Reply to the comments of S. Karato on “Petrofabrics and seismic properties of garnet peridotites from the UHP Sulu terrane (China)” by Xu et al. [Tectonophysics 421 (2006) 111–127]

We thank Karato for his interest in our recent paper in Tectonophysics [Xu, Z.Q., Wang, Q., Ji, S.C.. Chen, J., Zeng, L.S., Yang, J.S., Chen, F.Y., Liang, F.H., Wenk, H.R., 2006. Petrofabrics and seismic properties of garnet peridotite from the UHP Sulu terrane (China): Implications for olivine deformation mechanism in a cold and dry subducting continental slab. Tectonophysics 421, 111–127]. However, Karato is incorrect to take water or water-related species (herein referred to generically as ‘water’) as an almost unique cause for any olivine fabric transition in nature no matter what geological conditions are. In this Reply, we will first give a succinct introduction to the context of the ongoing debate, and then provide some additional arguments in favour of our conclusion that “the olivine C-type fabric of the Zhimafang garnet-bearing peridotites was formed under the conditions of high pressure, low temperature and low water content during the subduction of cold and dry supracrustal rocks of the Yangtze plate”. The map of olivine slip systems as a function of differential stress and water content, drawn by Karato and coworkers, cannot be reliably extrapolated to Earth’s interior until relevant scaling laws have been established. The role of high water content on the fabric transitions is more likely to modify recrystallization kinetics than to switch the dominant slip systems.     

Grain growth in partially molten olivine aggregates

Grain growth rates in partially molten olivine aggregates were determined experimentally at a pressure of 1 GPa. The aim of the experiments with fine-grained starting material (solution–gelation derived Fo₉₀ olivine with a grain size of ∼1 μm with 2 and 4 wt.% added basaltic glass) was to determine growth rates during steady-state grain growth. A series of experiments was conducted at a fixed temperature of 1,350°C for durations from 2 to 700 h, and a second series at fixed duration (168 h) at temperatures from 1,250 to 1,450°C. The resulting activation energy (E=390 kJ/mol) and growth exponent (n=4.3) are comparable to melt-free results (Nichols and Mackwell 1991). The observed grain size distributions are broader than those predicted for normal grain growth or Ostwald ripening and most similar to the Log-normal distribution. The observed melt distribution is influenced by the continuous rearrangement of neighboring grains during growth. The relatively large growth exponent observed in this study and by Nichols and Mackwell (1991) where secondary phases are present suggests that grain growth in the upper mantle is slower than predicted by Karato (1989).     

橄榄石单晶体高温蠕变

作者首次采用中国河北大麻坪橄榄石单晶体做原始变形材料,在温度1200—1500℃,应力16—175 MPa,氧分压10~(-4)—10~(-10)atm 条件下,对上地幔流变学的有关三个问题进行了详细研究:(1)化学环境(氧分压和斜方辉石缓冲剂)对橄榄石流变性质的制约作用;(2)详细测定橄榄石单晶体流变参数和建立流变本构方程;(3)对橄榄石单晶体[110]c 方向的三个蠕变机制进行研究,这些新的高温实验成果第一次为研究中国东部岩石圈动力学提供了有意义的定量资料.     

Base metal mineral segregation and Fe-Mg exchange inducing extreme compositions of olivine and chromite from the Xiadong Alaskan-type complex in the southern part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt

The Xiadong Alaskan-type complex shares much in common with typical Alaskan-type complexes worldwide, while showing some unique features in terms of mineral compositions. Olivine from the Xiadong dunites is characterized by extremely high Fo component of 91.7–96.7 and anomalously negative correlation of Fo with NiO, while chromite is featured by high 100 × Fe³⁺/(Fe³⁺ + Cr + Al) (>70), high 100 × Fe²⁺/(Fe²⁺ + Mg) (>70), high 100 × Cr/(Cr + Al) (>90), low MnO (<0.6 wt%) and TiO₂ contents (<0.5 wt%). To investigate these particular features, we conducted petrographic observation and mineral composition analyses for the Xiadong dunite. A number of Fe and/or Ni sulfides and alloys occurring as inclusions in olivine and chromite indicate that base metal mineral segregation took place prior to crystallization of olivine and chromite and probably induced Fe and Ni depletions in olivine. The FeO and MgO variations in profile analyses from chromite to adjacent olivine are compatible with Fe-Mg exchange. The diffusion mechanism of Fe from olivine to chromite and Mg from chromite to olivine may have elevated both Fo of olivine and 100 × Fe²⁺/(Mg + Fe²⁺) ratio of chromite and further enhanced the decoupling of Fo and NiO in olivine. We thus suggest that base metal mineral segregation and Fe-Mg exchange play important roles in the extreme compositions of the Xiadong dunite. The Ni depletion of olivine and degree of Fe-Mg exchange between olivine and chromite may be used as indicators of mineralization in mafic-ultramafic intrusions.     

