics of the southern Andes.Two east–west structural transects were mapped at Puyuhuapi and Aysén, immediately north of the Nazca–South America–Antarctica triple junction. At Puyuhuapi (44°S), north–south striking, high-angle contractional and strike-slip ductile shear zones developed from plutons coexist with moderately dipping dextral-oblique shear zones in the wallrocks. In Aysén (45–46°), top to the southwest, oblique thrusting predominates to the west of the Cenozoic magmatic arc, whereas dextral strike-slip shear zones develop within it.New ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar data from mylonites and undeformed rocks from the two transects suggest that dextral strike-slip, oblique-slip and contractional deformation occurred at nearly the same time but within different structural domains along and across the orogen. Similar ages were obtained on both high strain pelitic schists with dextral strike-slip kinematics (4.4±0.3 Ma, laser on muscovite–biotite aggregates, Aysén transect, 45°S) and on mylonitic plutonic rocks with contractional deformation (3.8±0.2 to 4.2±0.2 Ma, fine-grained, recrystallized biotite, Puyuhuapi transect). Oblique-slip, dextral reverse kinematics of uncertain age is documented at the Canal Costa shear zone (45°S) and at the Queulat shear zone at 44°S. Published dates for the undeformed protholiths suggest both shear zones are likely Late Miocene or Pliocene, coeval with contractional and strike-slip shear zones farther north. Coeval strike-slip, oblique-slip and contractional deformation on ductile shear zones of the southern Andes suggest different degrees of along- and across-strike deformation partitioning of bulk transpressional deformation.The long-term dextral transpressional regime appears to be driven by oblique subduction. The short-term deformation is in turn controlled by ridge collision from 6 Ma to present day. This is indicated by most deformation ages and by a southward increase in the contractional component of deformation. Oblique-slip to contractional shear zones at both western and eastern margins of the Miocene belt of the Patagonian batholith define a large-scale pop-up structure by which deeper levels of the crust have been differentially exhumed since the Pliocene at a rate in excess of 1.7 mm/year.     

Microstructural evolution during strain localization in dolomite aggregates

Dolomite aggregates deformed by dislocation creep over a wide range of conditions (T = 700–1000 °C, effective pressure of 900 MPa, strain rates of 10⁻⁷ – 10⁻⁴/s) strain weaken by up to 75% of the peak differential stress. Microstructural study of samples shortened to different finite strains beyond the peak differential stress shows that strain becomes highly localized within shear zones by high-temperature creep processes, with no contribution of brittle cracking. At low strains (8%), dolomite deforms homogeneously by recrystallization-accommodated dislocation creep. At progressively higher sample strains, deformation is localized into narrow shear zones made up of very fine (∼3 μm) recrystallized grains and relict porphyroclasts (20–100 μm). Finely-recrystallized dolomite grains in the shear zones are largely dislocation free and localized shear is facilitated by diffusion creep. In contrast, original dolomite grains and porphyroclasts in shear zones have high dislocation densities and do not deform after shear zone formation. Calculated strain rates in the shear zones are two to three orders of magnitude faster than the imposed bulk strain rate of the samples and these strain rates are consistent with predictions of the diffusion creep flow law for fine-grained dolomite.     

