mechanical interactions between rigid particles in a deforming ductile matrix analogue experiments in simple shear flow abstract the mechanical interaction between two or more particles is investigated in newtonian simple shear flow the experimental models allow observation of both the particle rotation and the deformation pattern around the particles the finite and instantaneous strain patterns around rigid particles are strongly heterogeneous and asymmetric with high finite strain zones aligned to the direction of maximum finite stretch these correspond to local flow with low vorticity number heterogeneous strain patterns around rigid particles spread over a distance of 1 2 times the particle length and this distance increases with increasing bulk strain where rigid particles are more concentrated these patterns coalesce and the overall pattern is then strongly controlled by the particles and cannot be simply related to the external boundary conditions in rocks the characteristic asymmetric strain pattern around rigid isolated particles is a reliable shear criterion which becomes unreliable with high concentrations of rigid particles particle rotation is significantly disturbed when the distance between adjacent particles of equal size is shorter than their length that is only in very concentrated suspensions of rigid particles in a composite shape fabric the development of the sub fabric corresponding to the smaller minerals will be more disturbed

the motion of rigid ellipsoidal particles in slow flows abstract preferred orientations of fabric elements in tectonites are usually interpreted with reference to two continuum models namely those of march 1932 and jeffrey 1922 it is argued that the first of these is usually inappropriate if the fabric elements are rigid inhomogeneities embedded in a deformable matrix jeffrey s model is more applicable but until recently its use has been limited to problems involving axisymmetric particles and simple flow geometries in this paper jeffrey s equations have been solved numerically in order to investigate the behaviour of more general systems the motions of two particle shapes one a prolate spheroid the other a triaxial ellipsoid are considered in parallel for four specified flow geometries which involve pure or simple shear and combinations of both any departures from particle axisymmetry or from simple flow geometries have a significant effect on particle behaviour compared with that predicted by spheroid simple flow solutions

flow laws for rocks containing two non linear viscous phases a phenomenological approach abstract mylonitic rocks and rock analogue materials reveal two basic types of structure 1 a load bearing framework lbf of strong phase contains isolated pockets of weak phase 2 interconnected layers of weak phase iwl separate boudins and clasts of strong phase aggregates with the lbf microstructure are characterized by nearly uniform strain rate stress is concentrated in the load bearing framework in aggregates with an iwl microstructure strain rate and sometimes also stress are higher in the interconnected weak phase than in the boudins and clasts of strong phase the degree of stress and strain partitioning depends strongly on the viscous strength contrast and on the relative amounts of the constituent mineral phases based on these observations the rheology of two phase rock is modelled with separate functions for lbf and iwl microstructures a new flow law is derived for rock with iwl structure in which two phases undergo dislocation creep the flow law expresses composite creep strength in terms of temperature bulk strain rate and the volume proportions and creep parameters of the minerals in the rock strain rate and stress are averaged in the constituent phases and slip along phase boundaries maintains strain compatibility within the aggregate composite strengths predicted with the iwl flow law fall well within the uniform stress and uniform strain rate bounds and are generally consistent with the viscous strengths of experimentally deformed bimineralic aggregates a hypothesis of viscous strain energy minimization is used to determine the relative stability of the lbf and iwl microstructures during steady state creep the iwl microstructure is predicted to be stable over a broad range of two phase compositions and mineral strength contrasts whereas the lbf microstructure is stable only in rocks with low volume proportions of weak phase and low to moderate mineral strength contrasts the iwl flow law indicates that rheological stratification in the lithosphere depends strongly on rock composition especially in rocks with low volume proportions of a weak phase and high mineral strength contrasts

experimental studies of shear deformation of mantle materials towards structural geology of the mantle a brief outline is given on experimental studies carried out in the minnesota mineral and rock physics laboratory of microstructural evolution and rheology of mantle mineral aggregates or their analogues using a simple shear deformation geometry a simple shear deformation geometry allows us to unambiguously identify controlling factors of microstructural evolution and to obtain large strains at high pressures and temperatures and thus provides a unique opportunity to investigate the structural geology of the mantle we have developed a simple shear deformation technique for use at high pressures and temperatures pressure up to 16 gpa and temperature up to 2000 k in both gas medium and solid medium apparati this technique has been applied to the following mineral systems i olivine aggregates ii olivine basaltic melt iii catio3 perovskite aggregates the results have provided important data with which to understand the dynamics of the earth s mantle including the geometry of mantle convection mechanisms of melt distribution and migration beneath mid ocean ridges and the mechanisms of shear localization limitations of laboratory studies and future directions are also discussed

