Brittle–ductile–brittle deformation during cooling of tonalite (Adamello, Southern Italian Alps)

Late- to post-magmatic deformation in slightly diachronous contiguous intrusions of the north-western Adamello batholith (Southern Alps, Italy) is recorded as, from oldest to youngest: (i) joints, (ii) solid-state ductile shear zones, (iii) faults associated with epidote-K-feldspar veins and (iv) zeolite veins and faults. Structures (ii) to (iv) are localized on the pervasive precursory network of joints (i), which developed during the earliest stages of pluton cooling. High temperature ( 500 °C), ductile overprinting of joints produced lineations, defined by aligned biotite and hornblende, on the joint surfaces and highly localized mylonites. The main phase of faulting, producing cataclasites and pseudotachylytes, occurred at  250 °C and was associated with extensive fluid infiltration. Cataclasites and pseudotachylytes are clustered along different E–W-striking dextral strike-slip fault zones correlated with the activity of the Tonale fault, a major tectonic structure that bounds the Adamello batholith to the north. Ductile deformation and cataclastic/veining episodes occurred at P = 0.25–0.3 GPa during rapid cooling of the batholith to the ambient temperatures ( 250 °C) that preceded the exhumation of the batholith. Timing of the sequence of deformation can be constrained by ³⁹Ar–⁴⁰Ar ages of  30 Ma on pseudotachylytes and various existing mineral ages. In the whole composite Adamello batholith, multiple magma pulses were intruded over the time span 42–30 Ma and each intrusive body shows the same ductile-to-brittle structural sequence localized on the early joint sets. This deformation sequence of the Adamello might be typical of intrusions undergoing cooling at depths close to the brittle–ductile transition.     

Fault-zone structure and weakening processes in basin-scale reverse faults: The Moonlight Fault Zone,South Island,New Zealand

The >200 km long Moonlight Fault Zone (MFZ) in southern New Zealand was an Oligocene basin-bounding normal fault zone that reactivated in the Miocene as a high-angle reverse fault (present dip angle 65°–75°). Regional exhumation in the last c. 5 Ma has resulted in deep exposures of the MFZ that present an opportunity to study the structure and deformation processes that were active in a basin-scale reverse fault at basement depths. Syn-rift sediments are preserved only as thin fault-bound slivers. The hanging wall and footwall of the MFZ are mainly greenschist facies quartzofeldspathic schists that have a steeply-dipping (55°–75°) foliation subparallel to the main fault trace. In more fissile lithologies (e.g. greyschists), hanging-wall deformation occurred by the development of foliation-parallel breccia layers up to a few centimetres thick. Greyschists in the footwall deformed mainly by folding and formation of tabular, foliation-parallel breccias up to 1 m wide. Where the hanging-wall contains more competent lithologies (e.g. greenschist facies metabasite) it is laced with networks of pseudotachylyte that formed parallel to the host rock foliation in a damage zone extending up to 500 m from the main fault trace. The fault core contains an up to 20 m thick sequence of breccias, cataclasites and foliated cataclasites preserving evidence for the progressive development of interconnected networks of (partly authigenic) chlorite and muscovite. Deformation in the fault core occurred by cataclasis of quartz and albite, frictional sliding of chlorite and muscovite grains, and dissolution-precipitation. Combined with published friction and permeability data, our observations suggest that: 1) host rock lithology and anisotropy were the primary controls on the structure of the MFZ at basement depths and 2) high-angle reverse slip was facilitated by the low frictional strength of fault core materials. Restriction of pseudotachylyte networks to the hanging-wall of the MFZ further suggests that the wide, phyllosilicate-rich fault core acted as an efficient hydrological barrier, resulting in a relatively hydrous footwall and fault core but a relatively dry hanging-wall.     

Spherulitic omphacite in pseudotachylytes: Microstructures related to fast crystal growth from seismic melt at eclogite-facies conditions

The microstructures and microtexture of omphacite spherulites from an eclogite-facies pseudotachylyte from central Zambia was studied by electron backscattered diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The spherulitic growth is characteristic for fast growth rates at high undercoolings resulting from quenching a melt of seismic origin to the eclogite-facies conditions. Its preservation constrains that no significant deformation was present after the seismic event and during uplift. The analysis of grain misorientations in spherulites indicates – in addition to the overall radial alignment of grains – that crystallization took place in a highly viscous medium, which does not allow grain reorientation during growth. The microstructure of omphacite is diverse and ambiguous: Grain contacts appear both curved and with 120° triple junctions with few recrystallized grains. Dislocations are frequent, but heterogeneously distributed and occur in dislocations networks, subgrain boundaries and as free dislocations with locally high densities. Planar defects (chain multiplicity faults parallel (0 1 0) ending at partial dislocations) are abundant, while twinning parallel to (1 0 0) is rare. Anti-phase domains with variable domain sizes within a single grain and the disappearance of domain walls around the planar defects constrain that most of the microstructure must be formed during or shortly after crystallization.Omphacite microstructures are commonly discussed as result of deformational stresses due to a tectonic forcing. Here, we hypothesize that thermal stress during growth also can provide a feasible explanation for this melt-grown omphacite followed with partial recovery under static conditions. The observation does not exclude repeated stress loading of the shear veins in general, but suggest that only the latest seismic event is preserved in the studied samples as fine-grained texture of the spherulites. Moreover, anti-phase domain sizes constrain that the rock must be uplifted rather shortly after the seismic event.     

2008年汶川地震断裂带北东段南坝地区岩石特征与内部结构

龙门山断裂带中的映秀-北川断裂带是2008年汶川地震的主发震断裂,它具有斜冲断裂的运动学特征（逆冲兼右旋走滑）,其中南西段映秀断裂带以逆冲为主,而北东段北川断裂带以右旋走滑为主。断裂带的物质组成和内部结构的研究,有利于深入认识断裂活动性质、构造变形行为和地震发震机制。本文以出露于映秀-北川断裂带北东段南坝地区的断裂岩为研究对象,通过野外地质调查、显微构造观察、XRD和μXRF等多种分析手段,探讨映秀-北川断裂带北东段的岩石组成和内部结构。研究表明发育于寒武纪粉砂质板岩中的断裂带宽度约30m,断层中心发育厚20~40cm的黑色断裂物质,2008年汶川地震的同震位移沿黑色物质层中厚约10mm滑动带滑动。断层NW侧和SE侧表现出近于对称的结构特征,两侧的角砾岩宽~4m和~3m,破碎带宽~10m和~12m。黑色断裂物质中石英含量30%~50%,长石含量18%~25%,黏土矿物总含量30%~36%,主要由伊利石、伊蒙混层和绿泥石组成,少有蒙脱石。XRD结果显示黑色断裂物质具有非晶质成分特征,SEM观测结果可见熔融结构特征,显微结构与μXRF结果呈现后期流体作用明显,其表明黑色断裂物质主要由古地震滑动形成的假玄武玻璃蚀变而成,并发育不同蚀变程度的多期假玄武玻璃。上述研究揭示出断裂摩擦熔融是汶川地震断裂带北东段南坝地区的重要动态弱化机制,其内部结构和岩石特征与南西段映秀断裂带具有明显的差异。