strain heating as a mechanism for partial melting and ultrahigh temperature metamorphism in convergent orogens implications of temperature dependent thermal diffusivity and rheology 1 we explore the importance of strain heating in ductile shear zones for production of leucogranites and high temperature metamorphism in collisional orogens with temperature dependent thermal diffusivity d and rock rheology new measurements on metamorphic rocks from the bohemian massif show that d is 1 3 mm2 s at 25 c and decreases exponentially to as low as 0 4 mm2 s at 600 c this temperature dependence causes model lithospheric geotherms to be straighter compared to geotherms calculated with a constant d using power law parameters for rheology we show that deformation of quartzite at strain rate of 3 10 13 s 1 produces 100 w m3 at 550 c and 7 w m3 at 800 c deformation of stronger clinopyroxenite at this strain rate produces 8 w m3 even at 1050 c when strain heating is introduced by a 3 km thick ductile shear zone with quartz rheology at the depth of 35 km in a lithosphere that has 70 km thick crust and 60 km thick lithospheric mantle the schist solidus is reached by 8 myr in the vicinity of the shear zone deforming at the strain rate of 3 10 13 s 1 for clinopyroxenite rheology ultrahigh temperature uht metamorphic conditions are reached in 40 myr after initiation of strain heating two dimensional models that replicate the exhumation of the greater himalaya crystalline rocks above the main central thrust produce extensive partial melting and an inverted metamorphic field gradient occurrences of leucogranites within crustal shear zone systems may be evidence of the coupling between deformation and heat production in the crust

strength and anisotropy of foliated rocks with varied mica contents abstract we have shortened 15 schists and gneisses with varying compositions 15 75 mica by volume at angles of 45 and 90 to foliation s to investigate the influence of micas on the strength and anisotropy of foliated rocks at the conditions tested t 25 c p c 200 mpa and e 10 5 s 1 compressive strengths vary by a factor 4 in the 45 and 90 orientations and individual rock types exhibit directional responses ranging from isotropic to strongly anisotropic trends of decreasing strength decreasing anisotropy and increasing ductility are observed with increasing mica content strains in all samples were localized within inclined shear zones accommodated by dislocation slip and grain scale microkinking in micas and microcracking in all other silicates stress strain response and grain scale deformation microstructures both indicate that mechanical behavior is strongly influenced by the concentration and spatial arrangement of micas shear zone formation is associated either with discrete brittle fracture transitional strain softening or steady strength ductile shear in both brittle and transitional samples extensive microcracking of strong quartzo feldspathic bridges occurs and stress drop magnitudes decrease with decreasing spacing and increasing overlap of adjacent critically oriented micas steady strength ductile shear zones develop in samples containing domains of interconnected micas and isotropic mechanical response is observed in those in which micas are contiguous in nearly all directions

granite ascent and emplacement during contractional deformation in convergent orogens based on a case study in the central maine belt of west central maine u s a it is proposed that crustal scale shear zone systems provide an eaective focussing mechanism for transfer of granite melt through the crust in convergent orogens during contractional deformation flow of melt in crustal materials at depths below the brittle plastic transition is coupled with plastic deformation of these materials the flow is driven by pressure gradients generated by buoyancy forces and tectonic stresses within the oblique reverse central maine belt shear zone system stromatic migmatite and concordant to weakly discordant irregular granite sheets occur in zones of higher strain which suggests percolative flow of melt to form the migmatite leuco somes and viscous flow of melt channelized in sheet like bodies possibly along fractures cyclic fluctuations of melt pressure may cause instantaneous changes in the eaective permeability of the flow network if self propa gating melt filled tensile and or dilatant shear fractures are produced due to melt enhanced embrittlement in homogeneous migmatite and schlieric granite occur in zones of lower strain which suggests migration of partially molten material through these zones en masse by granular flow and channelized flow of melt carrying entrained residue founded on the central maine belt case study we develop a model of melt extraction and ascent using the driving forces stress conditions and crustal rheologies in convergent especially transpressive orogens ascent of melt becomes inhibited with decreasing depth as the solidus is approached for intermedi ate a h2o muscovite dehydration melting the water saturated solidus occurs between 400 and 200 mpa near the brittle plastic transition during high t low p metamorphism where the balance of forces favors sub horizontal fracture propagation emplacement of melt may be accommodated by ductile flow and or stoping of wall rock and inflation may be accommodated by lifting of the roof at shallower crustal levels and or sink ing of the pluton floor the resultant plutons have sub horizontal tabular geometries with floors that slope down to the ascent conduits although these plutons may have locally discordant relations with country rock structures when viewed at the crustal scale granite ascent and emplacement in convergent orogens are syn tec tonic processes 1998 elsevier science ltd all rights reserved

thermo rheological shear heating model for leucogranite generation metamorphism and deformation during the proterozoic trans hudson orogeny black hills south dakota abstract this paper evaluates thermotectonic models for metamorphism and leucogranite generation during the proterozoic trans hudson orogeny as recorded in rocks exposed in the black hills sd intrusion of the harney peak granite and associated pegmatites at 1715 ma occurred at the waning stages of regional deformation and staurolite grade regional metamorphism published consortium for continental reflection profiling cocorp results indicate that proterozoic sedimentary rocks were thrust over the archean wyoming province during the trans hudson collision isotopic compositions of the harney peak granite suggest that the exposed proterozoic and archean metasedimentary rocks in the black hills represent source rocks of the granites numerical simulations of the regional metamorphism and harney peak granite generation assuming crustal thickening by thrusting coupled with erosion show the following 1 doubling of the crust with normal distribution of radioactive elements does not yield sufficiently high temperatures to cause anatexis anywhere in the crust or growth of garnet in the now exposed part of the crust 2 a 35 km drop off length for internal heat production can yield sufficient temperature for garnet growth at the current erosion level it is however insufficient to produce staurolite and melting can occur only in the deepest parts of the crust 3 temperatures in crust with stable 70 km thickness for 40 ma and 35 km drop off length for heat production could become sufficient to produce staurolite at the current erosion level and subsequent rapid denudation of the crust could potentially trigger decompression melting of lower crustal rocks although this model could potentially explain the observed temporal relationship between regional metamorphism and leucogranite generation it is inconsistent with melting of upper crustal proterozoic source rocks that is indicated by isotopic compositions of the granites with lack of evidence for rapid denudation of the trans hudson orogen and with confinement of the leucogranites to the deformed proterozoic metapelitic rocks production of the harney peak granite and its relationship to regional metamorphism of the country rocks are best explained by shear heating at the interface between the wyoming province and overthrusted sedimentary rocks we suggest that with reasonable rheologic properties of metapelites and rates of plate convergence shear heating sufficiently perturbs locally the geotherms to cause anatexis in a deep shear zone system and growth of staurolite in the overlying crust modeling rheology of the lithologically stratified thickened crust with granitic basement and metapelitic upper plate shows that the currently exposed part of the crust and the granite source region were ductile through much of the orogeny which explains regional folding of the schists and predicts ductile shear zones in the granite source region because of the lithologic stratification the granitic basement is likely to become significantly weaker during crustal thickening than the upper crust dominated by schists a weak basement under a folded upper crust is likely to contribute to the observed relatively flat topography of high plateaus over thickened orogens

fluid flow and volume loss during mylonitization an origin for phyllonite in an overthrust setting north carolina u s a abstract in the western blue ridge province of the southern appalachians north carolina granite gneisses are converted to phyllitic mylonites phyllonites along the base of the rector branch thrust sheet the mylonites show evidence for fluid infiltration and large volume losses with decreasing distance from the thrust and local shear zones feldspars undergo grain size reduction by cracking followed by chemical breakdown to muscovite sericite and zoisite the following reaction was important during mylonitization 3 k feldspar 2 h muscovite 2 k 6 sio 2 quartz displays evidence for dynamic recrystallization whereas feldspar deforms brittely which together with the secondary mineral assemblages suggest that deformation occurred at temperatures of between 300 c and 500 c in the presence of a fluid the mylonites are enriched by a factor of at least 2 5 in elements such as tio 2 p 2 o 5 zr y v la ce and depleted in sio 2 in comparison to their protolith gneisses the immobile element enrichments are attributed to enrichment in residual phases such as ilmenite zircon apatite and epidote in the mylonites and are interpreted as due to minimum volume losses of 60 mass balance calculations based on major element chemistry indicate the mylonites lost large amounts of sio 2 and smaller amounts of alkalies and were infiltrated by fluid rock weight ratios of between 10 2 and 10 3 phyllonitization as a process involves several deformation mechanisms including cataclasis and solution of feldspar as well as dislocation creep of quartz and micas reaction enhanced softening was apparently important in strain localization

crustal shortening at the sierra pie de palo sierras pampeanas argentina near surface basement folding and thrusting the sierras pampeanas consist of basement uplifts that are mainly controlled by w verging crustal thrusts one of these the sierra pie de palo is controlled by a blind thrust whose kinematics is debated we analysed the reverse faults located along the eastern side of the range and show that these are characterized by small displacements few hundreds of metres of the neogene and quaternary deposits controlled by the inherited basement metamorphic foliation and shear zones at the sierra scale the inherited foliation pattern appears already folded before the cenozoic shortening forming a series of antiforms and synforms with various wavelengths we propose that this structure is amplified during the plio quaternary shortening resulting in a large asymmetrical basement cored anticline where foliation parallel slip can act as folding mechanism the overall kinematics is consistent with an e verging fault propagation fold this proposed kinematics is an alternative to the frequently suggested w verging fault bend fold model finally we propose a new alternative and speculative crustal and lithospheric structure for this region consisting of two e verging basement thrusts coeval to w verging pampean thrusts both rooting below the precordillera above an eclogitized lower crust

frictional viscous flow of phyllosilicate bearing fault rock microphysical model and implications for crustal strength profiles it is widely believed that around the brittle ductile transition crustal faults can be significantly weaker than predicted by conventional two mechanism brittle ductile strength envelopes factors contributing to this weakness include the polyphase nature of natural rocks foliation development and the action of fluid assisted processes such as pressure solution recently ring shear experiments using halite kaolinite mixtures as an analogue for phyllosilicaterich rocks for the first time showed frictional viscous behavior i e both normal stress and strain rate sensitive behavior involving the combined effects of pressure solution and phyllosilicates this behavior was accompanied by the development of a mylonitic microstructure a quantitative assessment of the implications of this for the strength of natural faults has hitherto been hampered by the absence of a microphysical model in this paper a microphysical model for shear deformation of foliated phyllosilicate bearing fault rock by pressure solution accommodated sliding along phyllosilicate foliae is developed the model predicts purely frictional behavior at low and high shear strain rates and frictional viscous behavior at intermediate shear strain rates the mechanical data on wet halite kaolinite gouge compare favorably with the model when applied to crustal materials the model predicts major weakening with respect to conventional brittle ductile strength envelopes in particular around the brittle ductile transition the predicted strength profiles suggest that in numerical models of crustal deformation the strength of high strain regions could be approximated by an apparent friction coefficient of 0 25 0 35 down to depths of 15 20 km