High-temperature flow of wet polycrystalline enstatite

Previous experiments by Raleigh et al. (1971) have shown that at strain rates of 10⁻².sec⁻¹ to 10⁻⁷.sec⁻¹ only slip occurs in dry enstatite at temperatures above 1300°C and 1000°C, respectively.The present experiments have been conducted on polycrystalline enstatite under wet conditions in this regime where enstatite only slips, polygonizes and recrystallizes. Slip occurs throughout the whole regime on the system (100)[001] and at strains greater than 40% the system (010)[001] is observed. Polygonization and intragranular recrystallization begin at about 1300°C and 10⁻⁴.sec⁻¹ and the orientation of these neoblasts is host-controlled. At lower strain rates intergranular neoblasts develop and their fabric is one of [100] maximum parallel with σ₁ and [010] and [001] girdles in the σ₂ = σ₃ plane, similar to those in natural enstatite tectonites.Dislocation substructures of experimentally deformed enstatite have been examined by transmission electron microscopy. The samples were deformed within the field in which slip polygonization and recrystallization are the dominant deformation mechanisms. Samples within this regime have microstructures that are characterized by stacking faults and partial dislocations. Under the conditions of steady-state flow in olivine, these microstructures inhibit the operation of recovery mechanisms in enstatite.Other samples deformed within the polygonization and recrystallization field have microstructures that confirm the optical observations of intragranular and intergranular growth of neoblasts. It is suggested that the former result from strain-induced tilt of subrains, whereas the latter may result from bulge nucleation into adjacent subgrains.Mechanical data from constant strain-rate experiments at steady state, stress relaxation and temperature-differential creep tests are best fit to a power-law creep equation with the stress exponent, n~3 and the apparent activation energy for creep, Q~65 kcal/mole. Extrapolation of this equation to a representative natural geologic strain rate of 10⁻⁴. sec⁻¹, over the temperature interval 1000–2000°C, gives an effective viscosity range of 10²⁰–10¹⁸ poise and stresses in the range of 7-0.1 bar, respectively. Comparison with corrected wet-olivine mechanical data (Carter, 1976) over the same environment indicates that olivine is consistently the weaker of the two minerals and will recrystallize whilst enstatite will only slip and kink, thus accounting for the different habits of olivine and enstatite in ultramafic tectonites.     

Deformation-induced polymorphic transformation: experimental deformation of kyanite, andalusite, and sillimanite

Torsion experiments were performed on the Al₂SiO₅ polymorphs in the sillimanite stability field to determine basic rheological characteristics and the effect of deformation on polymorphic transformation. The experiments resulted in extensive transformation of andalusite and kyanite to sillimanite. No transformation occurred during the hot-press (no deformation) stage of sample preparation, which was carried out at similar P–T conditions and duration as the torsion experiments. Experiments were conducted on fine-grained (< 15 µm) aggregates of natural andalusite, kyanite and sillimanite at 1250 °C, 300 MPa, and a constant shear strain rate of 2 × 10^− 4/s to a maximum shear strain of 400%. Electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD) analysis of the experiments revealed development of lattice-preferred orientations, with alignment of sillimanite and andalusite [001] slightly oblique to the shear plane. The kyanite experiment could not be analyzed using EBSD because of near complete transformation to sillimanite. Very little strain ( 30%) is required to produce widespread transformation in kyanite and andalusite. Polymorphic transformation in andalusite and kyanite experiments occurred primarily along 500 µm wide shear bands oriented slightly oblique and antithetic to the shear plane and dominated by sub-µm (100–150 nm) fibrolitic sillimanite. Shear bands are observed across the entire strain field preserved in the torsion samples. Scanning transmission electron microscope imaging shows evidence for transformation away from shear bands; e.g. fibrolitic rims on relict andalusite or kyanite. Relict grains typically have an asymmetry that is consistent with shear direction. These experimental results show that sillimanite is by far the weakest of the polymorphs, but no distinction can yet be made on the relative strengths of kyanite and andalusite. These observations also suggest that attaining high bulk strain energy in strong materials such as the Al₂SiO₅ polymorphs is not necessary for triggering transformation. Strain energy is concentrated along grain boundaries, and transformation occurs by a dynamic recrystallization type process. These experiments also illustrate the importance of grain-size sensitive creep at high strains in a system with simultaneous reaction and deformation.     

Strain measurements and tectonics of New Zealand

Measurements of shear strain from triangulation data have been made at 30 locations in New Zealand. The standard error of measurement in terms of strain rate is about ±1 · 10⁻⁷ y⁻¹ and values of up to 7 · 10⁻⁷ y⁻¹ are observed. Together with 22 fault-plane solutions for crustal earthquakes the measurements indicate broad-scale patterns of deformation. Between the Hikurangi and Flordland active margins is a 100-km-wide belt, the axial tectonic belt, with shear strain rate averaging 5 ± 1 · 10⁻⁷y⁻¹ and an azimuth of the principal axis of compression of 114 ± 8°. The rate of movement (45 mm y⁻¹) and direction (085°) between the Pacific and Indian plates from the Minster et al. pole can be accounted for by the measured strain in the axial tectonic belt through simple shear parallel to, and compression normal to, the belt. The similarity in the rates determined from triangulation data averaged over 20–100 years and from plate movement averaged over 5 m.y. indicates plate movement to be uniform in time. West of the axial tectonic belt in Nelson and Fiordland are two zones in which movement is highly oblique to plate movement, and can be explained by slip line deformation analogous to the deformation of Asia. The azimuth of the principal axis of compression in the Taupo rift and East Cape region is NE—SW, perpendicular to its direction in the axial tectonic belt, suggesting extension in the rift and East Cape region normal to the subduction zone.     

