Transient and steady-state creep of pure forsterite at low stress

Thirty-one single crystals of synthetic forsterite, Fo₁₀₀, were deformed in 69 compressional creep tests in a 0.1-MPa confining atmosphere of H₂ + Ar. Temperature ranged from 1753 to 2023 K and stress σ (= σ₁ - σ₃) from 1.5 to 37.8 MPa. Steady-state creep under these conditions follows an empirical law of the form: strain rate $\text{?}\text{?}\text{= A}{}_{\mathrm{zigma;}}{}^{\mathrm{n}}\text{exp}\text{(}\text{?Q}\text{RT}\text{)}$ where A, n, and Q are constants. General characteristics of Fo₁₀₀ creep — uniformity of strain, shape change as a function of orientation of σ, relative deformation resistance of different orientations — match those of natural olivine single crystals of composition Fo₉₂. Specific constants in the flow law, however, are distinctly new: for σ oriented along 111]_c (equidistant from the three principal crystallographic axes), values for Fo₁₀₀ are n = 2.9 ± 0.2 and Q = 0.67 ± 0.03 MJ/mol (160 ± 7 kcal/mol). A single law covers the range 3 < σ < 30 MPa and 1753 < T < 1953 K. Steady-state deformation is preceded by a transient period of strain softening. High strain rates at σ ? 10 MPa render the transient barely resolvable; it apparently displaces the steady-state flow law by approximately ?0.5% in strain. At σ ? 7.8 MPa, the amount of strain imparted to a sample of the 101]_c orientation is typically <0.1% after one hour.