grain growth kinetics in olivine aggregates abstract grain growth kinetics were studied in hot pressed fine grained olivine aggregates experimental conditions include pressures of 0 1 mpa 300 mpa and 1 gpa and temperatures of 1473 1573 and 1673 k with or without the presence of water at the initial stage of grain growth growth of larger grains occurs rapidly consuming smaller grains which results in significant pore entrapment almost homogeneous grain size distribution is established in this process after this stage grain size distribution remains almost homogeneous in most cases it was found that the presence of water enhances the grain growth kinetics when the amount of water is limited however when the amount of water is large the water containing pores significantly inhibit the grain boundary migration therefore the enhancement of grain growth due to the presence of water is due to the role of dissolved water in olivine rather than the mass transport through water abnormal grain growth was found in some samples in these cases normal grain growth was inhibited by the presence of a significant amount of water filled pores or grains with significantly larger size than the rest occurred in the starting materials in 0 1 mpa runs significant porosity developed and the grain growth rates were significantly lower than in those at high confining pressures these results show that both water and pores have important effects on grain growth kinetics in olivine when the effects of pores or secondary phases in inhibiting grain growth are unimportant the grain growth rate in olivine is very fast growth to 100 m size will occur in 102 to 103 hours at 1500 k thus fine grain size in olivine will be maintained only for a short geological time unless the grain boundaries are effectively pinned by secondary particles

magmatic fabric acquisition mechanisms in a syenite results of a combined anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility and image analysis study the structural significance of the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility ams and acquisition mechanisms of silicate and ferrimagnetic mineral fabrics are investigated in the archean lebel syenite intrusion ontario canada bulk mineral subfabrics are determined by intercept counting of mineral phases in classified digital images of thin sections cut parallel to the principal planes of the magnetic fabric ellipsoids of the samples intensities shapes and principal direction orientations of the resulting intercept ellipsoids are generally similar to the corresponding ams ellipsoids differences are due mainly to bimodal distribution of mineral fabrics observed on foliation planes of some samples showing pre full crystallization textures and structural overprinting in samples deformed after crystallization subfabrics of clinopyroxene and magnetite in samples showing pre full crystallization microstructure are investigated by measuring inertia tensors of individual grain shapes the resulting inertia tensor ellipsoids indicate that magnetic fabrics in these rocks are strongly correlated to the shape preferred orientation of magnetite which is similar to the overall petrofabric of the samples crystal size distributions of clinopyroxene and magnetite indicate that they formed during in situ crystallization and that magnetite probably appeared late in the crystallization and flow history of the magma analysis of preferred orientations of these grains suggests that the petrofabrics of the samples were acquired during flow with strongly interacting grains analogous to a logjam in a river the final characteristics of the ams and silicate petrofabric are the end points of a continuous crystallization and flow history in the magma rather than transient late features

strain and fabric analyses based on porphyroclast interaction abstract two dimensional computer models of the interaction of elliptical clasts in a variety of kinematic conditions are used to study how clast imbrication and shape fabric development relate to strain and strain history the models provide templates for a known clast density and clast ellipticity that correlate clast imbrication angle of collision and clast shape fabric to strain and kinematics of deformed rocks modeling also shows that the mode of clast interaction plays a significant role in the accumulation of imbricated clasts and the development of shape fabric upon collision between clasts the trains formed can remain fixed or rotate if they rotate imbricated clasts can become independent when they are no longer forced together by the flow based upon the mode of clast and train rotation using the march rotation of passive lines and the jeffery rotation of rigid particles as end members three models are defined in an attempt to simulate the conditions of clast interaction under varying conditions the march fixed train march rotating train and jeffery rotating train models simulate solid state intermediate and magmatic conditions respectively modeling shows that the two march models produce similar results but the jeffery model of train rotation always produces a lower proportion of imbricated clasts and a much weaker shape fabric application of the modeling to the study of a syntectonic granite in the sierra nevada suggests that deformation was dominated by simple shear some k feldspar imbrication and fabric development took place initially in the magmatic stage and culminated in the solid state to produce a large proportion of imbricated k feldspar porphyroclasts which define a strong shape fabric this type of analysis provides a rationale to determine syn vs post emplacement deformation in the granite