microstructures mineral chemistry and geochronology of white micas along a retrograde evolution an example from the aar massif central alps switzerland abstract this study investigates gneissic tectonites of different mechanical origins and aims at unravelling the link between microstructures white mica chemistry and k ar data the highest temperature mylonitic deformation which is investigated is dominated by dislocation creep in monomineralic quartz and viscous granular flow in polymineralic domains these mylonites show homogenous mineral chemistry resulting in robust and consistent k ar age data the lowest temperature deformation investigated is that of a retrograde brittle deformation producing cohesionless fault gouges within the cohesionless fault gouges frictional granular flow is considered as the main deformation mechanism the k bearing phases inside the fault gouges record no chemical resetting during this brittle overprint but contain mechanically fragmented k bearing micas and significant amounts of newly produced smectite this yields k ar ages inside of a gouge that are in the range of adjacent mylonite ages and may not represent the timing of gouge formation in an effort to understand these uncertainties in k ar ages detailed observations of the microstructural context of k bearing white mica were made microstructural criteria in combination with quantitative element mapping allowed for the discrimination of five important mica related processes 1 fracturing recrystallization of white mica 2 re precipitation of new fine grained white mica inside the deforming rock matrix 3 pseudomorphic replacement of precursor minerals by white mica and chlorite 4 pseudomorphic replacement of pre existing white mica without grain size reduction and 5 remnant grains the combination of these different processes led to a high variability in mineral chemistry and isotope data for tectonites which relates directly to variations in the size of the equilibrium volumes despite the samples being highly deformed in the presence of fluids inherited sheet silicates may survive if inherited sheet silicates are present they contribute to an increase in both the chemical heterogeneity and the apparent k ar ages of a sample

an evaluation of criteria to deduce the sense of movement in sheared rocks some of the most useful criteria for the deduction of the sense of shear are summarized for use in areas where unequivocal field evidence is lacking apparently conflicting evidence from rotated pressure shadow regions around porphyroclasts and porphyroblasts is clarified the use of quartz crystallographic fabric asymmetry to deduce the shear sense in the bulk rock should be treated with caution and used only together with detailed microstructural observations

differential stress strain rate and temperatures of mylonitization in the ruby mountains nevada implications for the rate and duration of uplift kno ledge of the m agnitude of the differential stress during the formation of mylonitic rocks provides constramts on mechanical and thermal models for the exhumation of the metamorphosed footwalls of major low angle detachment faults we have analyzed the differential flow stress during the mylonitization of quartzose rocks in the ruby mountains nevada using grain size piezometers and kinetic laws for grain g owth quartzites from mylonitic shear zones in lamoille canyon and secret creek gorge have grain sizes of 91 151 m and 42 64 m respectively the peak temperature during mylonitization was 630 i 50 c and analysis of grain growth kinetics indicates that mylonitization continued during cooling to temperatures s450 c quartz grain size piezometers suggest that the mylonitization occurred under differential stresses crl cr3 of 38 64 mpa or maximum shear stresses of 19 32 mpa extrapolation of quartzite flow laws indicates that the mylonitization occurred at strain rates between 10 10 and 10 13 1 arguments presented m the paper suggest that the likely range of strain rates is 10 11 to 10 12 1 these strain rates are compatible with displacement rates of the order of 23 mm yr l along a 1 5 km thick simple shear zone such a shear zone dipping 15 would produce an uplift rate of 5 8 km m y 1 and a horizontal extensioo rate of 22 km m y l this uplift rate indicates that midcrustal mylonitic rocks could have been lifted up along a 1 5 km thick simple shear zone dipping 15 in 2 6 m y

el chichon volcanic debris in an arctic tropopause fold a research flight with the noaa wp 3d aircraft revealed evidence for stratospheric tropospheric exchange within the arctic through tropopause folding on the flank of the polar vortex observations showed descent of the tropopause and of stratospheric ozone to 700 mb along the west coast of greenland measurements of condensation nuclei and analysis of high volume impactor samples documented the presence of volcanic debris probably from the 1982 el chichon eruption including h2so4 droplets within the polar vortex and associated tropopause fold

fluid rock reaction weakening of fault zones the presence of weak phyllosilicates may explain the low shear strengths of fault zones if they define well developed fabrics the growth of phyllosilicates is favored in meteoric water dominated granitic fault systems where mineral aqueous fluid equilibria predict that modal phyllosilicate will increase via feldspar replacement reactions in deeper more alkaline rock dominated regimes the reactions reverse and feldspars tend to replace phyllosilicates in mg rich mafic rocks however phyllosilicates chlorite biotite can replace stronger framework and chain silicates in both shallower approximately 10 km meteoric h sub 2 o dominated and in deeper alkaline rock dominated regimes where these phyllosilicates precipitate in active fault zones they contribute directly to reaction softening because low temperature deformation of phyllosilicates is not governed by frictional processes alone but can occur by pressure independent dislocation glide the strength of phyllosilicate rich fault rocks can be low at all depths low strain rate creep during interseismic periods can align phyllosilicate grains in foliated gouge and phyllonites where preferred orientations are strong and contiguity of phyllosilicates is large strengths of rocks within fault zones may approach minimum strengths defined by single phyllosilicate crystals fault zones containing localized high concentrations of phyllosilicates with strong preferred orientations in well defined folia can exhibit aseismic slip especially where mafic mg rich rocksmore occur along the fault like parts of the san andreas fault 104 refs 6 figs 1 tab less

mechanisms of weak phase interconnection and the effects of phase strength contrast on fabric development abstract to determine how deformation mechanisms and fabrics evolve during the strain weakening and localization that accompany the transition from a load bearing framework to an interconnected weak phase shear experiments were conducted on a fine grained gneiss 58 quartz interconnected 28 plagioclase dispersed 13 biotite aligned but dispersed at 745 and 800 c 1500 mpa and two strain rates 2 10 5 and 2 10 6 s 1 in experiments with a high phase strength contrast hpsc 25 and 45 between dispersed biotite and framework quartz grains biotite grains become interconnected due to stress concentration at their tips that allow local semi brittle flow of intervening quartz and cataclasis of intervening plagioclase in the higher temperature hpsc samples the biotite partially dehydrated in high strain zones a single narrow shear zone formed because the psc between the quartz and biotite reaction product layers remained high in the lower temperature hpsc samples there was no reaction and a penetrative s c fabric formed the fabric is defined by the many multiply interconnected biotite strands that formed because the psc between the quartz and biotite decreased as the biotites kinked in slower strain rate experiments with a much lower psc 10 biotite interconnection occurs by shearing into quartz quartz boundaries where new weak strain free recrystallized grains form at low strain a weak s c fabric forms but it evolves to an s c fabric as the psc decreases with strain thus the magnitude of the strength contrast between a weak phase and its matrix influences the mechanism of weak phase interconnection the degree of strain localization and the fabric

basal slip and mechanical anisotropy of biotite the basal slip systems of biotite and their mechanical expressions have been investigated by shortening single crystals oriented to maximize and minimize shear stresses on 001 samples loaded at 45 to 001 exhibit gentle external rotations associated with dislocation glide high angle kink bands in these samples unlike those developed in micas loaded parallel to 001 are limited to sample corners samples shortened perpendicular to 001 show no evidence of nonbasal slip and fail by fracture over all conditions tested the mechanical response of biotite shortened at 45 to 001 is nearly perfectly elastic plastic stress strain curves are characterized by a steep elastic slope a sharply defined yield point and continued deformation at low mostly 1 stresses measured beyond the yield point are insensitive to confining pressure over the range 200 to 500 mpa and exhibit weak dependencies upon strain rate and temperature assuming an exponential relationship between differential stress d and strain rate e of the form e cexp d exp q rt the data collected over strain rates and temperatures of 10 7 to 10 4 s 1 and 20 to 400 c respectively are best fit by an exponential constant of 0 41 0 08 mpa 1 and an activation energy q of 82 13 kj mol a power law fits the data equally well with n 18 4 and q 51 9 kj mol samples oriented favorably for slip in directions 100 and 110 are measurably weaker than those shortened at 45 to 010 and 310 consistent with the reported burgers vectors 100 1 2 110 and 1 2 110 the anisotropy of biotite is further revealed by contrasting these plastic strengths with results of samples deformed parallel and perpendicular to 001 previous studies have shown that biotite loaded in the 001 plane is strong prior to the nucleation of kink bands the strength of biotite shortened perpendicular to 001 exceeds that measured parallel to 001 and is pressure dependent application of the results to deformation within the continental crust suggests that biotite oriented favorably for slip is much weaker than most other silicates over a wide range of geologic conditions its presence within foliated rocks and shear zones may limit locally the stresses that can be supported

friction of foliated fault gouge with a biotite interlayer at hydrothermal conditions abstract to investigate the influence of foliation and structure within fault zones synthetic fault gouges of quartz containing various thin layers of biotite were sheared in a triaxial testing system at hydrothermal conditions to acquire the faulting behaviour along with quartz biotite mixtures tested for comparison first in series 1 experiments gouges were sheared at a temperature of 100 c with effective confining pressure of 200 mpa pore pressure of 30 mpa and loading rate of 1 22 m s the results revealed that strength of quartz biotite mixture weakened linearly with increasing biotite proportion whereas the gouges with a biotite interlayer weakened much more significantly even for biotite content as little as 5 wt series 2 experiments were performed on simulated gouge with 15 wt biotite interlayer at temperatures of 25 600 c effective normal stress of 200 230 mpa and pore pressure of 30 mpa with stepped shear rates of 0 0488 to 1 22 m s at effective normal stress of 200 mpa the simulated foliate gouge showed a transition from velocity strengthening to velocity weakening around 200 c which persisted up to 600 c stick slips above 400 c were associated with minor a b averagely of 0 0006 and submicron dc values at effective normal stress of 230 mpa and temperature of 600 c stick slip motions evolved with slip distance to viscous like behaviour at a displacement of 3 mm microstructural observation on deformed samples revealed that shear deformation mainly occurred within the biotite interlayer in most cases with surrounding quartz gouge only slightly deformed but increasingly compacted as temperature increased viscous like behaviour corresponded to migration of dominant shear deformation to the quartz gouge as indicated by the development of riedel shears therein our results may help constrain fault strength and depth range of seismogenesis within fault zones associated with biotite in form of foliations and or interconnected networks

the transition from single layer to foliation boudinage a dynamic modelling approach abstract foliation boudinage is a deflection of foliation in the vicinity of a central discontinuity in foliated rocks mostly filled with vein material it shows evidence for brittle deformation and void opening during ductile flow we used a two dimensional visco elastic spring model based on a discrete element approach to study the dynamic development of foliation boudinage and the behaviour of anisotropic visco elastic material deformed under pure shear conditions the anisotropies are set by defining rheological heterogeneities in the models with 1 a single layer in a weaker matrix 2 multi layers with different elastic properties and 3 random distributed micas rows of horizontally aligned elements with the same elastic properties the models show the nucleation and propagation of fractures during ductile deformation and flow perturbation and localization in the vicinity of fractures voids localize along extension fractures at intersections of conjugate shear fractures and in small pull apart structures along shear fractures which look identical to boudin necks in isolated stiff layers results show that strain localization is strong in models with lower elastic constants and anisotropy whereas it is distributed in the models with higher elastic constants and anisotropy in which asymmetric and complex geometries develop the models successfully show the development of and transitions between a single layer multi layer and foliation boudinage that are common structures in high strain zones

