numerical simulation of diffusion controlled nucleation and growth of porphyroblasts this article presents the conceptual basis for a new numerical model of diffusion controlled nucleation and growth of porphyroblasts describes its implementation and illustrates the range of crystallization behaviours encompassed by it the model differs from previous efforts principally in its ability to track explicitly the evolution in time and space of the chemical affinity for reaction in the intergranular medium which provides a more accurate characterization of nucleation suppression in the vicinity of pre existing crystals and of growth suppression due to competition for nutrients among neighbouring crystals critical new features of these numerical simulations include maintenance of local equilibrium for fluid in contact with reactants or products persistence of reactants until they are eliminated by dissolution due to reaction progress and local diffusive flux nucleation rates that vary as the local reaction affinity evolves complex initial distributions of reactants if desired and the flexibility to encompass any porphyroblast forming reaction for which changes in free energy as a function of time and temperature are specified model results reveal that radial growth rates remain proportional to the square root of time in diffusion systems buffered by persistent reactants they document the interchangeable effects of diffusivity porosity and solubility on material fluxes and thus growth rates and they illustrate the offsetting textural effects of rates of diffusion nucleation and heating the initial distribution of reactants is found to exert a first order effect on crystal size distributions confirming their limited utility for diagnosing crystallization mechanisms these numerical simulations yield novel and rigorous confirmation of the textural effects of nucleation site saturation and variation in interconnected porosity and reproduce with high fidelity much of the textural and chemical information gathered from natural specimens

transfer of basal sliding variations to the surface of a linearly viscous glacier on etudie pour une plaque a faces paralleles d epaisseur h et de viscosite lineaire l effet en surface des fluctuations de la vitesse de derapage

stable isotope geochemistry and phase equilibria of coesite bearing whiteschists dora maira massif western alps peak metamorphic temperatures for the coesite pyrope bearing whiteschists from the dora maira massif western alps were determined with oxygen isotope thermometry the 18o smow values of the quartz after coesite 18o 8 1 to 8 6 n 6 phengite 6 2 to 6 4 n 3 kyanite 6 1 n 2 garnet 5 5 to 5 8 n 9 ellenbergerite 6 3 n 1 and rutile 3 3 to 3 6 n 3 reflect isotopic equilibrium temperature estimates based on quartz garnet rutile fractionation are 700 750 c minimum pressures are 31 32 kb based on the pressure sensitive reaction pyrope coesite kyanite enstatite in order to stabilize pyrope and coesite by the temperature sensitive dehydration reaction talc kyanite pyrope coesite h2o the a h2o must be reduced to 0 4 0 75 at 700 750 c the reduced a h2o cannot be due to dilution by co2 as pyrope is not stable at x co2 0 02 t 750 c p 30 kb in the absence of a more exotic fluid diluent e g ch4 or n2 a melt phase is required granite solidus temperatures are 680 c 30 kb at a h2o 1 0 and are calculated to be 70 c higher at a h2o 0 7 consistent with this hypothesis kyanite jadeite quartz bands may represent a relict melt phase peak p t f h2o estimates for the whiteschist are 34 2 kb 700 750 c and 0 4 0 75 the oxygen isotope fractionation between quartz 18o 11 6 and garnet 18o 8 7 in the surrounding orthognesiss is identical to that in the coesitebearing unit suggesting that the two units shared a common final metamorphic history hydrogen isotope measurements were made on primary talc and phengite d smow 27 to 32 on secondary talc and chlorite rite after pyrope d 39 to 44 and on the surrounding biotite d 64 and phengite d 44 gneiss all phases appear to be in nearequilibrium the very high d values for the primary hydrous phases is consistent with an initial oceanicderived connate fluid source the fluid source for the retrograde talc chlorite after pyrope may be fluids evolved locally during retrograde melt crystallization the similar d but dissimilar 18o values of the coesite bearing whiteschists and hosting orthogneiss suggest that the two were in hydrogen isotope equilibrium but not oxygen isotope equilibrium the unusual hydrogen and oxygen isotope compositions of the coesite bearing unit can be explained as the result of metasomatism from slab derived fluids at depth

