Chemical and physical responses to deformation in micaceous quartzites from the Tauern Window, Eastern Alps

Micaceous quartzites from a subvertical shear zone in the Tauern Window contain abundant quartz clasts derived from dismembered quartz‐tourmaline veins. Bulk plane strain deformation affected these rocks at amphibolite facies conditions. Shape changes suggest net shortening of the clasts by 11–64%, with a mean value of 35%. Quartz within the clasts accommodated this strain largely via dislocation creep processes. On the high‐stress flanks of the clasts, however, quartz was removed via solution mass transfer (pressure solution) processes; the resulting change in bulk composition allowed growth of porphyroblastic staurolite + chlorite ± kyanite on the clast flanks. Matrix SiO₂ contents decrease from c. 83 wt% away from the clasts to 49–58% in the selvages on the clast flanks. The chemical changes are consistent with c. 70% volume loss in the high‐stress zones. Calculated shortening values within the clast flanks are similar to the volume‐loss estimates, and are greatly in excess of the shortening values calculated from the clasts themselves. Flow laws for dislocation creep versus pressure solution imply large strain‐rate gradients and/or differential stress gradients between the matrix and the clast selvages. In a rock containing a large proportion of semirigid clasts, weakening within the clast flanks could dominate rock rheology. In our samples, however, weakening within the selvages was self limiting: (1) growth of strong staurolite porphyroblasts in the selvages protected remaining quartz from dissolution; and (2) overall flattening of the quartz clasts probably decreased the resolved shear stress on the flanks to values near those of the matrix, which would have reduced the driving force for solution‐transfer creep. Extreme chemical changes nonetheless occurred over short distances. The necessity of maintaining strain compatibility may lead to significant localized dissolution in rocks containing rheologic heterogeneities, and overall weakening of the rocks may result. Solution‐transfer creep may be a major process whereby weakening and strain localization occur during deep‐crustal metamorphism of polymineralic rocks.     

P-wave velocities of polymineralic rocks: comparison of theory and experiment and test of elastic mixture rules

We compare the P-wave velocities (Vp) of 696 dry samples measured at pressures up to 0.6–1.0 GPa with values calculated from the volume fraction and room pressure elastic constants of each constituent mineral using 16 averaging methods. The exceptional large number of samples covers almost all common lithologic types of igneous and metamorphic rocks. The calculated Vp data are in good agreement with laboratory values measured at about 300 MPa, even though elastic constants of only 22 common minerals are used in the computation. The mean Vp of a polymineralic rock is exclusively controlled by the volume fractions of its constituent minerals while grain shape and crystallographic preferred orientations, anisotropy and other perturbations have minimum effects. The mean Vp can be fairly well predicted as long as a relevant mixture rule is used and the volume fraction is accurately determined for each mineral. However, none of the mixture rules can simultaneously produce the best fit to measured P-wave velocities for all the lithologic types. One method may work well for one lithology but poor for other lithology. Even for a given lithology, an averaging method may yield good agreement at moderate pressure but poor agreement at high pressure. Applications of an inappropriate mixture rule will potentially cause the misinterpretation of the crust and mantle Vp data in terms of mineralogical compositions and structures.     

Decoupled elastic prestack depth migration

This paper presents a new decoupled form of the formula for common-shot or common-receiver amplitude-preserving elastic prestack depth migration (PreSDM), which can be used for estimating angle-dependent elastic reflection coefficients in laterally inhomogeneous anisotropic media. The multi-shot or multi-receiver extension of this formula is suitable for automated prestack amplitude-versus-angle (AVA) elastic inversion of ocean-bottom cable (OBC), walkaway VSP (WVSP) or standard towed-cable data at any subsurface location. The essence of the theory is a systematic application of the stationary-phase principle and high-frequency approximations to the basic elastic Green's theorem. This leads to nonheuristic explicit wave mode decoupling and scalarization of vector PreSDM. Used in combination, ray-trace and finite-difference (FD) eikonal solvers create a useful tool to calculate accurate Green's function travel time and amplitude maps. Examples of synthetic OBC data and applications to field WVSP data show that the new imaging technique can produce a clear multi-mode elastic image.     

