Fluid-driven low-grade metamorphism in polydeformed rocks of Avalonia (Arisaig Group, Nova Scotia, Canada)

The Lower Silurian??Lower Devonian Arisaig Group (Antigonish Highlands) in the Canadian Appalachians is a sequence of shallow marine strata deposited after the accretion of Avalonia to Baltica during the closure of the Iapetus Ocean. Deformation of the strata is widely attributed to the Devonian Acadian orogeny and produced shallowly plunging regional folds and a cleavage of varying penetrativity. Phyllosilicate minerals from the finest-grained rocks exhibit very low-grade (diagenetic-anchizone) metamorphic conditions. X-ray diffraction study reveals that the sampled rocks contain quartz, K-white mica, chlorite, and feldspars; illite?Csmectite and chlorite?Csmectite mixed-layers are common but Na?CK mica and kaolinite occur only in some samples. The identification of illite?Csmectite mixed-layers in diagenetic samples, with Kübler Index >0.50 ??°2?? and the highly heterogeneous b-cell dimension of the K-white micas are in agreement with the variable chemical composition of dioctahedral micas, which present low illitic substitution and variable phengitic content. The spatial variation in the above crystal-chemical parameters was plotted along a NW?CSE composite cross section across the regional folds. No correlation was found between the metamorphic conditions and either the stratigraphic depth or the strain values measured by phyllosilicates orientation analyses, as a function of the penetrativity of the cleavage. However, the metamorphic grade generally increases towards the Hollow Fault, and is highest in samples located within a 1?km corridor from the fault surface. Incipient cleavage is observed in the anchizonal samples located in the vicinity of the Hollow Fault and in some of the diagenetic samples, indicating cleavage development under low temperatures (<200?oC). These relationships, together with regional syntheses, suggest low-grade metamorphism post-dated regional folding and was coeval with Late Carboniferous dextral movement along the Hollow Fault. Fluid circulation associated with movement along this major fault may be the driving mechanism for the increasing metamorphism towards it.     

Microtextural investigation (SEM and TEM study) of phyllosilicates in a major thrust fault zone (Monte Perdido, southern Pyrenees): impact on fault reactivation

Thrusting fault zone in foreland basins are characterized by highly foliated zones generally enriched in phyllosilicates which can play a major role on the mechanical behaviour of the fault. In this context, investigations of synkinematic clay minerals permit to determine the origin of the fluid from which they precipitated as well as the mechanisms of deformation. Our study is focused on clay mineral assemblages (illite and chlorite) in a major thrust fault located in the Monte Perdido massif (southern Pyrenees), a shallow thrust that affects upper cretaceous-paleocene platform carbonates and lower Eocene marls and turbidites. It implied 3?km of displacement of the Monte Perdido thrust unit with respect to the underlying Gavarnie unit. In this area the cleavage development by pressure-solution is linked to the Monte Perdido and Gavarnie thrust activity. The core zone of the fault, about 6?m thick, consists of an interval of intensely deformed clay-bearing rocks bounded by major shear surfaces. The deformed sediment is markedly darker than the protolith. Calcite-quartz shear veins along the shear planes are abundant. Detailed SEM and TEM observations of highly deformed fault zone samples indicate that clay mineral enrichment in the core zone of the fault is not only related to passive increase by pressure-solution mechanism but that dissolution?Crecrystallization of phyllosilicates occurs during deformation. A mineral segregation is observed in the highly deformed zone. Newly formed 2M ₁ muscovite is present along the cleavage whereas IIb chlorite crystals fill S_V2 shear veins suggesting syntectonic growth of phyllosilicates in the presence of fluids in low-grade metamorphic conditions. These mineralogical reactions act as weakening processes and would favour Monte Perdido fault creeping.     