shear margins in glaciers and ice sheets analytical and numerical techniques are used to examine the flow response of a sloped slab of power law fluid power n subjected to basal boundary conditions that vary spatially across the flow direction as for example near an ice stream margin with planar basal topography the primary assumption is that basal shear stress is proportional to the basal speed time a spatially variable slip resistance the ratio of mean basal speed to the speed originating from shearing through the thickness denoted as r gives a measure of how slippery the bed is the principal conclusion is that a localized disturbance in slip resistance affects the basal stress and speed in a zone spread over a greater width of the flow in units of ice thickness h the spatial scale of spreading is proportional to a single dimensionless number r n r n 1 1 n 1 derived from n and r the consequence for a shear zone above a sharp jump in slip resistance is that the shearing is spread out over a boundary layer with a width proportional to r n for an ice stream caused by a band of low slip resistance with a half width of wh the margins influence velocity and stress in the central part of the band depending on r n in comparison to w three regimes can be identified which for n 3 are quantified as follows low r defined as r 3 1w for which the boundary layers from both sides bridge across the full flow width and the driving stress in the center is supported almost entirely by side drag intermediate r for which the driving stress in the center is supported by a combination of basal and side drag shear zones that are narrower than predicted on the basis of this theory r 3 would require localized softening of the ice to explain the concentration of deformation at a shorter scale

the pyrope coesite rocks and their country rocks at parigi dora maira massif western alps detailed petrography mineral chemistry and pt path both the coarse and fine grained varieties of the partly coesite bearing pyrope quartzites their interlayered jadeite kyanite rocks and the biotite phengite gneiss country rock common to all of them were subjected to detailed petrographic and textural studies in order to determine the sequence of crystallisation of their mineral constituents which were also studied analytically by microprobe prior to pyrope and coesite growth the mg rich metapelites were talc kyanite chlorite rutile ellenbergerite schists which upon continued prograde metamorphism developed first pyrope megacrysts in silica deficient local environments at the expense of chlorite talc kyanite and subsequently the smaller pyrope crystals with coesite inclusions from reacting talc kyanite based on geobarometrically useful mineral inclusions as well as on experimentally determined phase relations a prograde pt path simplified for water activity 1 is constructed which passes through the approximate pt conditions 16 kbar and 560 c 29 kbar and 720 c and finally up to 37 kbar at about 800 c where the mg rich metapelite was a pyrope coesite rock with phengite kyanite and talc still present during the retrograde path pyrope was altered metasomatically either into phlogopite kyanite quartz or at a later stage to chlorite muscovite quartz both assemblages yield pt constraints the latter about 7 9 kbar 500 600 c the country rock gneisses have also endured high pressures of at least 15 kbar but they provide mostly constraints on the lowest portion of the uplift conditions within the greenschist facies about 5 kbar 450 c microprobe data are presented for the following minerals pyrope ellenbergerite dumortierite unusually mgti rich jadeite vermiculite formed after na phlogopite paragonite and for several generations of phengite chlorite talc phlogopite dravite and glaucophane in the high pressure rocks as well as for biotite chlorite phengites epidote garnet albite and k feldspar in the country rock gneisses an outstanding open problem identified in this study is the preservation of minerals as inclusions within kyanite and pyrope beyond their pt stability limits

coesite and pure pyrope in high grade blueschists of the western alps a first record and some consequences a pyrope quartzite originally described by vialon 1966 from the dora maira massif was resampled and reinvestigated garnet up to 25 cm in size phengite kyanite talc and rutile are in textural equilibrium in an undeformed matrix of polygonal quartz the garnet is a pyrope almandine solid solution with 90 to 98 mol mg end member it contains inclusions of coesite which has partially inverted to quartz resulting in a typical radial cracking of the host garnet around the inclusions several lines of evidence show that coesite crystallised under nearly static pressure conditions and that the whole matrix has once been coesite