feldspar influenced rock rheologies progressive fracture subsequent cataclasis and syntectonic alteration of feldspar to phyllosilicates transformed a massive granite into a quartz mica phyllonite during early tertiary deformation in a 20 30 m wide shear zone in southeastern arizona the ductile deformation proceeded at temperatures and pressures approximating middle to upper crustal levels most of the deformation was taken up by the feldspar and its alteration products quartz deformed by both brittle fracture and crystal plastic mechanisms these results show that under certain temperature pressure strain rate conditions feldspars are weaker than quartz the observed deformation mechanisms indicate that the brittle to ductile transition in fault zones is not simply a function of the onset of temperature activated plastic deformation in quartz nor of the frictional behavior of rocks as inferred in the familiar strength vs depth curves it is more likely that the transition is complex and depends on a variety of parameters one such factor delineated in this study is the fracture and fracture facilitated syntectonic alteration of feldspar under hydrated conditions

effect of water on the rheology of experimentally deformed quartzite empirical flow laws have been determined for simpson quartzite samples deformed to mechanical steady state in the quartz stability field using griggs blacic solid medium deformation apparatus experiments were conducted on samples both as received dry and with water added via the dehydration of a talc confining medium wet best fits of the power law type yield a stress exponent of 2 72 0 19 an activation enthalpy of 134 32 kj mol 1 and a preexponential constant of 1 16 1 15 0 58 10 7 mpa 2 72 s 1 for the dry quartzite law and are 2 61 0 15 145 17 kj mol 1 and 5 05 5 00 10 6 mpa 2 61 s 1 for the wet quartzite the enhanced hydrolytic weakening of the wet experiments appears to affect the flow laws mostly in the preexponential constants possibly as a defect concentration term that is higher in the wet than in the dry law over the range of experimental conditions 750 900 c 10 7 to 10 4 s 1 and 1 0 1 25 gpa confining pressure dry specimens are 1 5 2 5 times stronger than wet samples deformed at the same conditions the microstructures produced are analogous to those observed in many natural quartz tectonites recrystallization is well developed in the wet but not the dry specimens at flow stresses below 500 mpa microstructures indicative of recovery are well developed a comparison of our creep activation enthalpies with those determined from diffusion experiments are consistent with deformation of wet simpson quartzite that is limited by oxygen self diffusion inconsistencies between the present study and previous studies are probably the result of differences in sample material sample treatment and sample assemblies chemical environment

continuation of a deep borehole stress measurement profile near the san andreas fault 2 hydraulic fracturing stress measurements at black butte mojave desert california hydraulic fracturing stress measurements were obtained in the black butte drill hole 18 km northeast of the san andreas fault in the mojave desert at depths from 251 to 635 m in all tests the least and greatest horizontal principal stresses s h and s h respectively exceeded the vertical stress s indicating a thrust faulting stress regime a single good quality hydraulic fracture impression from 309 m depth indicates an s h direction of n41 e 10 this s h direction should be interpreted with caution because it is based on only one observation this orientation is fairly compatible with nearby surface stress measurements but is incompatible with most of the hydraulic fracturing stress orientations reported from comparable depths in the mojave desert and is not favorable for right lateral slip on either the san andreas fault or nw striking faults present farther to the east the stress regime measured in the black butte hole is comparable to that measured at nearby shallow depths but differs from the strike slip or transitional strike slip to thrust faulting stress regime present at similar depths in two nearby holes crystallaire 4 km northeast of fhe san andreas fault and hi vista 32 km northeast of the san andreas fault the s h direction measured in these holes is approximately 60 counterclockwise of that observed in the black butte hole the differences in stress magnitudes and orientation among these holes substantiate previous indications of local variations in stress in the upper kilometer of the crust in this area and cast doubt on the validity of linear elastic models in which the effects of the san andreas fault dominate the stress field in the western mojave desert

buildup of a dynamically supported orogenic plateau numerical modeling of the zagros central iran case study the iranian plateau is a vast inland region with a smooth average elevation of c 1 5 km formed at the rear of the zagros orogen as a result of the arabia eurasia collision i e over the last 30 35 myr this collision zone is of particular interest due to its disputed resemblance to the faster himalayan collision which gave birth to the tibetan plateau around 50 myr ago recent studies have suggested that a recent 10 5 ma slab break off event below central iran caused the formation of the iranian plateau here we test several hypotheses through large scale 3082 3 590 km numerical models of continental subduction mod els that incorporate a free upper surface erosion rheological stratification brittle elastic ductile rheologies and metamorphic phase changes density and physical properties and account for the specific crustal and thermal structure of the arabian and iranian continental lithospheres we test the impact of the transition from oceanic to continental subduction and the topographic consequences of the progressive slowdown of the convergence rate during continental subduction our results demonstrate the role of mantle flow beneath the overriding plate initiated as an indirect consequence of slab break off this flow creates a dynamic topography support during continental subduction and results in delamination of the overriding plate lithospheric mantle followed by isostatic readjustment hence of further uplift and maintenance of a plateau like topography without significant crustal thickening the slowdown of the convergence rate dur ing the development of the continental subduction collision phase largely contributes to this process by controlling the timing and depth of slab break off

deformation mechanisms in granitic rocks at shallow crustal levels abstract microstructural observations of naturally faulted granitic gneisses show that feldspar grains are weaker than quartz grains at temperatures below 325 c and at depths of less than 8 10 km feldspar grains sustained most of the deformation by grain scale faulting slip along cleavage controlled fractures and cataclasis fracture of feldspar grains within fault zones promoted their alteration to kaolinite quartz grains also deformed by fracturing and often healed to form quartz porphyroclasts and mosaics in a comminuted matrix of feldspar and kaolinite syntectonic alteration of the feldspar grains may have weakened the fault zones over time and resulted in foliated textures within the fault zones this study of naturally deformed rocks confirms published experimental results on the behavior of granitic rocks at low temperatures and pressures and taken together these data show that the theology of the upper 10 km of the crust is greatly influenced by cataclastic processes in feldspar

problems in the extrapolation of laboratory rheological data abstract the many types of variables and deformation regimes that need to be taken into account in extrapolating rheological behaviour from the laboratory to the earth are reviewed the problems of extrapolation are then illustrated with two particular cases in the case of divine rich rocks recent experimental work indicates that within present uncertainties of extrapolation the flow in the upper mantle could be either grain size dependent and near newtonian or grain size independent and distinctly non newtonian both types of behaviour would be influenced by the present of trace amounts of water in the case of quartz rich rocks the uncertainties are even greater and it is still premature to attempt any extrapolation to geological conditions except as an upper bound the fugacity and the scale of dispersion of the water are probably two important variables but the quantitative laws governing their influence are not yet clear

experimental syntectonic hydration of basalt abstract this paper outlines in general terms the role of metamorphic transformations during rock deformation long duration triaxial stress relaxation tests at 600 c 160 mpa confining pressure on wet crushed basalt sheared in sawcuts made in intact basalt cylinders are reported mechanical data are interpreted in terms of a material which shows a small strain rate sensitivity to large variations in applied stress but which work hardens dramatically as a result of marked microstructural changes which occur during straining permanent distortions of c 20 were produced in the samples tests at 100 mpa pore water pressure resulted in the formation of oriented overgrowths of amphibole preferentially developed on less stressed interfaces between original grains and in pore spaces substantial redistribution of feldspar also occurred at low pore pressures no amphibole formed and only feldspar was recrystallized much of the original porosity of the rock was eliminated in all cases the mechanical and microstructural data are interpreted in terms of flow by some combination of grain sliding and diffusional accommodation with the reprecipitated diffused material being the product of a chemical reaction involving all original solid phases plus water from a consideration of the effects of the reaction on the chemical potential gradients driving diffusion it is concluded that although the syntectonic hydration exerts a profound effect on the microstructural and mineralogical development of the rock during deformation there is no substantial enhancement of the rate of strain similar microstructural developments also occur in natural rocks deformed during retrogressive metamorphic events and examples are described for comparison

40ar loss in experimentally deformed muscovite and biotite with implications for 40ar 39ar geochronology of naturally deformed rocks abstract the effects of deformation on radiogenic argon 40ar retentivity in mica are described from high pressure experiments performed on rock samples of peraluminous granite containing euhedral muscovite and biotite cylindrical cores 15 mm in length and 6 25 mm in diameter were drilled from granite collected from the south armorican massif in northwestern france loaded into gold capsules and weld sealed in the presence of excess water the samples were deformed at a pressure of 10 kb and a temperature of 600 c over a period 29 of hours within a solid medium assembly in a griggs type triaxial hydraulic deformation apparatus overall shortening in the experiments was approximately 10 transmitted light and secondary and backscattered electron imaging of the deformed granite samples reveals evidence of induced defects and for significant physical grain size reduction by kinking cracking and grain segmentation of the micas infrared ir laser co2 heating of individual 1 5 2 5 mm diameter grains of muscovite and biotite separated from the undeformed granite yield well defined 40ar 39ar plateau ages of 311 2 ma 2 identical experiments on single grains separated from the experimentally deformed granite yield results indicating 40ar loss of 0 35 in muscovite and 2 3 40ar loss in biotite intragrain in situ ultraviolet uv laser ablation 40ar 39ar ages 4 10 1 of deformed muscovites range from 309 13 to 264 7 ma consistent with 0 16 40ar loss relative to the undeformed muscovite the in situ uv laser ablation 40ar 39ar ages of deformed biotite vary from 301 to 217 ma consistent with up to 32 40ar loss no spatial correlation is observed between in situ 40ar 39ar age and position within individual grains using available argon diffusion data for muscovite the observed 40ar loss in the experimentally treated muscovite can be utilized to predict average 40ar diffusion dimensions maximum 40ar 39ar ages obtained by uv laser ablation overlap those of the undeformed muscovite indicating argon loss of

deformation and recrystallization of plagioclase along a temperature gradient an example from the bergell tonalite abstract syn to post mylonitic tilting of the bergell tonalite allows investigation of the deformation and recrystallization of plagioclase grains along a temperature gradient from the lower to the upper amphibolite facies at the lowest temperatures recrystallization occurs by nucleation and growth of new grains having a different composition from the old grains in contrast at the highest temperatures recrystallization occurs by subgrain rotation associated with grain boundary migration the temperature increase is inferred to induce this transition in two ways first at higher temperatures the anorthite content of the new grains is higher and thus the comositional difference between old and new grains is lower hence the chemical driving potential is small compared with recrystallization at lower temperatures second higher temperatures facilitate climb of dislocations and thus subgrain formation as well as grain boundary mobility the temperature increase is also associated with a transition in the dominant deformation mechanism intracrystalline plasticity dominates deformation at lower temperatures whereas at higher temperatures deformation occurs primarily by diffusion accommodated grain boundary sliding as indicated by the weakening of the indicatrix preferred orientation and the formation of a mixed plagioclase biotite matrix with increasing deformation therefore the strength of the mid to lower crust may be overestimated by dislocation creep flow laws for plagioclase lower crust rheology for polyphase rocks is better approximated by constitutive relationships involving diffusion accommodated grain boundary sliding