Ductile deformations of opposite vergence in the eastern part of the Guerrero Terrane (SW Mexico)

The Teloloapan volcanic arc in SW Mexico represents the easternmost unit of the Guerrero Terrane. It is overthrust by the Arcelia volcanic unit and is thrust over the Guerrero–Morelos carbonate platform. These major structures result from two closely related tectonic events: first, an eastward verging, ductile deformation (D1) characterized by an axial-plane schistosity (S1) supporting an E–W trending mineral stretching lineation (L1) and associated with synschistose isoclinal, curvilinear folds (F1). Numerous kinematic indicators such as asymmetrical pressure-shadows, porphyroclast systems, and micro-shear bands (S–C structures) indicate a top-to-the-east shear along L1. This first deformation was followed by another ductile event (D2) that produced a crenulation cleavage (S2) associated with westward overturned folds (F2), hence showing that the vergence of D2 is opposite to that of D1. Regionally, both D1 and D2 deformations have been identified east and west of the Teloloapan unit, in the Arcelia volcanic rocks as well as in the Mexcala flysch of Late Cretaceous age overlying the Guerrero–Morelos platform. This implies that all three units were deformed and thrust simultaneously, during the Late Cretaceous or Paleocene, prior to the deposition of the overlying, undeformed Eocene red beds of the Balsas group.     

Deformation Pattern in the Kurnool and Nallarnalai Groups in the Northeastern Part (Palnad Area) of the Cuddapah Basin, South India and its Implication on Rodinia/Gondwana Tectonics

The Proterozoic basins of India adjoining the Eastern Ghats Granulite Belt (EGGB) in eastern and southern India contain both Mesproterozoic and Neoproterozoic successions. The intracratonic set-up and contractional deformation fo the Neoproterozoc successions in the Paland sub-basin in the northeastern part of Cuddapah basin and similar crustal shortening in contemporaneous successions lying west of the EGGB and Nellore Schist Belt (NSB) are considered in relation to the proposed geodynamic evolution of the the Rodinia and Gondwana supercontinents. Tectonic shortening in the Palnad sub-basin (northeast Cuddapah), partitioned into top-to-westnorthwest thrust shear, flexural folds and cleavage development under overall E-W contraction, suggests foreland style continental shortening within an intracratonic set-up. A thrust sheet containing the Nallamalai rocks and overlying the Kurnool rocks in the northeastern part of Palnad sub-basin exhibits early tight to isoclinal folds and slaty (phylllitic) cleavage, which can be correlated with early Mesoproterozoic deformation structures in the nothern Nallamalai Fold Belt (NFB). NNE-SSW trending folds and cleavage affect the Kurnool Group and overprint earlier structures in the thrust sheet. Thrusting of the Nallamalai rocks and the later structures may have been related to convergence of the Eastern Ghats terrane and the East-Dharwar-Bastar craton during Early Neoproterozoic (Greenvillian) and/or later rejuvenation related to Pan-African amalgamation of East and West Gondwana.     

Globular Phyllosilicates of the Glauconite–Illite Series in the Cambrian and Ordovician Rocks of the Eastern Baltica (Northern Estonia,Western Lithuania,and Western Latvia)

Lithology and Mineral Resources - The mineralogical, structural and crystal-chemical features of seven samples of globular phyllosilicates of the glauconite–illite series (GPS) from the Lower...     

中国大陆科学钻探（CCSD）主孔微断层的空间展布和脆性变形构造应力场分析

CCSD主孔岩芯中发育有十分丰富的脆性微断层,孔深5158m以上,按其空间分布,可将其主体归纳为北北东向微断层系、北西向微断层系、北东向微断层组和近于东西向微断层组等四个微断层系（组）和SEE-NWW向水平挤压构造应力场、NE-SW向水平挤压构造应力场等二期区域构造应力场。SEE-NWW向水平挤压构造应力场贯穿于高压-超高压变质岩折返的全过程,表明在折返过程中,深层韧性变形阶段的构造应力场和浅层脆性变形阶段的构造应力场,具有高度的一致性。但流劈理和微断层的极点等值线图表明,韧性变形阶段的变形较脆性变形阶段的变形简单,深部发生的基本上是一种以逆冲型剪切应变为主导的变形,而浅部脆性变形域,除继承性的逆冲型剪切应变外,往往叠加有后期的构造伸展作用和走滑作用,因此具有更为复杂的应变图象。NE~SW向水平挤压构造应力场,在时间上晚于SEE~NWW向水平挤压构造应力场,它是导致先存的北北东向逆冲型流劈理发生自北东向南西方向滑动的主因。对比不同岩石类型的微断层和流劈理的极点等值线图,无论是极密类型,还是极密的分布,均不受岩石类型的影响,说明微断层和流劈理的形成与岩石类型（岩性）无关,而主要受构造因素制约,因此,运用微断层和流劈理（叶理）相结合的分析法,研究高压-超高压变质岩带折返阶段的构造应力场和动力学过程,有其他方法无可替代的效果。     