Long-term creep experiment of rock with small deviator of stress under high confining pressure and temperature

Long-term creep tests of gabbro which have been performed with a maximum bending stress (20 bar) under a high confining pressure (1 kbar) and various temperatures, are described. Methods and techniques used in the experiment are mainly similar to those reported previously by the same authors (Itô and Sasajima, 1980) except for the application of high pressure and temperature. The techniques include the bending system, size and preparation of the sample, and the determination of its deformation by use of interference fringes of Na-D light. In order to measure a very small deformation of creep, intermittent breaks of the application of loading, confining pressure and temperature are necessary, and the creep curve is constructed from the intermittent advance of permanent deformation.The experiment has revealed two strange phenomena : one is a sinuous progress of the creep curve, and the other is that the deformation recovery shows strange behavior after the unloading. These results are discussed in close connection with the mechanism of the “turn back of creep” denoted by Itô and Sasajima (1980). The mean creep curves, at 25°C. 95°C and 150°C, obtained so far lead to viscosities of 1.6 · 10²⁰, 1.9 · 10¹⁹ and 4.8 · 10¹⁸ poise, respectively and the maximum strain rates employed in the samples were 4.2 · 10⁻¹⁴, 3.6 · 10⁻¹³ and 1.4 · 10⁻¹²/sec, respectively, which cover the geological strain rate. Although we have only three data points, the logarithm of viscosity is linearly related to the reciprocal of absolute temperature (see Fig. 7), and an activation energy for creep of gabbro is found to be 7.6 kcal/mol. It should be noted that viscosities obtained are considerably smaller than those estimated for the crust and mantle, and that the activation energy is surprisingly smaller than those obtained by high-pressure experiments of rock deformation, which have been carried out under a strain rate larger than 10⁻⁸/sec.     

Very high strains recorded in mylonites along the Alpine Fault, New Zealand: implications for the deep structure of plate boundary faults

Oblique displacement on the Alpine Fault, which forms the principal structure along the Australian–Pacific plate boundary in South Island, New Zealand, has resulted in exhumation of a kilometre-wide mylonite zone in the hanging wall adjacent to the current brittle fault trace. The mylonites formed under amphibolite facies conditions at depths of ca. 25 km and have been uplifted during the past 5 Ma. A suite of 65–70 Ma pegmatite veins in the hanging wall Alpine schists has been progressively deformed within the mylonite zone and sheared out over a strike length of ca. 100 km. Measurements of the thickness distribution of the pegmatite veins within the non-mylonitised schists and at three localities within the progressively strained mylonites have been used to estimate strain values within the mylonites. The thicknesses approximate a log-normal distribution, with a mean value that is progressively reduced through the protomylonites, mylonites and ultramylonites. By assuming that the thickness distribution currently observed in the schists was the same for the pegmatites within the mylonites before strain, a model of deformation incorporating simple shear and simultaneous pure shear is used to strain the undeformed veins until a fit is obtained with the strained distributions. Shear strains calculated range from 12 to 22 for the protomylonites, 120 to 200 for the mylonites and 180 to 300 for the ultramylonites, corresponding to pure shear values of 1–3 in each case. These values are compatible with the strains predicted if most of the surface displacement on the fault over the past 5 Ma were accommodated within a 1–2-km-wide mylonite zone through the middle and lower crusts. The results suggest that processes such as erosional focussing of deformation and thermal weakening may cause intense strain localisation within the lower crust, with plate boundary deformation restricted to narrow zones rather than becoming increasingly distributed over a widening shear zone with depth.     

