Ductile-brittle transition in pre-Alpine amphibolite facies mylonites during evolution from water-present to water-deficient conditions (Mont Mary nappe, Italian Western Alps)

In the Austroalpine Mont Mary nappe (Italian Western Alps) discrete zones of mylonites–ultramylonites developed from coarse-grained, upper amphibolite facies metapelites of pre-Alpine age. The syn–mylonitic mineral assemblage is quartz–biotite–muscovite–plagioclase–garnet–sillimanite–ilmenite–graphite, and formed via the model hydration reaction: Grt₁+Kfs+H₂O=Bt₂+Ilm₂+Qtz+Ms± Sil .Grain-size reduction of about three orders of magnitude was accompanied by extensive recrystallization of all minerals except sillimanite, and by compositional changes of garnet and biotite. Deformation took place at temperatures of 510–580  °C under low-pressure conditions (0.25–0.45 GPa) and corresponds to the latest stages of pre-Alpine metamorphic evolution. The pre-Alpine mylonitization conditions were close to the brittle-ductile transition, as indicated by syn–mylonitic generation of pseudotachylytes and high differential stress inferred from quartz grain-size piezometry. The brittle-ductile behaviour at a relatively high temperature, and the absence of annealing textures in quartz aggregates, are suggestive of water-deficient conditions during mylonitization. These were accomplished through progressive consumption of water by syn–kinematic hydration reaction and by adsorption onto the greatly increased grain boundary area resulting from dynamic recrystallization.     

Earthquakes in the ductile regime?

Pseudotachylytes from a crustal scale shear zone in Central Australia have developed in a cyclical manner: once developed, an individual pseudotachylyte is deformed in a ductile manner, only to be overprinted at a later stage by a new generation of pseudotachylytes. Such cyclic generation and deformation of pseudotachylyte has been interpreted in the past as representing conditions at the brittleductile transition; a different interpretation, however, is presented here. It is proposed that psuedotachylytes and associated ultramylonites can develop entirely within the ductile regime as ductile instabilities. Such instabilities are different in nature to those previously discussed at length in the geophysical literature but are identical in principle with the instabilities that develop for velocity-weakening frictional behavior in spring-slider systems. At a given strain rate a critical temperature,T _c, is defined, at which the transient work hardening equals the product of stress relaxation due to a thermal fluctuation and the heat generated by shearing. A necessary condition for ductile instability at a given strain rate is that the temperature is belowT _c; then the rate of change of stress with respect to strain is negative. An additional requirement is that this rate of change exceeds, in magnitude, the effective elastic stiffness of the loading system. Ductile instabilities are marginally possible at geological strain rates in quartzites but are possible at mid-crustal temperatures in other rock types. On the basis of these observations a new interpretation is presented for the base of the seismogenic zone in crustal regions.     

断裂带中古地震滑动的岩石记录

大量的野外观察和实验研究表明,高应变速率的变形作用会在岩石中留下特殊的构造特征。地震作为一种断层快速破裂变形行为,在其作用过程中会使震源及邻近岩石变形从而产生一些特征构造及矿物相组合。剥露地表的断裂带为研究地震相关变形及过程提供了很好的物质材料。识别其中的地震滑动标志,对于确定古地震事件及其发生的机制具有重要意义。Cowan(1999)将断层快速滑动摩擦使得断层面岩石熔融产生的假玄武玻璃作为断层中记录地震滑动的唯一可靠的标识。近年来断裂岩研究取得的一系列重大进展揭示,断层发生地震滑动造成的多种构造产物均可记录其滑动的信息,如碳酸岩和含水硅酸岩的脱挥发分作用、微量元素迁移特征、有机质成熟度、断层镜面构造、液化粒状流、碎屑-皮层集合体、同震晶体塑性变形以及非晶质物质等。此外,与地震破裂传播有关的、在极端瞬态应力条件下形成的,如注入脉、碎粉化作用等特征也可以作为地震发生的岩石记录。因此假玄武玻璃不再是地震破裂的唯一指示物。断层滑动速率在10–4～101 m/s范围内几乎都是动态的,也就是说在实验中10–4 m/s的滑动速率可能指示着地震滑动。本文总结地震滑动和破裂的岩石记录,对认识地震发生机制和完善地震断裂理论具有极其重要的意义。