A Study of Illite Kiibler Indexes and Chlorite "Crystallinities" with Respect to Shear Deformation and Alterations, Jinshan Gold Deposit, East China

Abstract. This paper presents a measurement and study of Kübler Indexes (KI) of illite, "crystallinities" of chlorite (ChC), and apparent mean crystallite sizes and lattice strain of both illite and chlorite of the Jinshan ductile shear zone in the Jinshan gold deposit of East China. It is found that the KI values and apparent mean crystallite sizes of illite decrease and the lattice strain of chlorite apparently increase, whereas the apparent mean crystallite sizes of chlorite and the lattice strain of illite remain constant, from altered mylonite to altered and higher-strained ultramylonite in the shear zone. Only slight decrease of ChC is observed.
An obvious negative correlation exists between KI and apparent mean crystallite sizes in altered mylonite with lower strain, whereas a positive correlation is found between ChC and apparent mean crystallite sizes in altered ultramylonite with higher strain. No any correlations between KI and lattice strain exist, whereas a negative correlation and a positive correlation between ChC and lattice strain occur separately in the altered mylonite and ultramylonite. It is suggested that illite Kiibler Indexes and chlorite "crystallinities" most likely reflect deformation behaviors and mechanisms of altered rocks although other factors involving water/rock ratio may apply as well.     

Basement deformation: tertiary folding and fracturing of the Variscan Bielsa granite (Axial zone,central Pyrenees)

The Bielsa thrust sheet is a south-verging unit of the Axial zone in the central Pyrenees. The Bielsa thrust sheet consists predominantly of a Variscan granite unconformably overlain by a thin cover of Triassic and Cretaceous deposits. During the Eocene–Oligocene, Pyrenean compression, displacement of the Bielsa thrust sheet generated a large-scale south-verging monocline. Low temperature deformation of the Bielsa thrust sheet resulted in the development of: (1) E–W trending, asymmetric folds in the Triassic cover with amplitudes up to 1.5 km; these folds of the cover are related with normal and reverse faults in the granite and with rigid-body block rotations. (2) Pervasive fracturing within the Bielsa granite is also attributed to Pyrenean deformation and is consistent with a NNE to ENE shortening direction; two main, conjugate fault systems are associated with this direction of shortening, as is a subvertical strike-slip system with shallow-plunging slickenside lineations and a moderately dipping fault system with reverse movement; and (3) in addition, we recognise strike-slip and reverse shear bands, associated with sericitisation and brittle deformation of quartz and feldspar in the granite, that enclose Triassic rocks. Basement deformation within the Bielsa thrust sheet can be related to movement of faults developed to accommodate internal deformation of the hanging wall. Several models are proposed to account for this deformation during the southward displacement of the thrust.     

Formation of low-temperature mylonites and phyllonites by alkali-metasomatic weakening of felsic volcanic rocks during progressive,subduction-related deformation

Dacitic to rhyolitic volcanic rocks of the Spruce Lake nappe experienced two phases of alkali-metasomatism as a result of fluids channelling along shear zones. The shear zones formed during a progressive, thrust-related deformation associated with underplating and incorporation of the volcanic rocks into the Brunswick subduction complex of northern New Brunswick. The fluids mainly represent chemically and isotopically modified seawater released by dewatering of the associated underthrusted shaly sedimentary rocks. Both phases of metasomatism weakened the felsic rocks, leading to strain localisation. Albitisation of felsic volcanic rocks as a result of Na-metasomatism during underthrusting facilitated formation of mylonites near peak high-pressure metamorphism (330–370°C, 600–800 MPa). The mylonites are preferentially preserved in the roof-thrust shear zone of the Spruce Lake nappe. Core-mantle structures, bulging and crystallographically preferred orientations indicate that albite behaved more ductilely than K-feldspar. The ductility of albite at these low temperatures is interpreted as a function of abundant intragranular fluids. Phengite-rich phyllonites formed after peak high–pressure metamorphism during uplift by out-of-sequence thrusting. These phyllonites are generally characterised by a slight gain in K and loss of Na and are best developed in the basal shear zones of the Spruce Lake nappe.     