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

some mineral physics constraints on the rheology and geothermal structure of earth s lower mantle we explore the implications of recent mineral physics measurements of diffusion coefficients and melting temperatures of lower mantle materials on the rheological and geothermal structure of earth s lower mantle we show that mgsio3 perovskite is significantly stronger than mgo periclase and therefore the rheology of the lower mantle depends strongly on the geometry of a weaker phase periclase we calculate viscosities of the lower mantle for two cases 1 where periclase occurs as isolated grains and 2 where periclase occurs as continuous films using mineral physics data and models of two phase rheology we find that the effective viscosity for the former is about 10 1000 times higher than the latter we therefore suggest that the rheology of the lower mantle is structure and hence strain dependent leading to weakening at large strains due to the formation of continuous films of periclase overall depth variation of viscosity depends not only on the pressure dependence of creep but also on the geothermal gradient both mgsio3 perovskite and periclase have relatively small activation energies e g r t m with g 10 14 where r is the gas constant and t m is melting temperature and therefore the depth variation of viscosity is rather small even for a nearly adiabatic temperature gradient however the geothermal gradients consistent with the geodynamical inference of nearly depth independent viscosity are sensitive to the pressure dependence of viscosity which is only poorly understood a superadiabatic gradient of up to 0 6 k km is also consistent with mineral physics and geodynamical observations

fabric development in mg fe o during large strain shear deformation implications for seismic anisotropy in earth s lower mantle abstract large strain shear deformation experiments were performed on mg 1 x fe x o x 0 25 1 0 one of the important minerals in earth s lower mantle deformation experiments were made on coarse grained 15 20 m grain size hot pressed aggregates at conditions of t t m 0 46 0 65 t temperature t m melting temperature and 0 4 10 3 to 0 9 10 3 differential stress shear modulus up to the shear strain of 7 8 under these conditions deformation occurs by dislocation creep the microstructural development in mg fe o is found to be sluggish and the complete dynamic recrystallization and nearly steady state fabric lattice preferred orientation are achieved only after shear strains of 4 at nearly steady state mg fe o shows strong fabrics characterized by the 1 1 0 axes being parallel to the shear direction and the poles of the 1 0 0 planes and to a lesser extent the poles of the 1 1 1 planes normal to the shear plane the seismic anisotropy corresponding to the deformation fabrics in mg fe o was calculated the nature of anisotropy corresponding to a given flow geometry changes significantly with strain as a result of fabric evolution anisotropy changes also with depth pressure due to the large variation of elastic anisotropy of mg fe o with depth seismic anisotropy caused by the deformation fabric of mg fe o is very weak in the shallow lower mantle v sh v sv anisotropy assuming that mg fe o occupies 20 volume fraction of the lower mantle and little shear wave splitting of vertically travelling waves a result that is consistent with the seismological observations in the d layer of the circum pacific regions thus the deformation fabric of mg fe o is a vital candidate of the cause of seismic anisotropy in these regions anisotropy caused by the lattice preferred orientation of mg fe o has a distinct azimuthal anisotropy with a strong 4 term azimuth the direction of propagation of the fastest slowest sh or p wave is parallel perpendicular to the flow direction and the slowest fastest sh or p wave is at 45 from these two directions

the rheology of polymineralic rocks an approach deduced from empirical and theoretical work a model is proposed for the rheology of bi and polyphase rocks based on the rheology of the components their volume fractions and their geometrical distribution the model is formulated for the common case where some minerals deform by crystall plasticity at steady state and others stronger ones deform in the vincinity of the brittle ductile transition