kinks in mica role of dislocations and 001 cleavage abstract kinking in natural and experimentally deformed biotite and muscovite has been investigated by transmission electron microscopy tem it is found that complex microstructures exist in the vicinity of kink band boundaries kbbs gentle bending of 001 planes plays an important role in the kinking process where 001 planes are bent several degrees edge dislocations are observed in complex walls between active slip planes together with broad bands of dislocations parallel to 001 microfracturing and dilation occur parallel to 001 planes and the kbb a model is presented to explain the origin of observed kbbs which may be applicable to other crystalline materials with only one active slip plane

the deep structure and reactivation of the kyrgyz tien shan modelling the past to better constrain the present abstract in the tien shan belt cenozoic to active deformation is guided by structures and rheological contrasts partly inherited from the paleozoic variscan orogeny and reactivated by the india asia collision cenozoic deformation net estimates are constrained by lithospheric scale geological cross sections which rely on reconstructions of the paleozoic central asian orogenic belt caob however several geodynamic scenarii have been proposed for its formation including a south or a north dipping subduction which are still debated due to lack of constraints here we designed numerical experiments to test different hypotheses about the initial geometry and the effective rheology of the paleo sutures and especially the one located between the tien shan and the tarim basin where most cenozoic deformation localizes the different geometries of paleozoic structures are used as input variables in the thermo mechanical models which are then run forward in time after a finite amount of shortening the structures that develop self consistently out of the proposed heterogeneities are then compared to the current cenozoic finite and active deformations we find that a crustal south dipping suture zone lying on a resistant lithospheric mantle best explains the localization of the deformation the current geometry of the structures and the moho depth variations using the model results we propose a mechanically consistent depth interpolated crustal cross section of the kyrgyz tien shan which incorporates both geological and geophysical data

deformation mechanisms of antigorite serpentinite at subduction zone conditions determined from experimentally and naturally deformed rocks abstract we performed deformation dia experiments on antigorite serpentinite at pressures of 1 3 5 gpa and temperatures of between 400 and 650 c bracketing the stability of antigorite under subduction zone conditions for each set of pressure temperature p t conditions we conducted two runs at strain rates of 5 10 5 and 1 10 4 s 1 we complemented our study with a sample deformed in a griggs type apparatus at 1 gpa and 400 c chernak and hirth 2010 and with natural samples from cuba and the alps deformed under blueschist eclogitic conditions optical and transmission electron microscopies were used for microstructural characterization and determination of deformation mechanisms our observations on experimentally deformed antigorite prior to breakdown show that deformation is dominated by cataclastic flow with observable but minor contribution of plastic deformation microkinking and 001 gliding mainly expressed by stacking disorder mainly in contrast in naturally deformed samples plastic deformation structures are dominant stacking disorder kinking pressure solution with minor but also perceptible contribution of brittle deformation when dehydration occurs in experiments plasticity increases and is coupled to local embrittlement that we attribute to antigorite dehydration in dehydrating samples collected in the alps embrittlement is also observed suggesting that dehydration may contribute to intermediate depth seismicity our results thus show that semibrittle deformation operates within and above the stability field of antigorite however the plastic deformation recorded by naturally deformed samples was likely acquired at low strain rates we also document that the corrugated structure of antigorite controls the strain accommodation mechanisms under subduction conditions with preferred inter and intra grain cracking along 001 and gliding along both a and b we also show that antigorite rheology in subduction zones is partly controlled by the presence of fluids which can percolate within the exhumation channel via deformation induced interconnected porosity

hydrologic and geochemical properties of the san andreas fault at the stone canyon well the stone canyon well penetrates 600 m of highly fractured and severely altered quartz diorite intimately associated with the creeping segment of the san andreas fault of central california geophysical logs reveal a complex hydrology dominated by major fractures fluid pressure in some fractures is sufficient to prevent invasion of the formation by heavy drilling mud implying pore pressures at least 10 higher than hydrostatic ones at least three chemically distinct waters are encountered including a chloride brine clearly segregated from the shallow potable groundwater chemical alteration of the quartz diorite persists throughout the well far below the depth where the water rock reactions responsible for the ubiquitous chlorite and mixed layer clays can be considered weathering whole rock 18o analyses indicate significant interaction of the rocks with a low 18o fluid within some of the fractured and altered zones whereas a deeper sample shows18o enrichment high pore pressures encountered in stone canyon may be due to tectonic compression measurements of temporal variations in the pore pressure at the well may provide a means of predicting earthquakes along this segment of the san andreas fault

strength anisotropy of shales deformed under uppermost crustal conditions conventional triaxial tests were performed on three sets of samples of tournemire shale along different orientations relative to bedding 0 45 90 experiments were carried out up to failure at increasing confining pressures ranging from 2 5 to 160 mpa at strain rates ranging between 3 10 7s 1 and 3 10 5s 1 this allowed us to determine the entire anisotropic elastic compliance matrix as a function of confining pressure results show that the orientation of principal stress relative to bedding plays an important role on the brittle strength with 45 orientation being the weakest we fit our results with a wing crack micromechanical model ashby and sammis 1990 and an anisotropic fracture toughness we found low values of internal friction coefficient and apparent friction coefficient in agreement with friction coefficient of clay minerals between 0 2 and 0 3 and values of kic comparable to that already published in the litterature we also showed that strain rate has a strong impact on peak stress and that dilatancy appears right before failure and hence highlighting the importance of plasticity mechanisms although brittle failure was systematically observed stress drops and associated slips were slow and deformation always remained aseismic no acoustic emission were detected this confirms that shales are good lithological candidates for shallow crust aseismic creep and slow slip events

frictional behavior of simulated biotite fault gouge under hydrothermal conditions abstract we investigated frictional properties of biotite under hydrothermal conditions by shearing simulated biotite gouge sandwiched between saw cut driving blocks using a testing system with argon as confining medium experiments were conducted under an effective normal stress of 200 mpa with pore pressure of 30 mpa temperatures were varied from room temperature to 600 c with shear displacement rate stepped at standard velocities 1 22 0 122 m s and slow velocities 0 244 0 0488 m s to acquire rate dependence of friction our results show that the friction coefficient of biotite ranges from 0 25 to 0 44 significantly lower than that of muscovite documented in previous studies the steady state rate dependence shows velocity strengthening at temperatures of 25 c to 200 c and transitions to velocity weakening at temperatures above 300 c the velocity weakening is quite minor with a b ranging from 4 10 4 to 9 10 4 and stick slip motions at temperatures from 400 c to 600 c are found to be related to submicron dc values corresponding to critical stiffness higher than the actual stiffness surrounding the fault thus leading to unstable slips microstructures of deformed samples show three types corresponding respectively to three different temperature ranges while brittle structures are dominantly associated with deformation at 100 c significant plastic deformation occurred at higher temperatures deformation at temperatures of 200 c to 400 c are characterized with shear fracture zones accompanied with plastic deformation mostly associated with basal glide intensively deformed zones are the characteristic structures for samples deformed at 500 c to 600 c accompanied with shear fracture zones and moderately deformed zones it is evident that biotite alone is not weak enough to explain a weak fault like the san andreas fault thus overpressured pore fluid or another weaker mineral is needed to produce a weak fault with apparent friction coefficient of 0 1 0 2 the around neutral velocity weakening found for biotite may be appropriate in modeling fault creep transients in the mid crust

the effects of lateral density gradients slopes and buoyancy on channel flow 1d analytical solutions and applications to the se canadian cordillera abstract we present 1d analytical solutions for channel flow in orogens driven by various types of pressure gradients our calculations demonstrate that lateral density gradients in the upper crust such as would occur across a suture zone separating arc rocks from pericratonic sediments provide a driving force for poiseuille flow as large as topographic gradients observed in modern mountain belts for cases for which the gradients are external topographic and lateral density gradients and internal e g partial melting of channel material to the channel inclination decreases and increases the poiseuille component of the average flow velocity within the channel by the cosine and sine of the slope respectively the magnitude of the pressure gradient consequent upon the buoyancy generated by partial melting of metapelites in a channel with a 30 slope such as would occur above an underthrusting basement ramp is similar to that of topographic or lateral density gradients channel flow up a ramp could thus constitute an important exhumation mechanism in large hot orogens our calculations indicate that mid crustal channel flow was a highly likely process in the late cretaceous paleocene setting of the southeastern canadian cordillera the flow was first driven by the lateral density contrast between pericratonic sediments and the arc related intermontane terrane then by combined effect of topographic gradient and melt induced buoyancy of the lower selkirk allochthon part of the shuswap complex flow up the underthrusting basement ramp resulted in exhumation from mid to upper crustal levels channel flow then migrated downward to involve basement and overlying cover sequence rocks our results indicate that syn convergent channel flow was a viable and very likely process in the southeastern canadian cordillera

reaction weakening and emplacement of crystalline thrusts diffusion control on reaction rate and strain rate abstract in the southern appalachians the blue ridge piedmont crystalline thrust sheet was emplaced onto low grade late precambrian and paleozoic sedimentary rocks in the footwall along a basal detachment consisting of phyllosilicate rich mylonites phyllonites the phyllonites developed first by mechanical breakdown of feldspar followed by chemical breakdown to white mica in the presence of a pore fluid diffusion of solute in the pore fluid is the rate limiting step in controlling reaction rate and also the strain rate assuming solute diffusion follows the stokes einstein equation the shear strain rate is given by t 2 n k t 5 r x 2 for shear stress 20 mpa where n is a constant is a geometric factor k is boltzmann s constant t is absolute temperature is water viscosity r is the atomic radius of the diffusing species and x is the diffusion distance a bulk diffusion coefficient in the range of 10 10 to 10 12 m 2 s over distances of 10 100 m results in strain rates of 10 14 to 10 13 s 1 in the temperature range 200 400 c it is concluded that greenschist grade crystalline thrust sheets develop on pre existing basement faults that become weak during reaction softening and localize into high strain phyllonite zones in which pore fluid diffusion controls reaction rate and strain rate

flow laws of multiphase rocks calculated from experimental data on the constituent phases abstract an attempt 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 granite diorite diabase and lherzolite are in good agreement with previously determined experimental values the study allows one to calculate to the first approximation the flow laws of a large number of rocks at geologic conditions based on the experimentally determined flow laws of a relatively small number of monomineralic aggregates

rheological properties of dome lavas case study of unzen volcano abstract transitions between effusive and explosive styles of lava dome eruptions are likely accompanied by changes in lava rheology the common presence of crystals in dome lavas produces a complex non newtonian rheology thus models of such complex rheology are essential for volcanic eruption models here we have measured the rheology of natural unzen lavas with a compressive uniaxial press operating at stresses between 1 and 70 mpa and temperatures between 940 and 1010 c crystal rich unzen lavas are characterised by two essential rheological features which produce non newtonian effects the first is an instantaneous response of the apparent viscosity to applied stress which requires that the magma be described as a visco elastic fluid that exhibits shear thinning the second effect takes the form of a time dependence of the viscosity at moderate to high stress 10 mpa in this regime the apparent viscosity slowly decreases as increasing fracturing of the phenocrysts and the groundmass occurs fragmentation of crystals and alignment of crystal fragments are observed to produce flow banding effects which in turn lower the apparent viscosity of natural dome lavas ultimately deformation may lead to complete rupture of the lava if the stress is sufficient cracking thus stands as an important process in natural dome lava rheology the ubiquitous non newtonian rheology of dome lavas observed experimentally here needs to be adequately treated in order to generate appropriate eruption models