Strain partitioning and preservation of Ar/Ar ages during Variscan exhumation of a subducted crust (Malpica–Tui complex, NW Spain)

The Malpica–Tui complex (NW Iberian Massif) consists of a Lower Continental Unit of variably deformed and recrystallized granitoids, metasediments and sparse metabasites, overridden by an upper unit with rocks of oceanic affinities. Metamorphic minerals dated by the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar method record a coherent temporal history of progressive deformation during Variscan metamorphism and exhumation. The earliest stages of deformation (D1) under high-pressure conditions are recorded in phengitic white micas from eclogite-facies rocks at 365–370 Ma. Following this eclogite-facies peak-metamorphism, the continental slab became attached to the overriding plate at deep-crustal levels at ca. 340–350 Ma (D2). Exhumation was accompanied by pervasive deformation (D3) within the continental slab at ca. 330 Ma and major deformation (D4) in the underlying para-autochthon at 315–325 Ma. Final tectonothermal evolution included late folding, localized shearing and granitic intrusions at 280–310 Ma.

Dating of high-pressure rocks by the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar method yields ages that are synchronous with published Rb–Sr and Sm–Nd ages obtained for both the Malpica–Tui complex and its correlative, the Champtoceaux complex in the French Armorican Massif. The results indicate that phengitic white mica retains its radiogenic argon despite been subjected to relatively high temperatures (500–600 °C) for a period of 20–30 My corresponding to the time-span from the static, eclogite-facies M1 peak-metamorphism through D1-M2 eclogite-facies deformation to amphibolite-facies D2-M3. Our study provides additional evidence that under certain geological conditions (i.e., strain partitioning, fluid deficiency) argon isotope mobility is limited at high temperatures, and that ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar geochronology can be a reliable method for dating high pressure metamorphism.     

Magnetic fabric study of the SE Rhenohercynian Zone (Bohemian Massif): Implications for dynamics of the Paleozoic accretionary wedge

The progressive deformation recorded in the magnetic fabric of sedimentary rocks was studied in the SE Rhenohercynian Zone (RHZ), eastern margin of the Bohemian Massif, Czech Republic. Almost 800 oriented samples of the Lower Carboniferous mudstones and graywackes were collected from the SSE part of the Czech RHZ, so-called the Drahany Upland. The anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) is predominantly controlled by the preferred orientation of paramagnetic phyllosilicates, mainly iron-bearing chlorites. A regional distribution of the magnetic fabric within the Drahany Upland revealed an increasing deformation from the SSE to the NNW. In the SE, the magnetic fabric is bedding-parallel with magnetic lineation scattered in the bedding plane or trending N–S to NNE–SSW. Further to the NW, the magnetic foliation rotates from the bedding-parallel orientation to the orientation parallel to the evolving cleavage. This rotation is accompanied by a decrease of the anisotropy degree and the prolate nature of the anisotropy ellipsoids. The magnetic lineation is parallel to the strike of the bedding, bedding/cleavage intersection, pencil structure or the fold axes on a regional scale. In the NW part of the Drahany Upland, the magnetic foliation becomes parallel to the cleavage accompanied by an increase of the anisotropy degree and the oblate nature of the anisotropy ellipsoids. The increasing trend of deformation corresponds to the SSE–NNW increase in the degree of anchimetamorphism; both trends being oblique to the main lithostratigraphic formations as typically observed in the sedimentary rocks of the accretionary wedges. The SSE–NNW increase in deformation and anchimetamorphism continues to the Nízký Jeseník Mts., representing the northern part of the same accretionary wedge. The kinematics of deformation could not be unambiguously assessed. The observed magnetic fabric may reflect either lateral shortening or horizontal simple shear or a combination of both mechanisms. Regarding the subduction process, it seems that the sedimentary sequences of the Drahany Upland were subducted, partly offscraped and accreted frontally or partly underplated as opposed to the Nízký Jeseník Mts. where some return flow must have occurred.     

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.     

