Deformation mechanisms in experimentally deformed plagioclase feldspars

Optical and transmission electron microscopy have been used to study the microstructures in a series of plagioclase feldspars which had been experimentally deformed in compression. The observations show that deformation takes place by three mechanisms: (1) brittle fracture, (2) twinning and (3) slip due to the generation and motion of dislocations. Optical “deformation lamellae” are shown to be due to bunches of microfractures and to walls of tangled dislocations. Twins and fractures are often intimately associated and dislocations are often generated at fracture steps or voids. Moving dislocations apparently always generate a strip of fault in the slip plane. This, together with structural considerations as well as the visibility of dislocations (under various diffracting conditions) and the orientation of the applied stress, has made it possible to determine the slip systems which have operated in the deformed specimens.