deformation of granitic rocks across the brittle ductile transition abstract a microstructural analysis has been carried out on mylonites and mylonitic gneisses of the eastern peninsular ranges mylonite zone which were formed over a range of metamorphic conditions from lower greenschist to amphibolite facies composite planar fabrics in the form of c and s planes are found at all metamorphic grades fractured feldspars kinked biotites and ductile deformation of quartz characterize the lower greenschist facies mylonites at mid upper greenschist grade orthoclase grains show dynamic recrystallization textures whereas plagioclase exhibits low temperature plasticity with only minor recovery biotite ribbons form by progressive rotation and coalescence of kink band segments to produce chevron fold patterns at epidote amphibolite grade and above recovery processes and annealing recrystallization predominate in all minerals residual orthoclase porphyroclasts show strain related myrmekite formation along those sides of the grains that face the instantaneous shortening direction myrmekite formation due to replacement reactions cannot explain this geometry it is proposed that the myrmekites formed due to a combination of exsolution replacement and strain enhanced diffusion

experimental investigation into the microstructural and mechanical evolution of phyllosilicate bearing fault rock under conditions favouring pressure solution abstract mature crustal fault zones are known to be zones of persistent weakness this weakness is believed to result from microstructural modifications during deformation such as grain size reduction and foliation development around the brittle ductile transition phyllosilicates are expected to have a significant effect on fault strength in particular under conditions favouring pressure solution to study such effects we performed rotary shear experiments on brine saturated halite kaolinite mixtures aimed at investigating the relation between microstructural and mechanical evolution in a system where pressure solution and cataclasis dominate the results show significant strain weakening and a transition with progressive strain towards more rate sensitive and less normal stress sensitive behaviour this was accompanied by a microstructural evolution from a purely cataclastic microstructure to a mylonitic microstructure consisting of elongate asymmetric clasts in a fine grained foliated matrix the results demonstrate that strain weakening and the development of a typical mylonitic microstructure can occur as a consequence of grain size reduction by cataclasis and a transition to pressure solution accommodated deformation even in the absence of dislocation creep the data raise questions regarding the reliability of microstructures as rheology indicators as well as on the use of low strain monomineralic flow laws for modelling crustal dynamics

sage satellite observations of stratospheric aerosols from mount st helens eruption a two wavelength analysis the angstrom coefficient profiles deduced from 93 sage satellite observations in july 1980 between 50 n and 70 n have been used to study the variation of the aerosol size distribution in the mount st helens aerosol layer in most cases a layer of large particles corresponding to the maximum extinction at 18 20 km is topped by a layer of small particles the study of profiles averaged over 10 latitude bands for may to november 1980 have confirmed the extent of this situation which contrasts with a rather constant size distribution within the unperturbed stratosphere in 1979 assuming an equivalent log normal size distribution with an effective variance of 0 250 the logarithmic mode radius is found around 0 20 m for the large particle layer and around 0 06 m for the top layer the inferred mass density profile is strongly influenced by this structure

application of pinch and swell structure rheology gauge to determine rock paleo rheological parameters in taili western liaoning ne china abstract new results in combination with previously published ones reveal that when the stress exponent of the competent layer sec ranges from 1 to 10 1

continental fault structure and the shallow earthquake source plate boundaries in continental crust are generally less sharply defined than in the oceans with seismicity spread over broad areas interplate displacements appear to be largely accommodated by networks of major fault zones a simple 2 level model for these important structures accounts for the depth distribution of most continental earthquakes and for the observed range of faulting styles and associated rock deformation textures the model consists of a seismogenic frictional slip regime overlying quasi plastic mylonite belts wherein shearing is largely accommodated aseismically due mainly to the changing response of quartz to deformation with increasing temperature shear resistance increases with depth to a peak value in the vicinity of the frictiona1 quasi plastic transition and then decreases rapidly the depth to which microseismic activity extends appears inversely related to regional heat flow and can be satisfactorily modelled as the frictional quasi plastic transition for different geotherms using laboratory determined flow laws for quartz bearing rocks larger earthquake ruptures m 5 5 tend to nucleate near the base of the seismogenic regime in the region inferred to have the highest shear resistance and concentration of distortional strain energy consideration is also given to the depression of isotherms and seismic activity in regions of thrusting and to the question of the downward continuation of major fault zones through the lithosphere decoupling of the upper crust on flat lying shear zones may accompany higher level dip slip and perhaps in some circumstances strike slip faulting being favoured by above average continental heat flow and a high quartz content in the middle or deep crust the average level of deviatoric stress within the seismogenic regime remains an outstanding problem

s c mylonites two types of foliations are commonly developed in mylonites and mylonitic rocks a s surfaces related to the accumulation of finite strain and b c surfaces related to displacement discontinuities or zones of relatively high shear strain there are two types of s c mylonites type i s c mylonites described by berthe et al typically occur in deformed granitoids they involve narrow zones of intense shear strain which cut across mylonitic foliation type ii s c mylonites described here have widespread occurrence in quartz mica rocks involved in zones of intense non coaxial laminar flow the c surfaces are defined by trails of mica fish formed as the result of microscopic displacement discontinuities or zones of very high shear strain the s surfaces are defined by oblique foliations in the adjacent quartz aggregates formed as the result of dynamic recrystallization which periodically resets the finite strain clock these oblique foliations are characterized by grain elongations alignments of segments of the grain boundary enveloping surfaces and by trails of grains with similar c axis orientations examples of this aspect of foliation development in mylonitic rocks are so widespread that we suggest the creation of a broad class of s c tectonites and a deviation from the general tradition of purely geometric analysis of foliation and time relationships kinematic indicators such as those discussed here allow the recognition of kilometre scale zones of intense non coaxial laminar flow in crustal rocks and unambiguous determination of the sense of shear

the nature and importance of phyllonite development in crustal scale fault cores an example from the median tectonic line japan abstract like many large crustal scale faults the median tectonic line mtl in sw japan has a long history of movement having been active predominantly as a strike slip fault since the mid cretaceous fault rock exposures in the core of the mtl preserve a history of deformation at a range of mid to shallow crustal depths ryoke mylonites 1 4 km north of the main contact record deeper level cretaceous top to the south sinistral movements the remainder of the fault zone core is surprisingly narrow exhibiting a wide variety of fault rocks that illustrate both the interaction and effects of syn tectonic fluid influx over a range of deformation conditions exposures within 50 m of the central slip zone display a progressive sequence in fault rock evolution from ultramylonite cataclasite foliated cataclasite phyllonite breccia gouge this sequence occurs because cataclasis in the vicinity of the fault core creates permeable pathways for the ingress of chemically active fluids into the fault zone this leads to the replacement of load bearing phases such as feldspar by fine grained foliated aggregates of intrinsically weaker phyllosilicates such as white mica and chlorite the grain size reduction associated with both cataclasis and mineral alteration creates conditions ideal for the operation of fluid assisted stress induced diffusive mass transfer mechanisms comparison with the findings of recent experimental studies suggest that the fault zone processes observed in the core of the mtl will lead to long term weakening provided the network of phyllosilicate rich fault rocks are able to form an interconnected thin layer of weak material on kilometre to tens of kilometre length scales

experimental deformation of muscovite abstract the strength and mechanical anisotropy of muscovite have been investigated by shortening single crystals at 45 0 and 90 to the basal plane 001 at temperatures t from 20 to 400 c confining pressures pc from 10 to 400 mpa and strain rates e from 2 5 10 7 to 2 3 10 4 s 1 samples deformed as 45 to 001 exhibit smooth undulatory extinction in thin section associated with dislocation glide with few well developed low angle kink boundaries basal shear strengths depend on confining pressure at pc e a exp a exp q rt results from temperature and strain rate stepping experiments performed at pc 200 mpa yield an activation energy q of 47 19 kj mol 1 and an exponential constant a of 0 5 0 2 mpa 1 samples loaded parallel to the basal plane shorten by the development of sharply defined kink bands strengths associated with kink band formation are higher than those associated with glide in samples compressed at 45 to 001 and exhibit significant pressure dependence 0 8 up to confining pressures of 200 mpa kink bands are generated at the ends of samples where contact is made with the pistons samples loaded at 90 to 001 are much stronger than samples of all other orientations and deformation is accomplished by fracture fracture strengths exhibit a strong dependence on confining pressure 0 9 similar in magnitude to other silicates that are brittle at the same conditions by comparison with biotite muscovite is weaker in shear on 001 at the experimental conditions tested with an activation energy for glide q that is significantly smaller than that for glide in biotite

rheology of the lithosphere selected topics we review recent results concerning the rheology of the lithosphere with special attention to the following topics 1 the flexure of the oceanic lithosphere 2 deformation of the continental lithosphere resulting from vertical surface loads and forces applied at plate margins 3 the rheological stratification of the continents 4 strain localization and shear zone development and 5 strain induced crystallographic preferred orientations and anisotropies in body wave velocities we conclude with a section citing the 1983 1986 rock mechanics literature by category

transient creep of a composite lower crust 2 a polymineralic basis for rapidly evolving postseismic deformation modes postseismic horizontal strain and displacement following the june 28 1992 landers california earthquake mw 7 3 is broad scale and cannot be explained solely by delayed afterslip located at the rupturing fault trace both the observed strain at pinon flat observatory pfo and observed global positioning system receiver velocities evolve rapidly after the landers big bear earthquake sequence the observed exponential decay of these motions with timescales of 4 34 days may reflect a soft creep rheology in the lower crust and brittle ductile transition zone or even within the seismogenic crust itself here a simple model of a two dimensional screw dislocation in a layered maxwell viscoelastic earth is employed in conjunction with a composite rheology to demonstrate that the short timescale transient response modes 4 34 days are consistent with the behavior of a biviscous lower crust the lowest viscosity of this system is derivable from laboratory experimental data on the long term creep of natural quarztites and the highest viscosity is consistent with isostasy related lower crustal flow in a continental extensional tectonic environment the model predicts significant stress relaxation at the base of the seismogenic crust near the base of the seismogenic zone and about 4 km away from the mainshock the rate of predicted relaxation is of the order of 0 01 mpa d 1 during the first 20 days of postseismic flow oblate spheroidal inclusions at 5 concentration levels that are both aligned and fairly flat in shape and that have a viscosity of 3 4 1015 pa s are consistent with both the amplitude and decay time of horizontal crustal strain observed at pfo after the landers mainshock it is speculated that the structures exposed in cross sections and in seismic reflection profiles of the lower crust that have mylonitic associations are in part the cause of such rapid postseismic evolution in southeastern california unmylonitized quartz rich rock at sufficiently elevated temperatures could also contribute to the rapid decay modes