Deformation and Metamorphism of the Marble Mountain and Pony Camp Areas,Western Triassic and Paleozoic Belt,Central Klamath Mountains,Northwestern California

The Western Triassic and Paleozoic belt (WTrPz) is a regionally extensive, composite terrane correlative with Cache Creek-affinity rocks, a major crust-forming lithotectonic entity of the North American Cordillera. New structural, stratigraphic, and petrologic data suggest that a large tract of greenschist to amphibolite-grade metavolcanic and metasedimentary rock, previously considered to consist of several separate oceanic terranes, is, instead, a single fault-bounded, volcanic island arc, the Sawyers Bar terrane. It represents a mid-Jurassic, relatively intact, recrystallized nappe complex 5 to 10 km thick, extending over 100 km along strike in the central Klamaths. Protoliths of the complex are interpreted to be Lower Triassic (?) to mid-Jurassic supracrustal, volcanic arc-related units deposited, deformed, and metamorphosed within a suprasubduction zone adjacent to the continental margin. Metamorphism increases monotonically with depth in the nappe, ranging from prehnite-pumpellyite to lower greenschist-grade in the Pony Camp area on the south, through greenschist-grade in the medial Sawyers Bar area, to low-pressure amphibolite-grade metamorphism in the Marble Mountains on the north. The Pony Camp area generally lacks penetrative deformation. In the Marble Mountains, peak metamorphism largely postdates intense deformation; nevertheless, folding of fabrics and brittle deformation are common.

The complex is bounded by low-angle, W-vergent, crustal-scale, mid-Jurassic thrusts. The Soap Creek Ridge fault juxtaposes Stuart Fork blueschists over the Sawyers Bar complex. The lower thrust is not definitely established, but must be situated beneath tectonic levels postulated by earlier workers. It may coincide with the previously unrecognized brittle-plastic Isinglass shear zone in the Marble Mountains, and a poorly exposed, unnamed low-angle fault in the Virgin Buttes region west of Pony Camp. In this area, mapping indicates that the Twin Sisters fault is a relatively minor high-angle break within the WTrPz, rather than being a crustal-scale terrane suture. Synmagmatic, brittle extensional faults are common, as are syn and postmetamorphic, regionally extensive, high-angle faults that internally imbricate the WTrPz; the latter are marked by sheared serpentinite. Folds within the Sawyers Bar nappe complex are NE to NW-trending and W-vergent. Structural evidence suggests that W-vergent thrusting, E-W contraction, regional Siskiyou metamorphism, penetrative deformation, and crustal thickening occurred at ～170 to 165 Ma, and preceded voluminous 167 to 162 Ma calc-alkaline plutonism. In the study areas, waning stages of Siskiyou deformation were characterized by thermal relaxation, uplift, extension, crustal thinning, and E-directed tectonic transport. Nevadan age contraction (155 to 150 Ma), prevalent to the west at lower structural levels of the WTrPz, is not recognized in the Sawyers Bar nappe; however, regionally developed open folding of Siskiyou metamorphic fabrics and rare superposed folding and axial-plane cleavage development in the Marble Mountains may reflect a Nevadan event. Brittle deformation that clearly post-dates Siskiyou folding is younger than 150 Ma, but is older than ～130 Ma, the age of the oldest marine strata that overlie the Klamath province regionally. Kinematic evidence from the eastern Marble Mountains suggests sinistral transtension of possibly latest Jurassic-Early Cretaceous age. Late-stage brittle deformation is permissibly Cenozoic; the Sawyers Bar thrust sheet was tilted a maximum of 30° to the south along the flanks of the Condrey Mountain dome during Cenozoic uplift.

The Sawyers Bar nappe complex is similar to other composite terranes in Phanerozoic convergent suture zones throughout the world. Like the Klamath Mountains, these areas also may represent different exposure levels within a single fault-bounded entity rather than an amalgam of disparate terranes.     