Fabrication of dense forsterite–enstatite polycrystals for experimental studies

 A practical and reliable method for the preparation of fine-grained forsterite and forsterite–enstatite polycrystals, in the system MgO–SiO₂, is described. The method employs state-of-the-art techniques from materials science, namely sol-gel synthesis, powder processing and sintering. The resulting dense polycrystalline materials are homogeneously fine-grained (1–2 μm) and uniformly foam-textured. Moreover, they are highly reproducible in composition and microstructure. The enstatite content can be controlled to within ∼1%, in the range 0–50%, and densities up to 98% of theoretical density can be achieved. The method thus yields polycrystalline forsterite–enstatite material suitable for a range of geochemical, petrological and geophysical studies. Received: 19 October 1999 / Accepted: 18 June 2001     

金川Ⅰ号岩体橄榄石Ni-MgO相互关系及其地质意义

金川超镁铁质岩体赋存着仅次于加拿大Sudbury和俄罗斯Noril'sk-Talnakh的世界第三大在采铜镍硫化物矿床,岩体以一系列的NE向断层为界分成四个小岩体,由西至东依次为:Ⅲ、Ⅰ、Ⅱ、Ⅳ岩体.Ⅰ号岩体主要由二辉橄榄岩、含辉橄榄岩和橄榄二辉岩构成,橄榄石在各岩相中均为保存较好的主要造岩矿物.本文研究得到金川Ⅰ号岩体上部二辉橄榄岩和含辉橄榄岩中橄榄石的镁橄榄石F_o值介于83.9～85.7,而其Ni含量为1396×10~(-6)～2043×10~(-6),大多低于从S不饱和玄武岩浆中结晶出来的橄榄石的Ni含量.模拟计算结果表明橄榄石较低的Ni含量是因为橄榄石结晶的同时,发生了强烈的硫化物熔离;橄榄石的Fo-Ni关系还因与晶间硅酸盐熔浆的物质交换而发生改变.模拟计算还证明大约有30%的晶间硅酸盐岩浆与橄榄石发生Fe-Mg物质交换反应,导致早结晶橄榄石的Fo值减少了1～1.5.同时,橄榄石较小的Fo值变化表明,在橄榄石结晶和硫化物熔离过程中,不断有新的岩浆贯入和补充.     

辽西义县组玄武岩捕虏晶的发现及其意义

辽西早白垩世义县组底部有一套镁含量较高（MgO=8％～10％）的橄榄玄武岩，有人称之为“高镁玄武岩”。通过这些玄武岩所含的橄榄石、单斜辉石的形态特征、环带结构以及所包含不透明矿物的研究，笔者认为它们属于地幔捕虏晶。捕虏晶和玄武质熔体反应的结果形成了环带结构，由于捕虏晶比玄武质熔体富Mg、Ni、Cr，贫Fe、Mn、Ca，因此作用结果提高了熔体的镁含量。此外，辉石的反环带以及复杂环带结构反映了两种熔体的混合作用。因此上述橄榄石、辉石捕虏晶的发现有助于揭示：1）岩石圈地幔和熔体相互作用以及高镁岩石的成因；2）两种熔体的混合作用。这一发现对进一步研究华北中生代岩石圈地幔的改造与破坏，理解华北克拉通东部中生代地球动力学背景和构造环境是有意义的。     

Grain misorientations in partially molten olivine aggregates: an electron backscatter diffraction study

In polycrystalline aggregates of olivine with mean grain sizes above 35 μm plus a low basaltic melt fraction, both wetted and melt-free grain boundaries are observed after equilibration times at high pressures and temperatures of between 15 and 25 days. In order to assess a possible dependence of the wetting behaviour on the relative orientation of neighbouring grains, a SEM based technique, electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), is used to determine grain orientations. From the grain orientations relative orientations of neighbouring grains are calculated, which are expressed as misorientation axis/angle pairs. The distribution of misorientation angles and axes of melt-free grain boundaries differ significantly from a purely random distribution, whereas those of wetted grain boundaries are statistically indistinguishable from the random distribution. The relative orientation of two neighbouring grains therefore influences the character of their common grain boundary. However, no clustering towards special (coincident site lattice) misorientation axes is observed, with the inference that the energy differences between special and general misorientations are too small to lead to the development of preferred misorientations during grain growth. Received: 8 December 1997 / Revised, accepted: 6 April 1998     

海洋碱性矿物增汇技术发展方向研究

工业革命以来,近1/3人为排放的二氧化碳被海洋吸收,海洋负排放潜力巨大。海洋碱化技术被认为是最具有固碳潜力的海洋负排放技术之一。硅酸盐碱性矿物橄榄石风化速率高,在自然界中具有广泛的分布。海水增汇效率受到橄榄石的溶解速率、扩散速率等因素的影响。基于近海橄榄石海上反应平台,利用清洁能源将橄榄石破碎、研磨加速其溶解,再由海流将高碱度海水进行扩散促进毗邻海域对大气二氧化碳吸收的方法具有广阔的应用前景。随着我国近海油气资源的开发,基于海上油气平台发展橄榄石碱化增汇技术,降低海上碱化反应平台基建成本的同时,可捕集油气生产过程中的二氧化碳,随碱化后海水入海,进一步提高碱性矿物增汇技术的碳封存效能。     

吉林省橄榄石宝石矿床分布特征、勘查开发现状及发展远景

本文在野外地质勘查及系统分析前人工作资料的基础上,对吉林省橄榄石宝石矿床区域分布及勘查开发现状进行归纳总结。吉林省橄榄石宝石矿主要分布在吉林省东部,已发现的橄榄石宝石矿床均赋存于新生界新近系上新统船底山组玄武岩中。严格受敦化-密山岩石圈断裂及其次级断裂控制。在找矿方向上应扩大已有矿区勘查范围,加大勘查力度及对省内船底山组玄武岩分布地区做重点勘查工作部署,力求在橄榄石宝石矿找矿方面取得更大的突破。同时对橄榄石宝石矿业发展远景进行探讨。