Deformation of middle crustal shear zones likely varies with time as a result of the stress build-up and release associated with earthquakes and post-seismic deformation, but the processes involved and their microstructural signature in the rock record are poorly understood. We conducted a series of experiments on quartzite at 900 °C to characterize microstructures associated with changes in stress and strain rate, and to investigate the feasibility of carrying out grain size piezometry in natural rocks that experienced analogous changes. Differential stress (referred to simply as “stress”) was varied in two-stage experiments by changing strain rate and by stopping the motor and allowing stress to relax. The two-stage samples preserve a microstructural record that can be interpreted quantitatively in terms of stress history. The microstructure associated with a stress increase is a bimodal distribution of recrystallized grain sizes. The smaller grains associated with the second deformation stage accurately record the stress of the second stage, and the surviving coarse grains remain similar in size to those formed during the earlier stage. The transient microstructure associated with stress decrease is a “partial foam” texture containing a larger concentration of stable 120° triple junctions than occur in samples deformed at a relatively constant strain rate. Our results indicate that microstructures preserved in rocks that experienced relatively simple, two-stage deformation histories can be used to quantitatively assess stress histories.Grain growth rates during deformation are similar to rates observed in previous isostatic growth experiments, supporting theoretical approaches to recrystallized grain size, such as the wattmeter theory (Austin and Evans, 2007), that incorporate static growth rates. From an analysis of the experimental data for quartz recrystallized grain size, we find: 1) Recrystallized grain size quickly reaches a value consistent with ambient deformation conditions. We argue that this explains a good match between average grain sizes predicted by the wattmeter after complete recrystallization and the recrystallized grain sizes of the experiments. 2) The present formulation of the wattmeter overestimates the rates at which porphyroclasts recrystallize by as much as an order of magnitude, and 3) owing to problems with extrapolation of grain growth data for quartz, the wattmeter is not presently applicable to natural samples deformed at low temperatures. We present a simplified flow law for quartz, and suggest that the change in slope of the quartz piezometer at high stress (regime 1) is related to a switch to a linear viscous rheology. 相似文献
AbstractAn important generation of recumbent folds can be recognized in the Nevado-Filabride nappe complex in the Sierra de los Filabres in SE Spain.Folding post-dates an initial phase of flattening and is prior to the main phase of non-coaxial deformation and thrusting in the upper part of the complex, involved in a large-scale movement zone with dominant sense of shear to the northwest.Axial planes and axes of these folds are aligned sub-parallel to the plastic flow plane in quartz and the shear direction respectively. Relict quartz fabrics can be found however, which strongly suggest that some fold axes originated in this position and did not rotate towards parallelism with the shear direction. This apparently contradicts the generally accepted model of development of folds in mylonite zones.The redistribution of linear structures of the older flattening fase over the folds, confirms that the original orientation of fold axes was close to the present and indicates that an important component of flexural slip was involved in fold formation. 相似文献
An ESR experimental study of artificial optical bleaching of sedimentary quartz has shown that the aluminum center was maximally bleached after a 6-month illumination equivalent to natural light. This duration seems too long to apply in natural conditions. Nevertheless, the measurement of the ESR intensity of aluminum centers in quartz extracted from modern sediments and deposited in sandy bars shows that the maximum bleaching has effectively been reached.
In order to determine the relationship between the bleaching and the distance covered by a quartz grain in a river, samples were collected along the Creuse River (France) from its spring to about 170 km downstream, where maximum bleaching levels were observed in previous studies. The ESR intensities of the aluminum and titanium centers in quartz were measured, using X-band spectroscopy, before and after artificial bleaching. The difference measured between these sub-samples shows that the maximum bleaching level is obtained in the course of the first kilometer. Hence, the assumption that ESR dating of fluvial sediment is based on the optical bleaching was validated. 相似文献
Zoned quartz and feldspar phenocrysts of the Upper Carboniferous eastern Erzgebirge volcano-plutonic complex were studied by cathodoluminescence and minor and trace element profiling. The results verify the suitability of quartz and feldspar phenocrysts as recorders of differentiation trends, magma mixing and recharge events, and suggest that much heterogeneity in plutonic systems may be overlooked on a whole-rock scale. Multiple resorption surfaces and zones, element concentration steps in zoned quartz (Ti) and feldspar phenocrysts (anorthite content, Ba, Sr), and plagioclase-mantled K-feldspars etc. indicate mixing of silicic magma with a more mafic magma for several magmatic phases of the eastern Erzgebirge volcano-plutonic complex. Generally, feldspar appears to be sensitive to the physicochemical changes of the melt, whereas quartz phenocrysts are more stable and can survive a longer period of evolution and final effusion of silicic magmas. The regional distribution of mixing-compatible textures suggests that magma mingling and mixing was a major process in the evolution of these late-Variscan granites and associated volcanic rocks.
Quartz phenocrysts from 14 magmatic phases of the eastern Erzgebirge volcano-plutonic complex provide information on the relative timing of different mixing processes, storage and recharge, allowing a model for the distribution of magma reservoirs in space and time. At least two levels of magma storage are envisioned: deep reservoirs between 24 and 17 km (the crystallisation level of quartz phenocrysts) and subvolcanic reservoirs between 13 and 6 km. Deflation of the shallow reservoirs during the extrusion of the Teplice rhyolites triggered the formation of the Altenberg-Teplice caldera above the eastern Erzgebirge volcano-plutonic complex. The deep magma reservoir of the Teplice rhyolite also has a genetic relationship to the younger mineralised A-type granites, as indicated by quartz phenocryst populations. The pre-caldera biotite granites and the rhyodacitic Schönfeld volcanic rocks represent temporally and spatially separate magma sources. However, the deep magma reservoir of both is assumed to have been at a depth of 24–17 km. The drastic chemical contrast between the pre-caldera Schönfeld (Westfalian B–C) and the syn-caldera Teplice (Westfalian C–D) volcanic rocks is related to the change from late-orogenic geotectonic environment to post-orogenic faulting, and is considered an important chronostratigraphic marker. 相似文献