Structural and textural development in Singhbhum shear zone,eastern India

The rocks within the Singhbhum shear zone in the North Singhbhum fold belt, eastern India, form a tectonic melange comprising granitic mylonite, quartz-mica phyllonite, quartz-tourmaline rock and deformed volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks. The granitic rocks show a textural gradation from the least-deformed variety having coarse-to medium-grained granitoid texture through augen-bearing protomylonite and mylonite to ultramylonite. Both type I and type II S-C mylonites are present. The most intensely deformed varieties include ultramylonite. The phyllosilicate-bearing supracrustal rocks are converted to phyllonites. The different minerals exhibit a variety of crystal plastic deformation features. Generation of successive sets of mylonitic foliation, folding of the earlier sets and their truncation by the later ones results from the progressive shearing movement. The shear sense indicators suggest a thrust-type deformation. The microstructural and textural evolution of the rocks took place in an environment of relatively low temperature, dislocation creep accompanied by dynamic recovery and dynamic recrystallization being the principal deformation mechanisms. Palaeostress estimation suggests a flow stress within the range of 50–190 MPa during mylonitization.     

Mechanisms of thrust faulting in the gran sasso chain, central apennines, italy

The Gran Sasso chain in Central Italy is made up of an imbricate stack of eight thrust sheets, which were emplaced over the Upper Miocene—Lower Pliocene Laga Flysch. The thrust sheets are numbered from 1 to 8 in order of their decreasing elevation in the tectonic stack, and their basal thrusts are numbered from T₁ to T₈, accordingly. On the basis of their different deformation features, the major thrust faults fall into three groups: (1) thrust faults marked by thick belts of incoherent gouges and breccia zones (T₁, T₂, T₃); (2) thrust faults characterized by a sharp plane which truncates folds that had developed in the footwall rocks (T₅, T₆); and (3) thrust faults truncating folds developed in both the hangingwall and footwall units, and bordered by foliated fault rocks (T₇). The deformation features observed for the different faults seem to vary because of two combined factors: (1) lithologic changes in the footwall and hangingwall units separated by the thrust faults; and (2) increasing amounts of deformation in the deepest portions of the imbricate stack. The upper thrust sheets (from 1 to 6) are characterized by massive calcareous and dolomitic rocks, they maintain a homoclinal setting and are truncated up-section by the cataclastic thrust faults. The lowermost thrust sheets (7 and 8) are characterized by a multilayer with competence contrasts, which undergoes shear-induced folding prior to the final emplacement of the thrust sheets. Bedding and axial planes of folds rotate progressively towards the T₅, T₆, T₇ and T₈ thrust boundaries, and are subsequently truncated by propagation of the brittle thrust faults. The maximum deformation is observed along the T₇ thrust fault, consistent with horizontal displacement that increases progressively from the uppermost to the lowermost thrust sheet in the tectonic stack. The axial planes of the folds developed in the hangingwall and footwall units are parallel to the T₇ thrust fault, and foliated fault rocks have developed. Field data and petrographic analysis indicate that cleavage fabrics in the fault rocks form by a combination of cataclasis, cataclastic flow and pressure-solution slip, associated with pervasive shearing along subtly distributed slip zones parallel to the T₇ thrust fault. The development of such fabrics at upper crustal levels creates easy-slip conditions in progressively thinner domains, which are regions of localized flow during the thrust sheet emplacement.     

Microtectonic and geochemical characterization of thrusting in a foreland basin: Example of the South-Pyrenean orogenic wedge (Spain)