an olivine fabric database an overview of upper mantle fabrics and seismic anisotropy we present a unique database of 110 olivine petrofabrics and their calculated seismic properties the samples come from a variety of the upper mantle geodynamic environments ophiolites subduction zones and kimberlites with a wide range of micro structures a phenomenological relationship is established between p and s wave seismic anisotropy and the degree of crystal alignment fabric strength seismic anisotropy increases rapidly at low fabric strength before reaching a near saturation level of 15 to 20 for p waves and 10 to 15 for s waves despite a large variation in the symmetry of fabric patterns the average seismic properties of the different fabric micro structural and geodynamic settings have similar anisotropies in both magnitude and symmetry hence it would seem possible to determine some measure of fabric strength from seismic anisotropy if the dimensions of the anisotropic region are known but not geodynamic environment or details of the petrofabric pattern a simple pattern of seismic anisotropy characterises the average sample of the database which has the following features the polarisation plane of the fastest s wave is parallel or sub parallel to the foliation plane the maximum shear wave splitting is parallel to the y structural direction in foliation plane and normal to the lineation the maximum of the p wave velocity is parallel to the high concentration of 100 axes which is sub parallel to the lineation the 100 orientation distribution has the greatest influence on the p wave seismic anisotropy the 100 and 001 orientation distributions have the greatest influence on the symmetry of s wave anisotropy although the magnitude of anisotropy is influenced by the distribution of all three principal axes although the database only contains olivine petrofabrics this statistical study clearly shows that seismic anisotropy can be used to deduce the orientation of the structural frame in the upper mantle 1998 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

shape fabrics of particles in low concentration suspensions 2d analogue experiments and application to tiling in magma abstract jeffery s equations ascribe a theoretical cyclic nature to the shape fabric of non interacting rigid particles immersed in a viscous fluid undergoing simple shear flow this theoretical behaviour is confirmed at low shear strains 5 first experiment 134 identical particles or 1 second experiment 178 particles with two size classes then become stable at 17 first experiment and at more than 50 second experiment of the population of particles due to the contribution of the tiled particles the shape fabric becomes asymmetrical in its orientation distribution with a maximum lying above the shear plane the latter result provides a new shear sense indicator in addition to the statistical determination of the tiled features the study also suggests that crystalline fabrics in magmas could be acquired at high melt fractions i e early in the crystallization history of the magma

numerical study of creep in two phase aggregates with a large rheology contrast implications for the lower mantle it is generally accepted that the earth s lower mantle is dominated by two minerals magnesiowustite mg fe o mw and mg fe sio3 perovskite mg pv which are thought to exhibit very different rheological properties in order to assess the respective role of those phases in the mechanical properties of the assemblage we have carried out 3d finite element modelling of a model two phase aggregate an isotropic random polycrystal has been built from a voronoi mosaic then each grain has been attributed a hard or weak behavior in such a way that the hard phase represents a volume fraction of 70 the creep law introduced for both phases is a simple power law creep without hardening a contrast of 35 is chosen between the strain rates of both phases under a shear stress of 10 mpa a representative volume element of 470 grains has been shown to provide a satisfactory description of the mechanical response of the aggregate with a relative precision equal to 3 numerical creep experiments conducted under a constant macroscopic shear stress of 10 mpa suggest that the creep rate of lower mantle assemblages would be dominated by the mechanical behavior of the harder phase mg pv the finite element model allows one to extract the individual behavior of the two phases within the aggregate it is shown that during creep the harder mg pv phase carries most of the stress whereas the softer mw phase is responsible for most of the accumulated strain this result should have implications for the development of shape and lattice preferred orientations of mw within the aggregate thus for seismic anisotropy of the lower mantle

