GENERALIZED FLOW LAWS OF POLYPHASE ROCKS: AN OVERVIEW

Rheological properties of polyphase rocks play an important role in the dynamics of the lithosphere and asthenosphere. However, such fundamental issues have not been well resolved. A theoretical analysis has been made to develop expressions for the flow laws of polyphase rocks in terms of the volume fractions and flow laws of their constituent phases. The flow strengths predicted by the proposed model for common crustal and upper mantle rocks such as granite, diorite, diabase and lherzolite, and for synthetic two-phase composites such as forsterite-enstatite and water ice-ammonia dehydrate aggregates are in good agreement with previously determined experimental values. The proposed theoretical model allows one to calculate, to the first approximation, the flow laws of a large number of polyphase rocks at geologic conditions based on the experimentally determined flow laws of a relatively small number of monomineralic aggregates.