Microstructure and cleavage development in selected slates

A detailed microstructural study of three slates by high voltage transmission electron microscopy is reported. The slates are mineralogically similar, come from minor fold cores and exhibit differing degrees of cleavage intensity. All three slates have domains of orientated phyllosilicates (cleavage lamellae) which contain only a low percentage of quartz and carbonate. Between these lamellae are lenticular domains which contain deformed phyllosilicates and which are enriched in secondary minerals. The initiation of cleavage lamellae can be clearly observed in electron micrographs from one of the slates studied. It occurs along zones of intense deformation, viz. along kinks and microfolds, which form from initial crenulations that are difficult to detect in a petrological microscope.The important observed re-orientation mechanisms of the phyllosilicates during cleavage development in the three slates are strain induced crystallization and the growth of metamorphically stable phyllosilicates together with mechanical rotation. Microstructural evidence suggests that the cleavage lamellae once initiated can extend laterally into the lenticular domains as deformation proceeds. Interference between adjacent phyllosilicates during deformation is commonly observed and resultant extension sites are often enriched in secondary minerals. Chlorite rich pods occur in all of the slates studied and have complex microstructures consisting of both deformed and undeformed phyllosilicates. It is concluded that these pods may form after cleavage initiation.