deformation of biotite and muscovite tem microstructure and deformation model abstract growth and deformation defects have been observed in 1m and 2m 1 biotites and 2m 1 muscovites using transmission electron microscope tem techniques these have been related to optical observations in deformed biotite the dislocation density increases as the strain increases the density of stacking faults also increases with strain the spatial ordering of stacking faults decreases as the strain increases in muscovites selected from the same areas as the biotites stacking fault and dislocation densities show little or no variation with deformation the different responses of biotite and muscovite to deformation are explained in part by the physical and chemical differences between 1m biotite and 2m 1 muscovite there is strong evidence in both the biotites and muscovites that stacking faults may be result of deformation as well as a crystal growth process the grain size of the deformed mica aggregates is reduced by the nucleation of new micas there is also evidence for a grain size reduction mechanism segmentation in biotites this mechanism appears to achieve the same result as recovery recrystallization mechanisms but not by the same method segmentation may be a mechanism which is favoured in strongly anisotropic minerals with a limited number of slip systems a model is proposed that attempts to correlate response of the biotite to deformation the deformation is synchronous with and post dates the nucleation of the new metamorphic micas

time dependent changes in failure stress following thrust earthquakes two dimensional 2 d viscoelastic finite element models were used to calculate the time dependent changes in coulomb failure stresses following thrust earthquakes due to respective effects of relaxation of viscous lower crust or upper mantle and postseismic creep on the main fault or its downdip extension results suggest that thrust earthquakes cause a coseismic increase in coulomb stress along antithetic lobes normal to the slip plane following a quake creep processes that reduce stresses in a ductile lower crust or upper mantle are calculated to cause a transfer of stress to the upper crust under certain conditions transfer of stress may lead to a further buildup of high coulomb stress along the base of the upper crust potentially shortening the time to failure of other faults in the region the conditions under which an antithetic lobe of high coulomb stress are favored to expand at the base of the upper crust postseismically within a few decades include the following the lower crust or upper mantle has an effective viscosity not greater than 1019 pa s the thrust fault has a moderate dip angle 40 50 the brittle ductile transition is deep enough to provide a corridor at the base of the upper crust for expansion and the crust has a low apparent coefficient of friction 0 2 postseismic increases in coulomb stress within the upper crust may also be caused by aseismic creep on the fault stress changes due to this mechanism are maximized with a high apparent coefficient of friction analysis of experimentally determined non newtonian flow laws suggests that wet granitic quartz and feldspar aggregates may have a viscosity of the order of 1019 pa s the calculated rate of stress transfer from a viscous lower crust or upper mantle to the upper crust becomes faster with increasing values of the power law exponent and the presence of a regional compressive strain rate results of this 2 d analysis suggest a potentially important role of viscous flow in controlling time dependent postseismic stress changes that warrant further investigation using 3 d viscoelastic analysis

lithosphere rheology a note of caution abstract it has become common practice to use laboratory determined low temperature frictional sliding data together with power law equations for steady state creep of rocks at high temperatures to construct inferred profiles of rock strength and mode of failure with depth in the lithosphere in some cases this may involve unwarranted extrapolation of rock mechanics behaviour beyond the region of its validity the form of transition from frictional behaviour to intracrystalline plastic flow in the earth is much more complex than is suggested by the above model within the regime of plastic flow substantial changes in flow strength and mode of failure whether flow becomes localized into shear zones may accompany microstructural changes developed over large strains when deformation is accompanied by metamorphic changes existing flow laws for rocks are likely to be wholly inapplicable until a clearer understanding has emerged of the full range of expression of the rheological behaviour of rocks existing models of lithosphere rheology should be treated with caution

when do folds unfold during progressive shear folded layers in rocks can be stretched again potentially unfolding the folds back to straight layers little is known however about how to recognize partly or even entirely unfolded layers when folded layers can unfold what determines their mechanical behavior and how can we recognize them in the field in order to address these questions we present a series of numerical simulations of the stretching of previously folded single layers and multilayers in simple shear layers do not completely unfold when they undergo softening before or during the stretching process or when adjacent competent layers prevent them from unfolding intrafolial folds and cusp like folds adjacent to straight layers as well as variations in fold amplitudes and limb lengths of irregular folds are indicative of stretching of a fold train

rock mechanics observations pertinent to the rheology of the continental lithosphere and the localization of strain along shear zones emphasized in this paper are the deformation processes and rheologies of rocks at high temperatures and high effective pressures conditions that are presumably appropriate to the lower crust and upper mantle in continental collision zones much recent progress has been made in understanding the flexure of the oceanic lithosphere using rock mechanics based yield criteria for the inelastic deformations at the top and base at mid plate depths stresses are likely to be supported elastically because bending strains and elastic stresses are low the collisional tectonic regime however is far more complex because very large permanent strains are sustained at mid plate depths and this requires us to include the broad transition between brittle and ductile flow moreover important changes in the ductile flow mechanisms occur at the intermediate temperatures found at mid plate depths two specific contributions of laboratory rock rheology research are considered in this paper first the high temperature steady state flow mechanisms and rheology of mafic and ultramafic rocks are reviewed with special emphasis on olivine and crystalline rocks rock strength decreases very markedly with increases in temperature and it is the onset of flow by high temperature ductile mechanisms that defines the base of the lithosphere the thickness of the continental lithosphere can therefore be defined by the depth to a particular isotherm tc above which at geologic strain rates the high temperature ductile strength falls below some arbitrary strength isobar e g 100 mpa for olivine tc is about 700 800 c but for other crustal silicates tc may be as low as 400 600 c suggesting that substantial decoupling may take place within thick continental crust and that strength may increase with depth at the moho as suggested by a number of workers on independent grounds put another way the moho is a rheological discontinuity a second class of laboratory observations pertains to the general phenomenon of ductile faulting in which ductile strains are localized into shear zones ductile faults have been produced in experiments of five different rock types and is generally expressed as strain softening in constant strain rate tests or as an accelerating creep rate stage at constant differential stress a number of physical mechanisms have been identified that may be responsible for ductile faulting including the onset of dynamic recrystallization phase changes hydrothermal alteration and hydrolytic weakening microscopic evidence for these processes as well as larger scale geological and geophysical observations suggest that ductile faulting in the middle to lower crust and upper mantle may greatly influence the distribution and magnitudes of differential stresses and the style of deformation in the overlying upper continental lithosphere

pore fluid and seismogenic characteristics of fault rock at depth on the wasatch fault utah fluid inclusions and structural fabric in fault rock in the exhumed footwall of the wasatch fault allow measurement of fluid pressure temperature and composition and estimation of rheological characteristics of fault behavior hydrothermally altered and deformed oligocene quartz monzonite of the little cottonwood stock forms a partially preserved footwall carapace at the southern end of the salt lake segment of the wasatch normal fault zone cataclasite and phyllonite contain two syndeformational alteration mineral assemblages that formed during progressive faulting and displacement of the footwall an early epidote chlorite sericite magnetite alteration assemblage developed in phyllonite and cataclasite and a later laumontite prehnite hematite alteration assemblage developed during cataclasis fluid inclusions associated with the formation of alteration minerals are preserved in healed fractures in quartz grains fluid inclusions that record the transition temperature from quasi plastic flow to frictional deformation are associated with hydrothermal alteration to chlorite epidote and sericite and were trapped at minimum temperatures of 223 c 353 c and minimum fluid pressures of 1150 2800 bars the fluids average 13 mol co2 and 8 2 wt nacl a radiometric age of hydrothermal sericite suggests that the age of the alteration is 17 6 0 7 m y if maximum fluid pressure is near lithostatic the minimum depth of formation of the alteration was 11 km at 337 c consistent with a thermal gradient of 30 c km the ratio of pore fluid pressure to lithostatic pressure varied from 0 52 to nearly 1 0 and indicates that effective normal stress on the fault at these depths may have approached zero structural fabrics and fluid inclusion characteristics are used to estimate seismogenic characteristics of the fault cleavage lineation and s c bands in the phyllonite indicate that deformation at temperatures above 350 c and depths greater than 11 km was dominated by aseismic creep unstable fracture propagation in cataclasite developed during seismic slip at shallower levels the downdip seismogenic length of the salt lake segment is estimated as 16 km using a fault zone dip of 45 and a minimum depth of 11 km for the quasi plastic frictional transition the segment strike length is 35 km and the seismogenic area is about 600 km2 compatible with generation of m 7 0 earthquakes

rheology and deformation mechanisms of an isotropic mica schist we have investigated the transitional semibrittle deformation of a mica schist 75 biotite by shortening cylinders cored at 0 45 and 90 to foliation to varying strains at confining pressures pc to 500 mpa constant strain rates e from 1 5 10 7 to 1 6 10 4 s 1 and temperatures t from 25 to 400 c deformation is concentrated within one or more throughgoing millimeter wide shear zones at all conditions these localize at low strains e 2 through the nucleation and coalescence of dense sets of intragranular microkink bands mkbs despite distinct differences in the relative number of mica grains oriented favorably for slip and kinking in different loading directions the differential stresses required for shear zone development vary little with fabric orientation biotite schist undergoes a transition from strain softening to steady strength mechanical response at confining pressures in the range 75 to 150 mpa the pressure sensitivity of strength characterized by the slope of the mohr envelope decreases from 0 5 at pc 100 mpa to 0 1 at pressures greater than 200 mpa reflecting the increasing contribution of glide and kinking in biotite at higher pressures however dilatancy associated with microcracking and void formation along mkb boundaries persists to at least 500 mpa within the pressure insensitive regime 200 pc 500 mpa temperature and strain rate dependencies of strength determined in stepping tests reveal a strong history dependence to flow that cannot strictly be described by a steady state constitutive law samples deformed in steps from low to high temperatures or fast to slow strain rates consistently exhibit stronger temperature and strain rate sensitivities than those deformed along t decreasing or e increasing paths path dependent effects may reflect differences in the degree to which inherited dislocation substructures are utilized or overprinted during later deformation increments by assuming an exponential relationship between differential stress d and strain rate e of the form e c exp d exp q rt we fit the data with two end member flow laws with a single activation energy q 89 kj mol and exponential constants ss 0 15 0 01 mpa 1 and ws 0 55 0 04 mpa 1 that account for the different responses observed along stepping paths that are strongly sensitive or weakly sensitive to t and e respectively application of the results to crustal deformation suggests that mica rich aggregates are weaker than other common rock types throughout a broad midcrustal depth range supporting the inference that retrograde reaction to phyllosilicates may be important in localizing crustal deformations within large faults and shear zones

grain size reduction and foliation development in a deformed granitoid batholith abstract the predominantly peraluminous wologorong batholith in eastern new south wales australia has undergone heterogeneous deformation it always has at least one gneissic foliation but in strongly deformed zones it has two foliations one of these is a gneissic foliation s 1 consisting of relatively discontinuous fine grained micaceous and feldspathic folia anastomosing between feldspar relics and elongate aggregates of recrystallized quartz the other foliation s 2 is more continuous than s 1 and the folia are fine grained and commonly laminated as in mylonites the two foliations could have formed siimultaneously or sequentially during a single deformation s 2 formed oblique up to 30 to s 1 in order to accommodate an imposed shear component of the strain in strongly deformed parts of the batholith s 2 folia appear to have initiated on suitably oriented parts of anastomosing s 1 folia continued deformation locally reduced the angle between s 1 and s 2 and resulted in the development of mylonite zones grain size reduction by recrystallization and or neocrystallization occurred in all minerals during the deformation but quartz appears to have attained a steady state grain size of around 0 15 mm which was not reduced during more intense deformation deformation mechanisms are difficult to determine but microfracturing associated with offsetting and microboudinage intragranular slip and solution transfer of material may have operated in the earlier stages of deformation and grain boundary sliding and or solution transfer of material may have dominated the later stages the material transfer may have been associated with chemical and mineralogical changes that accompanied neocrystallization

