Experimental studies on elastic and rheological properties of amphibolites at high pressure and high temperature

The experimental studies done at high temperature and high pressure find that increased temperature can lead to dramatic velocity and strength reductions of most of rocks at high confining pressure1,2]. What causes this phenomenon? Is it due to dehydrati…

Experimental studies on elastic and rheological properties of amphibolites at high pressure and high temperature

Laboratory measurements of compressional-wave velocities and rheological properties are carried out on natural amphibolites collected from Chencai, Zhejiang Province at high pressures and high temperatures. The experiments of elastic wave velocity find that the compressional-wave velocities travel faster along the lineation(X-direction) within the foliation plane than those normal to the foliation (Z-direction). The velocity anisotropies are high for the amphibolites at 550°C and pressure of 800 MPa or 600 MPa. Furthermore, the values of anisotropy and average velocity are respectively 7.83% and 6.77km/s for the samples with fine grain size, 9.77% and 6.64km/s for the samples with medium grain size. With increasing temperature at high static pressure, the wave velocities spreading along three structure directions in the samples all start to drop from 750°C up. The rheological experiments also find that there is a marked strength reduction from 750°C to 800°C although the flow strength gradually decreases with increasing temperature for the fine-grained amphibolite at a confining pressure of 500 MPa and strain rate of 1 × 10⁻⁴s⁻¹. Based on the results of microcopy observations, electronic probe analyses and infrared spectra analyses for some samples, the reduction of flow strength and wave velocity may be due to partial melting of amphibole above 750°C. In addition, the rock deformations undergo from localized brittle fracture, semi-brittle deformation (cataclastic flow or semi-brittle faulting, semi-brittle flow) to homogeneous crystal-plastic flow from 600°C to 1000°C, confining pressure of 500 MPa and strain rate of 1×10⁻⁴s⁻¹.