thermo mechanically coupled ice sheet response cold polythermal temperate classical mixture concepts are the appropriate vehicle for describing the dynamics of ice masses containing some water we review and derive respectively the theoretical formulations of cold polythermal and temperate ice masses emphasize the peculiarities of the model equations and point to difficulties that were encountered with the proposed models the focus is both on the adequate physical motivation of the models and the consistency of their mathematical representation

experimental evidence for diamond facies metamorphism in the dora maira massif the peak metamorphic conditions of subducted continental crust in the dora maira massif western alps have been revised by combining experimental results in the kcmash system with petrologic information from whiteschists textural observations in whiteschists suggest that the peak metamorphic assemblage garnet phengite kyanite coesite talc originates from the reaction kyanite talc garnet coesite liquid in the experimentally determined petrogenetic grid this reaction occurs above 45 kbar at 730 c at lower pressures talc reacts either to orthopyroxene and coesite or together with phengite to biotite coesite and kyanite the liberated liquid contains probably similar amounts of h2o and dissolved granitic components the composition of the liquid in the whiteschists at peak metamorphic conditions a major unknown in earlier studies was probably very similar to the liquid composition produced in the experiments therefore the experimentally determined petrogenetic grid represents a good model for the estimation of the peak metamorphic conditions in whiteschists experimentally determined si isopleths for phengite further constrain peak pressures to 43 kbar for the measured si 3 60 of phengite in the natural whiteschists all these data provide evidence that the whiteschists reached diamond facies conditions the fluid absent equilibrium 4 kyanite 3 celadonite 4 coesite 3 muscovite pyrope has been calibrated on the basis of garnet and phengite compositions in the experiments and serves as a geothermobarometer for ultra high pressure uhp metapelites for graphite bearing metapelites and kyanite phengite eclogites forming the country rocks of the whiteschists peak metamorphic pressures of about 44 3 kbar were calculated from this barometer for temperatures of 750 c estimated from garnet phengite thermometry therefore the whole ultra high pressure unit of the dora maira massif most likely experienced peak metamorphic conditions in the diamond stability field while graphite is common in the metapelites diamond has not been found so far the absence of metamorphic microdiamonds might be explained by the low temperature of metamorphism the absence of a free fluid phase in the metapelites and a short residence time in diamond facies conditions resulting in kinetic problems in the conversion of graphite to diamond

in search of ice stream sticky spots the form drag of large bedrock bumps sticking into the base of an ice stream can produce effective sticky spots supporting large basal shear stress bedrock regions surrounded by lubricating till at the same topographic level can cause sticky spots but tend to collect lubricating water and thus are unlikely to support a shear stress of more than a few tenths of a bar unless they contain abundant large bumps raised regions on the ice air surface also can cause moderate increases in the shear stress supported on the bed beneath surveys of large scale bedrock roughness strain grids across the margins of ice surface highs and possibly water pressure measurements in regions of thin or zero till would help identify and characterize sticky spots

strength characterization of rock masses using a coupled dem dfn model summary a discrete element model dem is used to study the mechanical behaviour of a pre fractured brittle medium subjected to triaxial loadings where progressive failure can occur the initial discrete fracture network dfn is based on a fractal distribution and it is used to characterize the influence of clustering and size distribution of pre existing fractures on the strength of fractured rock masses the proposed approach captures the progressive failure process occurring in the rock matrix as shearing displacement takes place along pre existing discontinuities the results show that the mechanical behaviour of fractured rock masses is mainly dependent on the fracture intensity however for a given fracture intensity the strength can exhibit a 50 per cent variability depending on the size distribution of the pre existing fractures this difference can be attributed to the different mechanisms that involve sliding and crushing of blocks in the case of large interconnected fractures or progressive failure of the rock matrix through coalescence of cracks in the case of small unconnected fractures clustering of fractures was found to influence the spatial variability of the mechanical properties and therefore to have a scale effect on strength the results outline the relevance of three parameters the power law exponent of the fracture size distribution the clustering fractal dimension which fixes the fracture to fracture correlation number and the fracture intensity to characterize the mechanical behaviour of rock masses