the relationship of strain and preferred orientation of phyllosilicate grains in rocks a review abstract the calculation of strain from the preferred orientation of platy phyllosilicate grains taking strain to be homogeneous is surprisingly often successful from a pragmatic point of view although numerous theoretical objections to this procedure can be and have been raised for the calculation to succeed the original distribution of mica or clay mineral grains must be known or assumed the usual assumption that the starting distribution was random and therefore nearly uniform implies that the strain history of pelitic sediments is taken to start when the watery sediment was last stirred by waves or bioturbation or if it was laid down in still anoxic waters from the moment of first deposition it therefore includes compaction as part of the strain history which is usually neglected by structural geologists originally random distribution of clay flake orientations has been observed in recently deposited sediments in many instances and has been theoretically explained in various ways exceptions probably exist but their frequency has not been estimated biologically disturbed sediments may be brought nearer to a state of random orientation of clay flakes than they were at deposition with the exception of whole beds or concretions in which pores are early filled with cement mudrocks are almost always compacted by the weight of later deposits the strain so induced is axially symmetric about the vertical and thus about the pole of the bedding planes compaction acts on soft unconsolidated rocks but may continue with increasing overburden on rocks strengthened by cementation and by increasing interlocking of grains tectonic deformation may start early before the rock is fully compacted or it may begin only much later and the mechanisms of deformation increase in complexity with the increasing temperature and hydrostatic stress of deeper burial up to a certain level of mild metamorphism however phyllosilicate grains seem to be rather permanent if not as mineral species then at least by preservation of their constituent sheets of silica tetrahedra given this permanence the mechanisms of rock deformation whether intergranular slip cataclasis or dissolution and reprecipitation and various intragranular processes in the non phyllosilicate matrix hardly matter as far as the recording of strain is concerned even a certain amount of stress solution at especially heavily loaded points of the phyllosilicate grains themselves does not destroy their value as strain markers as long as the dissolved material is disposed of mainly by crystallographically continuous overgrowth on existing grains the same holds for local dissolution of phyllosilicates in portions of old grains that have become thermodynamically unstable by bending widespread irregular or random nucleation and growth of newly nucleated phyllosilicate grains at intermediate or high grades of metamorphism can reduce the reliability of the strain record and so can domainal structure of the deformed rock if both the volume fraction of phyllosilicate grains and the intensity of total strain differ sharply from one domain to another if distinct domains are not equant and have themselves a strong preferred orientation of shape nevertheless rocks containing an anastomosing network of zones rich in phyllosilicate grains as slates and other deformed mudrocks commonly do have in many cases been found to have average preferred orientations of mica or chlorite which if used to estimate the strain give results similar to those obtained from independent strain markers in the same rocks thus the most significant verification of the usefulness of strain estimates by measurement of preferred orientation is the mutual confirmation with independently determined strain the limit to such verification is the rarity of strain markers so that the coexistence of two independent ones is exceptionally rare for this reason however it is important to make full use of the orientation of phyllosilicate grains where they are available the alternative to have no strain measurements at all causes structural geologists to miss potential information

characteristics of large scale wave structure observed from african and southeast asian longitudinal sectors the spatial large scale wave structure lsws at the base of f layer is the earliest manifestation of seed perturbation for rayleigh taylor instability hence found to play a deterministic role in the development of equatorial plasma bubbles epbs except for a few case studies a comprehensive investigation has not been conducted on the characteristics of lsws because of the complexity involved in detecting the lsws particularly in spatial domain in this scenario a comprehensive study is carried out for the first time on the spatial and temporal characteristics of lsws observed in spatial domain over african and southeast asian longitudinal sectors during the year 2011 the observations indicate that these wave structures can be detected a few degrees west of e region sunset terminator and found to grow significantly at longitudes past the sunset terminator the phase fronts of these spatial structures are found to align with the geomagnetic field b lines over a latitudinal belt for at least 5 6 500 600 km centered on dip equator the zonal wavelengths of these structures are found to vary from 100 to 700 km which is consistent with the earlier reports and the epbs were consistently observed when the amplitudes of lsws were grown to sufficient strengths these results would provide better insights on the underlying physical processes involved in excitation of lsws in terms of important roles being played by e region electrical loading and polarization electric fields induced via spatially varying dynamo current due to neutral wind perturbations associated with atmospheric gravity waves

deformation of chlorite in naturally deformed low grade rocks the intracrystalline deformation of chlorite in naturally deformed low grade rocks was investigated with transmission electron microscopy tem as in other phyllosilicates the deformation of chlorite is dominated by the 001 slip plane slip along this plane is very easy through the generation and movement of partial dislocations with burgers vector b 1 n uv0 after initial bending of the 001 planes through a flexural slip mechanism accommodated by slip along 001 the misorientation is concentrated in tiltwalls subnormal to 001 which are formed by partial dislocations with b 1 n uv0 tiltwalls subparallel to 001 are formed by arrays of dislocations with a total burgers vector 001 these boundaries are either initiated at the grain boundary and move inwards by dislocation climb or form by movement of free dislocations towards the tip of propagating boundaries by glide along planes inclined to 001 once a boundary is formed the increasing misfit is accommodated by climb of these dislocations along 001 due to the combination of very easy slip along 001 and the ability to form subgrain boundaries subparallel to 001 by dislocation climb and activation of hard slip systems chlorite deforms plastically even at temperatures below 300 c

evolution of ptygmatic folds in migmatites from the type area s finland abstract it is proposed that ptygmatic folds in migmatites form during leucosome melanosome differentiation volume loss by depletion of quartz and feldspar takes place in the interlimb domains of folds leaving a residual melanosome buckling leucosomes increase in volume due to this process and are protected from substantial thinning concurrent with tectonic segregation albeit at a lower rate the leucosome expands by replacing the melanosome this process is induced by fluid activity at the leucosome boundary as suggested by the occurrence of secondary offshoot veinlets segregation and growth causes the most typical aspect of ptygmatic folds preservation of an overall buckle shape during the stage when the folds become isoclinal and devoid of interlimb matrix

ductile to brittle transition in shear during thrust sheet emplacement southern appalachian thrust belt abstract mesoscopic structures in anchimetamorphic t 200 300 c strata of the pulaski thrust sheet southern appalachian thrust belt developed in progressive heterogeneous simple shear near the ductile to brittle transition shear 3 was localized in weak anisotropic pelitic rocks rome formation along the base of this 5 11 km thick thrust sheet folds which vary from upright and open to isoclinal and nw facing developed during ductile shearing and display a correlation between tightness and axial surface dip movement along brecciated thrust zones which evolved progressively from zones of greatest ductile strain resulted in low angle truncation of fold axis trends coaxial refolding of earlier structures and imbrication of the thrust sheet transient variations in fluid pressure pf controlled the mechanical behavior of the thrust sheet systematic veins imply pf 3 t t tensile strength during ductile deformation whereas later non systematic vein arrays in high strain zones record periods of nearly hydrostatic stress elevated pf which led to fracturing dilation and fault initiation appears confined to pelitic zones within the rome formation this coupled with decreasing temperature resulted in the transition from ductile folding to brittle thrusting changing physical conditions probably reflect erosional unroofing during uplift and late paleozoic thrust sheet emplacement

weakening of deforming granitic rocks with layer development at middle crust abstract in the middle crust deformation of granitic rocks is characterized by crystal plastic deformation of quartz and cataclasis of feldspar for common granitic rocks with textures of framework feldspar and interstice filling quartz brittle strength of feldspar is a close approximation of the bulk rock strength because feldspar forms the load bearing framework with deformation these rocks tend to develop localized high strain zones the high strain zones commonly consist of quartz rich layers and feldspar rich layers we have examined how the strength of granitic rocks changes with the volume fraction of these layers by combining the flow laws developed by handy et al handy m r wissing s b streit l e 1999 frictional viscous flow in mylonite with varied bimineralic composition and its effect on lithospheric strength tectonophysics 303 175 191 our results suggest a dramatic weakening of the bulk rock strength at an early stage of the layer development we also found that formation of muscovite in the layer structures by breakdown of feldspar can result in further weakening in the layer structure the bulk rock strength with mica bearing layers is reduced by a significant amount compared with the mica absent layers our analysis suggests that layer development with syntectonic formation of mica can be a major source of weakening for granitic rocks

quartz and sheet silicate preferred orientations of low symmetry pikikiruna schist new zealand abstract the pikikiruna schist of nelson new zealand displays a fabric in which the patterns of quartz c axes the poles to planes of inequidimensional quartz grains and the statistical maxima of poles to sheet silicate cleavages are oblique to each other the quartz c axes patterns consist of type 1 and type 2 crossed girdles the triclinic fabric can be explained in terms of one complex rotational deformation of an essentially plane strain nature rotation of approximately 90 about the intermediate strain axis was combined at a late stage with subsidiary rotations about the extension axis the quartz c axes patterns can be related to the kinematic framework rather than the finite strain axes on the other hand the dimensional quartz preferred orientation may be closely related to the finite strain axes though the quantity of strain can not be measured because of recrystallisation

semi brittle deformation within the alpine fault zone new zealand abstract this paper reports the results of an attempt to identify the deformation micromechanisms in the brittle ductile transition zone of the alpine fault new zealand characterization of sequentially developed microstructures was carried out using optical microscopy hvem and stem analysis it was found that the transition zone corresponds to a broad zone of retrogression produced initially by microcracking and fluid infiltration the non catastropic nature of the fracturing indicates that fluid enhanced sub critical cracking is a significant crustal deformation mechanism after the initial phase of retrogression both ductile and brittle processes coexist and cyclically alternate in response to stress cycling the relative importance of macroscopic brittle processes may decrease with time as more ductile minerals especially phyllosilicates develop during continued retrogression

the role of tectonic grain size reduction in the rheological stratification of the lithosphere with the aid of published constitutive flow laws for common crustal and upper mantle rock types it is possible to construct curves showing variation of rock strength with depth in the continental lithosphere assuming a particular crustal stratification of rock types and a particular geothermal gradient such exercises lead to the conclusion that marked changes in strength can occur at major petrological interfaces such as the moho discontinuity which are therefore likely to be associated with a tendency for major sub horizontal detachments to form constitutive flow laws used for such purposes are usually assumed to represent steady state flow at constant rock microstructure

ductile to brittle transition in thermally stable antigorite gouge at mantle pressures general shear experiments on antigorite rich serpentinite show a transition from ductile distributed to brittle localized deformation with increasing temperature from 300 c to 500 c at confining pressures from 1 to 2 gpa the coefficient of friction associated with slip along fractures decreases from 0 23 to 0 07 with an increase in temperature from 300 c to 500 c velocity stepping experiments exhibit a positive rate dependence as parameterized by a b values that decrease modestly with increasing temperature from 0 015 at 300 c to 0 01 at 500 c fractures contain fine grained foliated antigorite and there is no evidence of dehydration all samples have a moderate foliation and show microstructural evidence for both plastic and brittle deformation mechanisms under certain conditions the transition to brittle deformation at high pressures and temperatures in antigorite might generate earthquakes which could explain the occurrence of some intermediate depth seismicity within subduction zones in serpentinized regions that are too cold to induce dehydration