rheology of synthetic anorthite diopside aggregates implications for ductile shear zones 1 we investigated the high temperature creep strength of fine grained anorthite diopside rocks at temperatures ranging from 1323 k to 1523 k and at 300 mpa confining pressure in a paterson type gas medium deformation apparatus flow stress varied between 20 and 450 mpa resulting in strain rates between 6 1 10 7 s 1 and 7 5 10 4 s 1 pure diopside and anorthite samples were hot pressed from crushed natural single crystals and glass powders respectively two phase samples were produced by hot isostatic pressing of mechanically mixed powders of anorthite glass with 25 50 and 75 vol diopside particles arithmetic mean grain size of the anorthite matrix is dan 3 5 m three different ranges of diopside particle size were used ddi 25 m 35 m and 45 m water content of as is samples was about 0 05 0 02 wt h2o and predried samples contain about 0 004 0 001 wt h2o at experimental conditions as is samples are assumed to be water saturated water content of predried samples is about 3 times less than that of starting diopside single crystals the specimens contain about 1 vol glass located at fluid inclusions and some multiple grain junctions two grain boundaries examined by high resolution transmission electron microscopy did not show amorphous layers to a resolution of 1 nm at experimental conditions pure diopside aggregates are about 2 3 orders of magnitude stronger than pure anorthite samples for as is and predried specimens respectively in general strength of the two phase aggregates increases with increasing diopside content but remains between isostress and isostrain rate bounds aggregate strengths predicted from continuum mechanics models are in good agreement with the experimental data for dilute diopside particle mixtures and high volume fractions when diopside particles form a load bearing framework at low stresses 100 200 mpa the stress exponent is n 1 suggesting diffusion controlled creep at higher stresses mechanical data and microstructures suggest that samples deformed in the transition region between diffusion controlled creep and dislocation creep for pure anorthite and diopside aggregates deforming in dislocation creep we estimated stress exponents of n 3 and n 5 5 respectively for the two phase aggregates n is between n 3 and n 5 depending on diopside content at low stresses deformation microstructures indicate load transfer from a weak anorthite matrix to stronger diopside particles creep activation energies for pure diopside and anorthite mixtures range from 286 kj mol 1 for wet anorthite deformed at low stresses to 691 kj mol 1 for dry diopside deformed at high stresses activation energies of two phase mixtures are between or close to those of the end members as is samples have significantly lower activation energies than predried samples

large strain deformation and strain partitioning in polyphase rocks dislocation creep of olivine magnesiowustite aggregates aggregates composed of olivine and magnesiowustite have been deformed to large strains at high pressure and temperature to investigate stress and strain partitioning phase segregation and possible localization of deformation in a polyphase material samples with 20 vol of natural olivine and 80 vol of mg0 7fe0 3 o were synthesized and deformed in a gas medium torsion apparatus at temperatures of 1127 c and 1250 c a confining pressure of 300 mpa and constant angular displacement rates equivalent to constant shear strain rates of 1 3 3 10 4 s 1 the samples deformed homogeneously to total shear strains of up to 15 during constant strain rate measurements the flow stress remained approximately stable at 1250 c while it progressively decreased after the initial yield stress at the lower temperature mechanical data microstructures and textures indicate that both phases were deforming in the dislocation creep regime the weaker component magnesiowustite controlled the rheological behavior of the bulk material and accommodated most of the strain deformation and dynamic recrystallization lead to grain refinement and to textures that were not previously observed in pure magnesiowustite and may have developed due to the presence of the second phase at 1127 c olivine grains behaved as semi rigid inclusions rotating in a viscous matrix at 1250 c some olivine grains remained largely undeformed while deformation and recrystallization of other grains oriented for a slip on 010 resulted in a weak foliation and a texture typical for pure dry olivine aggregates both a slip and c slip on 010 were activated in olivine even though the nominal stresses were up to 2 orders of magnitude lower than those needed to activate these slip systems in pure olivine at the same conditions