Foundation settlement statistics via finite element analysis

The dispersion observed in soil data comes both from the spatial variability which greatly influences the behavior of large structures and from errors in testing. Thus, the geotechnical engineering deals with uncertainties for which deterministic approaches are not suitable. The resort to probabilistic techniques, enables modeling uncertainties by analyzing their dispersion effect on the global behavior of the structure. The scope of this paper is analyzing settlement and differential settlement variability of a pair of foundations on random heterogeneous medium. The random soil properties of interest are the elastic modulus, and the Poisson ratio. The elastic modulus is modeled as a spatially random field by adopting the lognormal distribution, which enables analyzing its large variability. Because soil Poisson ratio is bounded in practice between two extreme values, its random field is obtained by using the Beta distribution. In this study, one proposes for the Beta field determination, a mapping technique on the probability distribution function diagram, by solving a non-linear equation. However, the mean and variance are unchanged through the mapping operation. Because the soil Poisson ratio is a positive parameter, one prefers to perform the mapping operation with the probability function of the lognormal distribution. Also, the proposed technique can be used for other bounded soil properties such as the porosity. In this paper, settlement and differential settlement statistics prediction are carried out using Monte Carlo simulations combined with deterministic finite element method (DFEM). A performed parametric study shows the following: (i) as the variability of the elastic modulus increases as settlement and differential settlement statistics are important, also, settlement statistics decreases as the Poisson ratio variability increases, and differential settlement statistics do not seem be affected by its variability. (ii) settlement and differential settlement statistics are important for positive inter-property correlation. (iii) a great influence of the correlation lengths on settlement and differential settlement statistics.     

Ab initio elasticity of FeS2 pyrite from 0 to 135 GPa

Polynomial expressions for the elastic tensor coefficients, the bulk, the shear and Young’s moduli, the speed of sound for longitudinal and transverse waves, the equation of state and the x coordinate of the sulfur atom in pyrite are reported based on ab initio calculations in the range of 0–135 GPa. Comparison with published experimental data indicates good agreement for the equation of state and for values at 0 GPa as well as reasonable agreement for first derivatives. All modeling and interpretation was performed with Materials Toolkit v.2.0 and all ab initio computations with VASP.     

Microcosmic analysis of ductile shearing zones of coal seams of brittle deformation domain in superficial lithosphere

For many years, the study on ductile shearing zones mainly focuses on the strain analysis and the characteristics of microcosmic structure of felsic duc-tile shearing zones in deep layers (8—10 km). Discus-sions on the process of the development of small-type and mini-size ductile shearing zones have been re-ported in recent years[1,2]. 揇uctile deformations in brittle deformation擺3] and 揵rittle deformations in ductile deformation擺4] are rather a familiar phenome-non in nature. Researchin…     

Control on seafloor spreading geometries by stress- and strain-induced lithospheric weakening

Seafloor spreading typically occurs along ridge segments oriented at right angles to plate motion and offset by orthogonal transform faults. Few regions exhibit different patterns, such as the East Pacific Rise (EPR), which additionally displays overlapping spreading centres (OSCs) and microplates. We introduce a dynamical model using two independent, scalar types of damage in an elastic plate that generates most observed spreading geometries as natural failure modes, suggesting that the dynamics of the underlying mantle have only a minor influence on accretionary plate margins. The elastic modulus that is affected by the damage determines the type of localized deformation. Damage reducing the bulk modulus tends to result in tensile fractures, while a reduction in shear modulus leads to shear fractures. The damage source determines the fracture orientation. Material weakening in tension results in fractures perpendicular to the most tensile principal stress, while shear weakening results in two conjugate fractures at 45° relative to the applied stress. Strain or energy-dependent damage results in propagating, localized fractures. Stress-dependent damage tends to evolve into diffuse regions that may eventually focus into narrow zones. Starting from small perturbations with reduced elastic moduli as nucleation points, all ridge geometries start with ridge propagation caused by tensile energy reducing both elastic moduli by a model of damage caused by tensile energy reducing both moduli. Orthogonal transform faults develop in regions between offset segments if there is an additional reduction in shear modulus due to shear stress. The orthogonality of the transform faults does not derive from the local stress orientation but from the dynamics of damage focusing which causes the fault to converge towards an optimal geometry that concentrates nearly all deformation into damaged zones. OSCs form when the shear damage leading to transform faults is suppressed, while microplate formation requires additional reduction of the shear modulus by tensile energy. Oblique spreading at 45°, recently discovered along ultraslow spreading ridges, occurs when both moduli are weakened by shear energy. A parameter regime exists in which ridge-transform patterns develop at low applied tension, while microplates form at higher stresses. These results indicate that at least three different micromechanical processes operate with different evolution rates. OSCs and oblique spreading require different material properties.     

单层纵弯褶皱曲率指数与应力指数的关系探讨

褶皱含有岩石经历的变形和变形条件的信息。力学、数学、数值和实验分析显示，通过分析单层纵弯褶皱的形态可获得流变学信息。数值模拟表明褶皱的曲率指数ｋｉ对于应力指数ｎｌ有很好的依赖性，当波长厚度比λ／ｈ≥１０时，ｋｉ随着ｎｌ的增加而增加。基于数值模拟的结论，分析了北京西山板岩中石英脉肠状褶皱，获得了石英脉的应力指数大于１０的结果，并进而获得石英脉对板岩的粘度比在２４１～６６２之间。认为这种小构造的研究方法是一个新的获取岩石流变参数的可行途径