spatial changes in the stratospheric aerosol associated with the north polar vortex in late january and early february 1983 observations made by the stratospheric aerosol measurement sam ii satellite system showed that aerosol extinction profiles measured within the northern polar vortex differed significantly above 18 km from those measured outside the vortex values of the calculated optical depths above 18 km for february 1 1983 are lower by approximately one order of magnitude within the polar vortex than those outside similar differences were found in the aerosol backscattering profiles obtained using an airborne lidar system when crossing the polar vortex since potential vorticity at a constant altitude is not conserved across the polar vortex horizontal adiabatic transport does not occur

spatially heterogeneous strength in thrust fault zones deformation in the hanging wall of the lewis thrust fault at marias pass northwest montana is heterogeneous in space with regions dominated by either large scale contraction or extension faults the distribution of mesoscopic structures within the two regions also differs the density of fractures is highest in the extensional region whereas the density of solution seams is highest in the contractional regime this spatial heterogeneity of structures at the base of the lewis thrust sheet may result from spatially heterogeneous fault zone strength in analytical models of an elastic thrust sheet overlying a fault represented by spatial heterogeneity in shear traction or displacement stress magnitudes and principal directions vary with position within the model thrust sheet with the application of a mohr coulomb criterion contraction and extension faults initiate within localized regions at the base of the model thrust sheet spatial variations in mean stress at the base of the thrust sheet predicted by the models may explain both the greater density of solution seams in the contractional region than in the extensional region and the greater density of mesoscopic faults and veins in the extensional region than in the contractional region of the marias pass exposure the spatial heterogeneity of pressure solution and cataclasis in response to variable mean stress within a fault zone of heterogeneous strength may facilitate thrust sheet movement relative to movement over a fault zone of uniform strength because a decrease in mean stress enhances cataclasis and an increase in mean stress maintains a constant shear stress during pressure solution

nondilatant brittle deformation of serpentinites implications for mohr coulomb theory and the strength of faults we conducted deformation experiments to investigate the strength deformation processes and nature of the brittle ductile transition of lizardite and antigorite serpentinites a transition from localized to distributed deformation occurs as confining pressure increases from 200 to 400 mpa at room temperature deformation in both brittle localized and ductile distributed regimes is accommodated by shear microcracks which form preferentially parallel to the 001 cleavage axial microcracks mode i are infrequently observed volumetric strain measurements demonstrate that brittle deformation is mostly nondilatant consistent with the shear dominated microcracking three observations indicate that deformation in the ductile regime is accommodated by cataclastic flow 1 a lack of evidence for crystal plastic deformation 2 a positive pressure dependence of the maximum differential stress and 3 abundant evidence for brittle microcracking the weakness of serpentinites relative to other brittle rocks is explained by a low fracture strength along the 001 cleavage combined with the low pressure dependence of strength the transition from brittle to ductile deformation occurs at the crossover between the strength of intact serpentinite and the friction law unique to each type of serpentinite rather than the more general byerlee s law if brittle deformation regimes are defined based on the mode of microcracking and on the occurrence of crystal plasticity serpentinites define an end member style of nondilatant brittle deformation this deformation style may result in extremely weak faults in nature and it may also strongly influence the tectonic evolution of the oceanic lithosphere where serpentinite is present

a reappraisal of the sibson scholz fault zone model the nature of the frictional to viscous brittle ductile transition along a long lived crustal scale fault outer hebrides scotland the widely cited sibson scholz conceptual fault zone model suggests that seismically active upper crustal brittle faults pass downward across a predominantly thermally controlled transition at 10 15 km depth into ductile shear zones in which deformation occurs by aseimic viscous creep the crustal scale outer hebrides fault zone ohfz in nw scotland has been described as the type example of such a continental fault zone it cuts precambrian basement gneisses and is deeply exhumed allowing direct study of the deformation products and processes that occur across a wide range of crustal depths a number of fault rock assemblages are recognized to have formed during a long lived displacement history lasting in excess of 1000 myr during caledonian movements that are recognized along much of the 190 km onshore fault trace brittle cataclasite bearing faults in the west of the ohfz are unequivocally overprinted to the east by a younger fabric related to a network of ductile shear zones field observations and regional geochronological data demonstrate that there is no evidence for reheating of the fault zone due to thrust related crustal thickening or shear heating microstructural observations show that the onset of viscous deformation was related to a major influx of hydrous fluids this led to retrogression with the widespread development of new finegrained phyllosilicate bearing fault rocks phyllonites and the onset of fluid assisted grain size sensitive diffusional creep in the most highly deformed and altered parts of the fault zone phyllonitic fault rocks also occur in older more deeply exhumed parts of the fault zone implying that phyllonitization had previously occurred at an earlier stage and that this process is possible over a wide temperature depth range within crustal scale faults our data provide an observational basis for recent theoretical and experimental studies which suggest that crustal scale faults containing interconnected networks of phyllosilicate bearing fault rocks will be characterized by long term relative weakness and shallow 5 km frictional viscous transition zones similar processes acting at depth may provide an explanation for the apparent weakness of presently active structures such as the san andreas fault

constraints on the mechanism of deformation of olivine imposed by defect chemistry abstract more is known about diffusion electrical conductivity and creep in forsterite and olivine than any other mineral this paper examines these data to see what constraints are placed on the mechanisms of deformation in these minerals experimental observations show a creep rate for forsterite independent of the activity of oxygen a o 2 in olivine the creep rate is proportional to a 1 6 o 2 and in addition is ten times faster for the enstatite excess situation than for the magnesiowustite excess situation these data are consistent with positively charged kinks being the rate controlling species in olivine the data for forsterite are also compatible with a kink controlled mechanism although some other jog and diffusion controlled mechanisms remain as possibilities the activation energy for creep is not related to that for diffusion of silicon or oxygen for kink controlled mechanisms the activation energy is approximately given by the sum of the fermi level and the activation energy for charged kink migration minus the ionization energy of the kink the fermi level can be changed by minor changes in impurities and by changes in the imposed thermodynamic environment so unless these parameters are controlled during deformation variations in observed activation energies for creep are to be expected from one set of experiments to another

preferred orientation of phyllosilicates comparison of fault gouge shale and schist abstract samples of fault gouge from the san andreas fault drill hole safod a shale from the north sea sedimentary basin and schists from metamorphic rocks in the alps have been analyzed with high energy synchrotron x rays to determine preferred orientation of mica and clay minerals the method relies on obtaining 2d diffraction images which are then processed with the crystallographic rietveld method implemented in the software maud allowing for deconvolution of phases and extraction of their orientation distributions it is possible to distinguish between detrital illite muscovite and authigenic illite smectite kaolinite and chlorite and muscovite and biotite with strongly overlapping peaks in the diffraction pattern the results demonstrate that phyllosilicates show large texture variations in various environments where different mechanisms produce the rock microfabrics fault gouge fabrics are quite weak and asymmetric with maxima for 001 in the range of 1 5 2 5 multiples of random distribution m r d this is attributed to heterogeneous deformation with randomization as well as dissolution precipitation reactions shale fabrics have maxima ranging from 3 to 9 m r d and this is due to sedimentation and compaction the strongest fabrics were observed in metamorphic schists 10 14 m r d and developed by deformation as well as recrystallization in a stress field in the analyzed samples fabrics of co existing quartz are weak all phyllosilicate textures can be explained by orientation of 001 platelets with no additional constraints on a axes

subduction interface processes recorded by eclogite facies shear zones monviso w alps abstract the monviso ophiolite lago superiore unit constitutes a well preserved almost continuous upper fragment of oceanic lithosphere subducted at c 80 km depth thereby providing a unique opportunity to study mechanical coupling processes and meter scale fluid rock interactions occurring at such depths in present day subduction zones it is made of i a variably thick 50 500 m section of eclogitized basaltic crust associated with minor calcschist lenses overlying a 100 400 m thick metagabbroic body and of ii a c 1 km thick serpentinite sole we herein focus on the three major eclogite facies shear zones found at the top of the unit at the boundary between basalts and gabbros and between gabbros and serpentinites respectively strain localization occurred at lithological interfaces irrespective of material strength while ductile deformation dominates along the shear zones local brittle behavior is demonstrated by the existence of numerous eclogite breccias of fe ti metagabbros and widespread garnet fractures possibly linked with intermediate depth eclogite facies micro seismicity these m to hm sized fragments of fe ti metagabbros were later sheared and disseminated within serpentinite schists along the gabbro serpentinite boundary lower shear zone lsz pervasive and focused fluid flow is attested in the lsz by significant alteration of bulk rock compositions weakening of the rocks and widespread crystallization of hydrous parageneses by contrast the intermediate shear zone isz shows evidence for more restricted short range fluid flow the activity of both the isz and lsz ceased during early lawsonite eclogite facies exhumation when deformation localized deeper within the serpentinite sole allowing for the detachment and preservation of this large ophiolitic fragment

intracrystalline folding and cataclasis in biotite of the santa rosa mylonite zone hvem and tem observations abstract high voltage electron microscope hvem and transmission electron microscope tem analyses indicate that grain size reduction of biotite in deformed granodiorite of the santa rosa mylonite zone southern california was in part accomplished by intracrystalline folding and cataclasis through this process deformation takes place within discrete parallel sided or lens shaped zones up to 6 m wide within the zones deformation begins with the opening of cavities along cleavage planes further deformation causes layers parallel to 001 to become detached from the surrounding crystal along cleavage planes or ruptured along micro shear zones at an angle to 001 the layers may be strongly folded branching or completely fragmented the latter suggesting cataclastic behavior the smallest measured lens of cataclasite is 0 05 m in width high resolution tem images show that 001 lattice fringes fold into these regions zones of intracrystalline folding and cataclasis are visible petrographically because of the many orientations of biotite within these regions the optical properties are effectively averaged the zones are characterized by little or no change in color with rotation of the optical microscope stage and in most orientations by higher refractive indices than the surrounding crystal

flow laws of multiphase materials and rocks from end member flow laws abstract rheological properties of polyphase rocks play an important role in the dynamics of the lithosphere and asthenosphere however flow laws for large portions of the polyphase rocks in the earth s crust and mantle have not been well determined an analysis based on the theory of mixtures has been made to calculate the general flow laws of coarse 5 m nearly equant grained aspect ratio 3 and massive polyphase rocks and materials for which only the flow laws and volume fractions of the constituents are taken into consideration in the modeling of the bulk rheology and effects of microstructure could be ignored the theoretical analysis is based on three assumptions 1 the polyphase composite and the monophase aggregates of its constituents obey the same kind of flow laws linear power or exponential 2 there is no change in the operative deformation mechanism of each phase when it is in the composite as compared to when it is in a monophase aggregate and 3 neither chemical metamorphic reactions take place among the constituent phases nor eutectic melting occurs due to the phase mixing the proposed iterative process allows to predict to the first approximation the flow laws for a large number of polyphase rocks in terms of the experimentally determined flow laws of a relatively small number of monomineralic aggregates applications of this approach to typical polyphase rocks such as granite diorite diabase aplite and websterite as well as to synthetic two phase materials such as forsterite enstatite mixtures and water ice ammonia dehydrate aggregates yield quite accurate approximations to the experimental values