In orogenic systems, thrust faults play a major role in stacking different tectonic units and may act as conduits for the expulsion of large amounts of fluid of different origins (metamorphic, diagenetic, meteoric). This study focuses on the Monte Perdido thrust unit emplaced in the Paleogene Jaca thrust-sheet-top basin, in the SW-central Pyrenees. We aim to decipher the mechanisms and P-T conditions of deformation in fault zones and characterize the related fluid involvement, through combined microstructural, geochemical and microthermometry analyses. Two thrust faults cutting platform limestones, marls and siliciclastic turbidites of the lower part of the basin-fill (Paleocene–lower Eocene) have been studied. The fault zones are characterized by metre-thick shear zones with highly deformed, foliated clay-rich sediments. Foliation is underlined by preferentially oriented phyllosilicates. Several generations of shear and extension calcite, quartz and chlorite-bearing veins attest to fluid-rock interactions during a multi-stage deformation. Microstructural observations and stable isotope analyses on calcite from veins and host sediments suggest that deformation was aseismic and dominated by diffusive mass transfer from pressure solution sites along cleavage and stylolites to the precipitation sites in veins, with mineralizing fluids in equilibrium with the host sediments. Our results suggest an essentially closed hydrologic system, and imply the absence of significant fluid flow along the studied fault zones. Microthermometric study on fluid inclusions present in calcite and quartz veins, and calcite-quartz oxygen isotopic fractionation determined for the first generation shear veins, allow a geothermal gradient of 34 °C/km to be estimated. Analytical results demonstrate an evolution of the fault zones in three stages. The first stage was related to the emplacement of the Monte Perdido thrust unit during the middle Eocene at a temperature of ～208 °C and a burial depth of ～5.7 km. The second stage corresponds to a fault reactivation at a temperature of ～240 °C and a burial depth of ～6.5 km. The latter deformation may have been related to folding of the Monte Perdido thrust unit during the emplacement of the underlying Gavarnie thrust unit during the late Eocene–early Oligocene, with deeper burial resulting from aggradation of the thrust-sheet-top basin-fill. The last event corresponds to the formation of a dilatant vein system likely related to the exhumation of the massif.     

Foliation development and refraction in metamorphic rocks: reactivation of earlier foliations and decrenulation due to shifting patterns of deformation partitioning

Abstract Reactivation of early foliations accounts for much of the progressive strain at more advanced stages of deformation. Its role has generally been insufficiently emphasized because evidence is best preserved where porphyroblasts which contain inclusion trails are present. Reactivation occurs when progressive shearing, operating in a synthetic anastomosing fashion parallel to the axial planes of folds, changes to a combination of coarse- and finescale zones of progressive shearing, some of which operate antithetically relative to the bulk shear on a fold limb. Reactivation of earlier foliations occurs in these latter zones. Reactivation decrenulates pre-existing or just-formed crenulations, generating shearing along the decrenulated or rotated pre-existing foliation planes. Partitioning of deformation within these foliation planes, such that phyllosilicates and/or graphite take up progressive shearing strain and other minerals accommodate progressive shortening strain, causes dissolution of these other minerals. This results in concentration of the phyllosilicates in a similar, but more penetrative manner to the formation of a differentiated crenulation cleavage, except that the foliation can form or intensify on a fold limb at a considerable angle to the axial plane of synchronous macroscopic folds. Reactivation can generate bedding-parallel schistosity in multideformed and metamorphosed terrains without associated folds. Heterogeneous reactivation of bedding generates rootless intrafolial folds with sigmoidal axial planes from formerly through-going structures. Reactivation causes rotation or ‘refraction’of axial-plane foliations (forming in the same deformation event causing reactivation) in those beds or zones in which an earlier foliation has been reactivated, and results in destruction of the originally axial-plane foliation at high strains. Reactivation also provides a simple explanation for the apparently ‘wrong sense’, but normally observed ‘rotation’of garnet porphyroblasts, whereby the external foliation has undergone rotation due to antithetic shear on the reactivated foliation. Alternatively, the rotation of the external foliation can be due to its reactivation in a subsequent deformation event. Porphyroblasts with inclusion trails commonly preserve evidence of reactivation of earlier foliations and therefore can be used to identify the presence of a deformation that has not been recognized by normal geometric methods, because of penetrative reactivation. Reactivation often reverses the asymmetry between pre-existing foliations and bedding on one limb of a later fold, leading to problems in the geometric analysis of an area when the location of early fold hinges is essential. The stretching lineation in a reactivated foliation can be radically reoriented, potentially causing major errors in determining movement directions in mylonitic schistosities in folded thrusts. Geometric relationships which result from reactivation of foliations around porphyroblasts can be used to aid determination of the timing of the growth of porphyroblasts relative to deformation events. Other aspects of reactivation, however, can lead to complications in timing of porphyroblast growth if the presence of this phenomenon is not recognized; for example, D₂-grown porphyroblasts may be dissolved against reactivated S₁ and hence appear to have grown syn-D₁.     