Young,olivine xenocryst-bearing alkali-basalt from the oceanward slope of the Japan Trench

Young (6 Ma) alkali-basalts were collected from the toe of the oceanward slope of the northern Japan Trench. Two types of olivine are present in these lavas, xenocrysts with reaction rims and magmatic. The forsterite (Fo) (no. 91–92) values and NiO contents (0.3–0.5 wt%) of the xenocrysts are similar in composition to those of the depleted mantle peridotite. The groundmass olivines have relatively lower Fo values (no. 81–88) and NiO contents (0.1–0.5 wt%). Reaction rims and the vicinity of the silicate inclusion in xenocrysts show the intermediate compositions between the xenocryst and magmatic olivines. Chromian spinel inclusions in the xenocrysts also show the depleted composition in the range of abyssal peridotite. CO₂ fluid inclusions in the xenocryst records pressures before entrainment into the host magma up to 0.4 GPa, which corresponds to a depth of up to 14 km of lithospheric mantle. These data indicate that the xenocrysts originate from MORB-depleted mantle.     

Creep of olivine during hot-pressing

The densification curves for the hot-pressing of pure olivine powders were obtained as a function of grain size (5 μ–2000 μ), temperature (1000–1600°C), and compacting stress (166–298 bars). This range of variables was found to straddle two fields of hot-pressing behavior, one dominated by power-law creep, one by Coble creep. The time required to density a powder to 99% of the single crystal density could be represented by the shorter of the two times: t₁ = 2.2 · 10³σ^−3.4exp(85,000/RT)t₂ = 1.3 · 10⁴σ^−1.5(G)⁺³exp(85,000/RT) where the compacting stress or pressure, σ, is given in bars and the grain size, G, in centimeters. It was also possible to estimate the parameters appropriate to Coble creep in a solid polycrystalline aggregate from the hot-pressing data; and these were:

Full-size image (1K)

The strain rates computed from this formula are close to those predicted by Stocker and Ashby (1973) and those found by Twiss (1976).     

Dynamic recrystallization of wet synthetic polycrystalline halite: dependence of grain size distribution on flow stress, temperature and strain

It is often observed that dynamic recrystallization results in a recrystallized grain size distribution with a mean grain size that is inversely related to the flow stress. However, it is still open to discussion if theoretical models that underpin recrystallized grain size–stress relations offer a satisfactorily microphysical basis. The temperature dependence of recrystallized grain size, predicted by most of these models, is rarely observed, possibly because it is usually not systematically investigated. In this study, samples of wet halite containing >10 ppm water (by weight) were deformed in axial compression at 50 MPa confining pressure. The evolution of the recrystallized grain size distribution with strain was investigated using experiments achieving natural strains of 0.07, 0.12 and 0.25 at a strain rate of 5×10⁻⁷ s⁻¹ and a temperature of 125 °C. The stress and temperature dependence of recrystallized grain size was systematically investigated using experiments achieving fixed strains of 0.29–0.46 (and one to a strain of 0.68) at constant strain rates of 5×10⁻⁷–1×10⁻⁴ s⁻¹ and temperatures of 75–240 °C, yielding stresses of 7–22 MPa. The microstructures and full grain size distributions of all samples were analyzed. The results showed that deformation occurred by a combination of dislocation creep and solution-precipitation creep. Dynamic recrystallization occurred in all samples and was dominated by fluid assisted grain boundary migration. During deformation, grain boundary migration results in a competition between grain growth due to the removal of grains with high internal strain energy and grain size reduction due to grain dissection (i.e. moving boundaries that crosscut or consume parts of neighbouring grains). At steady state, grain growth and grain size reduction processes balance, yielding constant flow stress and recrystallized grain size that is inversely related to stress and temperature. Evaluation of the recrystallized grain size data against the different models for the development of mean steady state recrystallized grain size revealed that the data are best described by a model based on the hypothesis that recrystallized grain size organizes itself in the boundary between the (grain size sensitive) solution-precipitation and (grain size insensitive) dislocation creep fields. Application of a piezometer, calibrated using the recrystallized grain size data, to natural halite rock revealed that paleostresses can vary significantly with temperature (up to a factor of 2.5 for T=50–200 °C) and that the existing temperature independent recrystallized grain size–stress piezometer may significantly underestimate flow stresses in natural halite rock.