the significance of intergranular diffusion to the mechanisms and kinetics of porphyroblast crystallization the spatial disposition compositional zoning profiles and size distributions of garnet crystals in 11 specimens of pelitic schist from the picuris range of new mexico usa demonstrate that the kinetics of intergranular diffusion controlled the nucleation and growth mechanisms of porphyroblasts in these rocks an ordered disposition of garnet centers and a significant correlation between crystal radius and near neighbor distances manifest suppressed nucleation of new crystals in diffusionally depleted zones surrounding pre existing crystals compositional zoning profiles require diffusionally controlled growth the rate of which increases exponentially as temperature increases with time an acceleration factor for growth rate can be estimated from a comparison of compositional profiles for crystals of different sizes in each specimen crystal size distributions are interpreted as the result of nucleation rates that accelerate exponentially with increasing temperature early in the crystallization process but decline in the later stages because of suppression effects in the vicinity of earlier formed nuclei simulations of porphyroblast crystallization based upon thermally accelerated diffusionally influenced nucleation kinetics and diffusionally controlled growth kinetics quantitatively replicate textural relations in the rocks the simulations employ only two variable parameters which are evaluated by fitting of crystal size distributions both have physical significance the first is an acceleration factor for nucleation with a magnitude reflecting the prograde increase during the nucleation interval of the chemical affinity for the reaction in undepleted regions of the rock the second is a measure of the relative sizes of the porphyroblast and the diffusionally depleted zone surrounding it crystal size distributions for the picuris range garnets correspond very closely to those in the literature from a variety of other localities for garnet and other minerals the same kinetic model accounts quantitatively for crystal size distributions of porphyroblastic garnet phlogopite sphene and pyroxene in rocks from both regional and contact metamorphic occurrences these commonalities indicate that intergranular diffusion may be the dominant kinetic factor in the crystallization of porphyroblasts in a wide variety of metamorphic environments

three dimensional quantitative textural analysis of metamorphic rocks using high resolution computed x ray tomography part i methods and techniques macroscopic textures resulting from different atomic scale mechanisms for metamorphic crystallization display different degrees of order clustering intergrowth and relative isolation of porphyroblasts data on the sizes and locations of thousands of crystals in a three dimensional volume are required to identify reliably the mechanisms governing nucleation and growth of porphyroblasts from these textural features these data can now be acquired by means of high resolution computed x ray tomography numerical models that simulate porphyroblast formation governed by either interface controlled or diffusion controlled reaction mechanisms indicate that quantitative textural analysis can discriminate between these possibilities these numerical models also allow a comparison between textures predicted for different crystallization mechanisms and textures measured in natural samples from which inferences can be drawn concerning the relative importance of these mechanisms in nature an independent test of the validity of such inferences is possible for porphyroblasts such as garnet that may preserve prograde growth zoning and allow the examination of normalized radius rate relations