米仓山构造带的应变与涡度分析

米仓山构造带东西向的断裂逆冲兼左旋走滑,西段的韧性变形较强,东段脆性为主。北东向三个主断裂带由北而南逆冲兼左行剪切,早期可能发生脆韧性变形,后期叠加了脆性变形。前震旦系基底岩系变形特征主要表现为透入性流变,碎斑结构和糜棱结构发育,镶嵌构造、S-C组构、带状构造、眼球构造为主,局部偶见"δ"和"σ"旋转碎斑以及矿物鱼。石英颗粒以亚颗粒旋转动态重结晶为主。显微特征反映岩石变形温度相当于绿片岩相。利用Fry法测定石英颗粒三维应变应变强度集中在1.35～1.60之间,显示出从北到南逐渐增强的趋势。Flinn指数K和Nadei-Hossack图解均表明应变类型为近似平面应变的拉长型。运动学涡度分析表明米仓山应变以简单剪切变形作用为主,具有由南向北递增趋势。     

Static recrystallization and preferred orientation of phyllosilicates: Michigamme Formation,northern Michigan,USA

The Michigamme Formation of the Marquette District in Michigan's Upper Peninsula comprises a sequence of cleaved rocks of increasing metamorphic grade. Because metamorphism in the area occurred after cleavage formation, the rocks provide an opportunity to study preferred orientation development of phyllosilicates under conditions of static recrystallization.X-ray texture goniometry on samples from the greenschist-facies zone that were collected at varying distances from the bounding biotite-in and garnet-in isograds, shows that: (1) the preferred orientation of phyllosilicates is always parallel to the mesoscopic cleavage, and (2) the degree of preferred orientation of phyllosilicates improves as a function of increasing metamorphic grade (from <4 to >9 m.r.d.). Scanning electron microscopy on these samples shows that: (1) the length/width ratio increases with increasing grade, and (2) grain shapes are better defined with increasing grade.Previous work on slates showed mechanical processes dominate at very low-grade metamorphism, whereas chemical processes are favored at higher grades. The Michigamme samples show that improvement of preferred orientation occurrred by grain dissolution and crystallization. Noncleavage-parallel phyllosilicate grains were preferentially dissolved, probably facilitated by internal strain energy from mineral defects, aided by chemical energy, whereas cleavage-parallel phyllosilicates were hosts for new growth along their basal planes. These results show that significant fabric strengthening can be achieved by grain dissolution and crystallization in the absence of tectonic stress.     

Terrane sutures in the Maine Appalachians,USA and adjacent areas

Terrane sutures in the Maine Appalachians and adjacent areas are recognized as melange dominated, deformed accretionary prisms of Ordovician age, and as a broad synmetamorphic transcurrent fault zone of probable Late Silurian-Early Devonian age. Although the accretionary prisms are associated with present day aeromagnetic and Bouguer gravity anomalies, they are probably not associated with present day crustal penetrating boundaries. The geology of the accretionary prisms indicates subduction-obduction dominated regimes during which (1) the Gander and Boundary Mountain (Dunnage) terranes amalgamated and (2) the composite Boundary Mountain-Gander terrane accreted to the Laurentian margin. The Penobscottian orogeny produced and deformed the older of the two accretionary prisms. This accretionary prism indicates that the Penobscottian was a continuous or perhaps diachronous event which spanned the late Cambrian to early Late Ordovician. The younger accretionary prism was produced and deformed during the Taconian orogeny during late Middle to early Late Ordovician. Initial deformation of this accretionary prism may have overlapped the waning stages of the Penobscottian. Portions of the Taconian arc locally overlie the Penobscottian accretionary prism. A synmetamorphic fault zone lies within Precambrian(?) to Ordovician(?) bimodal metavolcanic and metapelitic rocks assigned here to the Avalon terrane. This zone is several kilometres wide and is interpreted to be the postsubduction suture between the Avalon and Gander terranes, and may, in part, represent a fossil transform fault system. The fault zone contains phyllonites as well as shear zones which generally record dextral motion. The phyllonites were previously interpreted as a stratigraphic unit, whereas the shear zones span or are contained within mappable compositional units. Formation of and movement along these phyllonites and shear zones ceased before the intrusion of Early Devonian plutons. Not all faults in south-western Maine are related to the suture. Younger dip and/or strike-slip and thrust faults are approximately parallel to, or may lie within, the older shear zones and they complicate the recognition of the older faults.