The effects of porphyroblast growth on the effective viscosity of metapelitic rocks: implications for the strength of the middle crust

Numerical models are used to examine the effects of porphyroblast growth on the rheology of compositionally layered rocks (metapelites and metapsammites) and by extension the middle crust during prograde metamorphism. As porphyroblast abundance increases during prograde metamorphism, metapelitic layers will strengthen relative to porphyroblast‐free metapelitic units, and potentially relative to quartzofeldspathic metapsammitic units. As metapelitic layers become stronger, the integrated strength of compositionally layered successions increases, potentially causing large volumes of mid‐crustal rock to strengthen, altering the strain‐rate distribution in the middle crust and affecting the geodynamic evolution of an orogenic belt. The growth of effectively rigid porphyroblasts creates strength heterogeneities in the layer undergoing porphyroblast growth, which leads to complex strain‐rate distributions within the layer. At the orogen scale, the strengthening of large crustal volumes (on the order of thousands of cubic kilometres) changes the strain‐rate distribution, which may change exhumation rates of high‐grade metamorphic rocks, the geothermal structure and the topography of the orogen. The presence of a strong zone in the middle crust causes strain‐rate partitioning around the zone, suppressed uplift rates within and above the zone and leads to the development of a basin on the surface.