the last 5000 years of activity at sete cidades volcano sao miguel island azores implications for hazard assessment abstract sete cidades is a central volcano with a summit caldera at the western end of sao miguel island azores its stratigraphy comprises two main geological groups the inferior group the units of which date from more than 200 000 years ago through to 36 000 years before present consisting of thick lava flows and subaerial volcaniclastic deposits that built the base of the central volcano and the superior group which comprises all the activity from the last 36 000 years including pumice and scoria fallout and pdc deposits with minor lava flows the volcanostratigraphy is divided into six main formations risco ajuda bretanha lombas santa barbara and lagoas each defined by different activity phases in the volcano s evolution the present caldera developed in three phases associated with massive paroxysmal eruptions which occurred approximately 36 000 29 000 and 16 000 years before present since the last caldera forming event eruptive activity has been predominantly explosive and a variety of deposits have been produced by different eruptive styles associated with three specific settings 1 pumice fall deposits pyroclastic density currents and hydromagmatic events from eruptions inside the caldera 2 lava domes cinder cones and basaltic lava flows from eruptions on the volcano flanks 3 tuff ring and tuff deposits from surtseyan eruptions offshore the more recent history of the volcano is marked by a change in the intracaldera activity from dominantly magmatic behaviour to a hydromagmatic character which happened about 5000 years ago since then at least 15 basaltic subaerial and submarine eruptions have occurred on the volcano flanks and 17 trachytic s l explosive eruptions have occurred within the caldera the most recent of which took place about 700 years ago this eruptive frequency makes sete cidades probably the most active volcanic centre in the azores in this paper we present the stratigraphy and a description of the deposits which originate from the last 5000 years in order to delineate sete cidades recent eruptive history for the purpose of estimating the hazard associated with this volcano an event tree has been designed to systematize possible future eruptive scenarios and to aid the assessment of relative probabilities of occurrence of different potential eruptive styles the probabilities for all nodes on the event tree together with their associated uncertainties were obtained by expert elicitation providing results that accord with the geologic record these probability estimates indicate that 1 basaltic strombolian and submarine eruptions are the most likely to occur 2 trachytic activity from the central volcano magmatic system is more probable in the intracaldera environment than on the flanks and 3 explosive activity is more likely than effusive for the trachytic system worst case scenario and maximum expected events are identified according to the eruptive scenarios and their probabilities of occurrence

viscoplastic self consistent and equilibrium based modeling of olivine lattice preferred orientations implications for the upper mantle seismic anisotropy anisotropy of upper mantle physical properties results from lattice preferred orientation lpo of upper mantle minerals in particular olivine we use an anisotropic viscoplastic self consistent vpsc and an equilibrium based model to simulate the development of olivine lpo and hence of seismic anisotropy during deformation comparison of model predictions with olivine lpo of naturally and experimentally deformed peridotites shows that the best fit is obtained for vpsc models with relaxed strain compatibility slight differences between modeled and measured lpo may be ascribed to activation of dynamic recrystallization during experimental and natural deformation in simple shear for instance experimental results suggest that dynamic re crystallization results in further reorientation of the lpo leading to parallelism between the main 010 100 slip system and the macroscopic shear thus modeled simple shear lpos are slightly misoriented relative to lpos measured in natural and experimentally sheared peridotites this misorientation is higher for equilibrium based models yet seismic properties calculated using lpo simulated using either anisotropic vpsc or equilibrium based models are similar to those of naturally deformed peridotites errors in the prediction of the polarization direction of the fast s wave and of the fast propagation direction for p waves are usually 15 moreover overestimation of lpo intensities in equilibrium based and vpsc simulations at high strains does not affect seismic anisotropy estimates because these latter are weakly dependent on the lpo intensity once a distinct lpo pattern has been developed thus both methods yield good predictions of development of upper mantle seismic anisotropy in response to plastic flow two notes of caution have nevertheless to be observed in using these results 1 the dilution effect of other upper mantle mineral phases in particular enstatite has to be taken into account in quantitative predictions of upper mantle seismic anisotropy and 2 lpo patterns from a few naturally deformed peridotites cannot be reproduced in simulations these abnormal lpos represent a small percent of the measured natural lpos but the present sampling may not be representative of their abundance in the earth s upper mantle

shear localisation in upper mantle peridotites upper mantle peridotite bodies at the earth s surface contain relict structures and microstructures which provide direct information on the role and the mechanisms of shear localisation in the upper mantle deformation which occurred at high temperatures t 950 50 c is relatively homogeneous within domains ranging in scale from a few kilometres to a few tens of kilometres below 950 50 c strain is localised into centimetre to several hundred metre wide shear zones which commonly contain hydrated mylonitic peridotites the microstructures developed in the peridotites suggest there is a correlation between the occurrence of shear localisation and the occurrence of strain softening and brittle deformation processes the most important strain softening processes are inferred to be structural and reaction induced softening structural softening processes include dynamic recrystallisation and strain induced transitions from dislocation creep to some form of grain size sensitive gss creep reaction induced softening is related to the formation of fine grained polyphase reaction products which deform by gss creep and the formation of weak sheet silicates such as phlogopite chlorite talc and antigorite from experimental studies these softening processes and brittle deformation processes are inferred to occur mainly at temperatures less than about 910 160 c this temperature range is inferred to be a significant rheological transition in the upper mantle below 910 160 c deformation during orogenesis may be accommodated by an anastomosing network of hydrated mylonitic shear zones with a distinct perhaps weak rheology at higher temperatures strain is accommodated in much wider deformation zones

grain coarsening maps a new tool to predict microfabric evolution of polymineralic rocks polymineralic rocks undergo grain coarsening with increasing temperature in both static and deformational environments as long as no mineral reactions occur the grain coarsening in such rocks is complex because the different phases influence each other and it is this interaction that controls the rate of grain coarsening of the entire aggregate we present a mathematical approach to investigate coupled grain coarsening using a set of microstructural parameters including grain size and volume fraction of both second phases and matrix mineral in combination with temperature information based on samples from polymineralic carbonate mylonites that were deformed at different temperatures we demonstrate how the mathematical relation can be calibrated for this natural system using such data sets for other lithologies grain coarsening maps can be generated which allow the prediction of microstructural evolution in polymineralic rocks such predictions are crucial for all subdisciplines in the earth sciences that require fundamental knowledge about microstructural changes and rheology of an orogen at different depths such as structural geology geophysics geodynamics and metamorphic petrology

experimental observations on the effect of interface slip on rotation and stabilisation of rigid particles in simple shear and a comparison with natural mylonites for axial ratios r not vert similar3 porphyroclasts from three mylonites all show a very strong spo with the long axis of the best fit ellipse at an antithetic angle of 5 10 to the shear direction this is more consistent with a stable end orientation than with the transient fabrics predicted by theory for elliptical rigid particles in simple shear the cause of this divergence is investigated in a series of high simple shear strain 15 analogue experiments performed in a ring shear machine couette flow using a linear viscous matrix pdms the rotational behaviour of elongate r not vert similar5 rigid particles with elliptical and rhomboidal shapes comparable with the natural examples is modelled for both coherent and slipping particle matrix interfaces interface slip causes a dramatic reduction in the rotation rate of the elliptical particle compared with theory when the long axis is close to the shear direction but not stabilisation interface slip does result in stabilisation of the rhomboidal particle with the long diagonal oriented at a small antithetic angle to the shear direction for monoclinic particles mirror image shapes referred to here as types 1 and 2 show different rotational behaviour for the type 1 particle with a shape comparable to porphyroclast systems and mica fish the long side rotates asymptotically into parallelism with the shear direction natural examples of type 1 particles such as hornblende and olivine porphyroclasts measured from the finero mylonites southern alps show a very strong preferred orientation for r not vert similar3 with the long side parallel or at a small 5 antithetic angle to the mylonitic foliation for type 2 particles the short side stabilises close to the shear direction or at a small synthetic angle as also observed for sillimanite porphyroclasts from the mont mary mylonites western alps in this natural case stabilisation of the short sides is against an extensional crenulation cleavage rather than the mylonitic foliation the analogue experiments establish that interface slip is one mechanism for stabilisation of elongate rhomboidal particles in natural examples decoupling from the matrix may be affected by extensional crenulation cleavage or c planes in s c fabrics

effect of varying enstatite content on the deformation behavior of fine grained synthetic peridotite under wet conditions the effect of varying enstatite content on the deformation behavior of synthetic fine grained 1 to 2 m forsterite enstatite rock with 0 5 wt added water was investigated at temperatures of 900 to 1000 c strain rates between 10 7 and 10 5 s 1 and a confining pressure of 600 mpa the samples exhibited approached steady state flow at stresses 60 mpa the results show that at constant strain rate increasing enstatite content is associated with a sharp decrease in flow strength in the range 0 2 5 vol enstatite with little further change up to 20 vol the observed power law n value of 1 7 and microstructures are similar to those obtained in previous work on material with 2 5 wt enstatite and are consistent with a water enhanced grain boundary sliding gbs dominated deformation mechanism significantly a negative correlation was found between grain size and enstatite content indicating that enstatite content played a role in controlling the grain size of the starting materials moreover a high correlation between measured flow strength and grain size was found consistent with a grain size exponent of 3 in a conventional grain size sensitive flow equation a water enhanced deformation mechanism involving gbs accommodated probably by grain boundary diffusion and or dislocation activity is therefore implied with the effect of enstatite content on flow strength being an indirect physical effect caused by grain size control other effects of second phase content such as weakening caused by interphase boundary diffusion and or migration processes seem to be unimportant under the conditions investigated

dislocation creep of magnesiowustite mg0 8fe0 2o abstract magnesiowustite is likely the second most abundant and probably weakest lower mantle phase its deformation properties will therefore influence the rheological and dynamic behaviour of this region in this study magnesiowustite aggregates with a composition of mg0 8fe0 2o have been deformed under dry conditions in axial compression at a confining pressure of 300 mpa and temperatures from 1200 to 1400 k 0 41

the role of water in the deformation of dunite specimens of two natural dunites anita bay of 100 m grain size and aheirn of 900 m grain size have been deformed in experiments at temperatures between 1200 and 1400 c and constant strain rates between 10 4 and 10 6 s 1 in a gas medium deformation apparatus at 300 mpa confining pressure prior to these experiments the specimens were given a heat treatment in a controlled oxygen fugacity furnace at 1200 c for 60 hours to dehydrate the trace layer silicate minerals present and drive off adsorbed water the predried specimens are much stronger than specimens tested under wet conditions in an earlier study the predried specimens also do not show the apparent grain size dependence seen under wet conditions infrared absorption measurements on the present specimens and those of the earlier study indicate that for a given rock flow stress can be correlated with the intensity of a residual water related broad absorption the addition of water to a predried specimen results in both a mechanical reweakening and an intensifying of the broadband infrared component the weakening of the dunites under wet conditions is probably strongly influenced by the presence of small amounts of a water related species in the grain boundaries but intragranular weakening may also be contributing it is suggested that the concentration of the water related species in the grain boundaries is governed by its concentration in the small melt fraction present the amounts of water that have been found to be of importance for the strength of these dunites are of the order of 0 01 wt amounts much less than most estimates of the water content of the earth s undepleted upper mantle such water may have an important role in determining upper mantle flow behavior stress strain curves for all experiments are available with entire manuscript on microfiche order from american geophysical union 2000 florida avenue n w washington dc 20009 document b84 008 2 50 payment must accompany order

methanogenic microbial community of the eastern paris basin potential for energy production from organic rich shales abstract shallow thermally immature organic rich shales represent considerable resources in the paris basin france we investigated the presence of methanogenic consortia i e syntrophic bacteria and methanogens in the lower toarcian paper shales formation to link geochemical and lithological properties of the rocks to the spatial distribution of microbial communities the presence of methanogenic microbial populations demonstrated via their growth in enrichment cultures occurs throughout most of the rock layers and may be explained by the transport of organics and microorganisms within the formation the enriched consortia were able to utilize the organic matter of the rock as sole carbon source in microcosm indicating a strong potential of these microbial communities for methanogenesis in situ

the effect of second phase particles on stable grain size in regionally metamorphosed polyphase calcite marbles samples of the calcite rich shelburne marble collected at the pfizer quarry in adams massachusetts show an order of magnitude variation in grain size calcite grain size ranges from 94 to 1101 m because these calcite marbles share the same pressure temperature and strain histories some other factor must be responsible for the grain size variation grain size appears to be controlled by the concentration of impurity or second phase particles large calcite grain size occurs where the volume fraction of second phase particles is low and grain size decreases as second phase volume fraction increases the relationship between calcite grain size d second phase grain size d and second phase volume fraction f can be described by the power law d d 1 4 f 0 36 a result that is consistent with models based upon short term hours or days laboratory experiments with metals and ceramics and computer simulations of grain growth grain growth appears to be greatly restricted by as little as a few per cent of second phase particles with a transition from highly restricted to almost unrestricted grain growth occurring at 5 volume of second phase particles these results indicate that second phase particles exercise an important control on grain size and can effectively inhibit grain growth in metamorphic rocks the behaviour of second phases in short term laboratory experiments may closely approximate the behaviour of second phases in grain growth lasting several orders of magnitude longer in the metamorphic environment

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