microstructure and crystallographic preferred orientation of polycrystalline microgarnet aggregates developed during progressive creep recovery and grain boundary sliding abstract optical microscopy electron probe microanalysis and electron backscatter diffraction methods have been used to examine a broad range of garnet microstructures within a high strain zone that marks the western margin of a major transpression zone in the southern new england appalachians garnet accommodated variable states of finite strain expressed as low strain porphyroclasts type 1 high strain polycrystalline aggregates type 2 and transitional morphologies type 3 that range between these end members type 1 behaved as rigid porphyroclasts and is characterized by four concentric ca growth zones type 2 help define foliation and lineation are characterized by three ca zones and possess a consistent bulk crystallographic preferred orientation of 100 symmetrical to the tectonic fabric type 3 show variable degrees of porphyroclast associated with aggregate where porphyroclasts display complex compositional zoning that corresponds to lattice distortion low angle boundaries and subgrains and aggregate cpo mimics porphyroclast orientation all aggregates accommodated a significant proportion of greenschist facies deformation through grain boundary sliding grain rotation and impingement and pressure solution which lead to a cohesive behavior and overall strain hardening of the aggregates the characteristic cpo could not have been developed in this manner and was the result of an older phase of partitioned amphibolite facies dislocation creep recovery including chemical segregation and recrystallization of porphyroclasts this study demonstrates the significance of strain accommodation within garnet and its affect on composition under a range of pt conditions and emphasizes the importance of utilizing ebsd methods with studies that rely upon a sound understanding of garnet

garnet polycrystals and the significance of clustered crystallization polycrystalline garnets are common in metamorphic rocks and may form as a result of close spacing of nuclei if clustering is early or impingement of larger grains if clustering occurs later in the growth history the timing of clustering relative to garnet growth is relevant to understanding the formation and evolution of porphyroblasts and evaluating the significance if any of clustering electron backscattered diffraction ebsd analysis of garnet bearing metamorphic rocks reveals the presence of polycrystalline garnet in nine localities examined in this study the northern appalachians vermont maine new york usa north american cordillera north cascades range washington snake range nevada usa western rocky mountains british columbia canada southern menderes massif turkey santander massif colombia and the sanandaj sirjan zone hamadan iran in some samples polycrystals comprise 20 30 of garnets analyzed and chemical and textural evidence suggests that early coalescence of garnet polycrystals is common some early coalescing polycrystals exhibit growth zoning that is concentric about the geometric center of the polycrystal in thin section these garnets may be undetectable as polycrystals based on morphology or zoning in some polycrystals zoning is unrelated to the location of internal grain boundaries in others fe mn mg zoning has a different pattern than that of ca zoning patterns may vary on the scale of a single thin section in addition some polycrystals are characterized by high angle misorientation boundaries that may be in special non random orientations an observation that indicates that these polycrystals are not random clusters of grains the presence of internal grain boundaries may affect diffusion pathways and length scales and may facilitate communication of porphyroblast interiors with matrix phases thereby influencing reaction history of the rock and the composition zoning of garnet

transmission of basal variability to a glacier surface 1 transmission of basal variability to a glacier surface is investigated using analytical models for a linearly viscous medium the three dimensional transient response of the surface to both bedrock undulations and spatial variations in basal slipperiness for perturbations of arbitrary wavelengths is determined using perturbation methods both information transfer toward the surface and lateral transmission of horizontal stresses are strongly affected by the slip ratio that is the ratio of basal sliding to deformational velocity for any mean bedrock slope and above a minimum value of slip ratio the amplitude transfer of bedrock undulations toward the surface has a local maximum at undulation span corresponding to about 3 8 times the mean ice thickness the transmission of basal variability to a glacier surface increases quite significantly with increasing slip ratio this explains why the surfaces of fast flowing ice streams are more undulating than the slower moving bordering areas at slip ratios higher than about 100 the flow of glaciers and ice sheets becomes nonlocal in the sense that surface velocities and buildup and propagation of surface undulations cannot be calculated accurately on the basis of local thickness and slope using linearized long wave theories at these slip ratios instead of the more accurate arbitrary wavelength theory gives estimates of decay times that are an order of magnitude too small and phase velocities several times too large the problem of the propagation and decay of small amplitude surface undulations on glaciers in three dimensions is solved small amplitude surface waves on glaciers are strongly diffusive and dispersive redistribution of mass on ice sheets and glaciers is a diffusion process and it is misleading albeit not mathematically incorrect to describe the reaction of glaciers to surface perturbations in terms of a wave propagation

petrology of very high pressure eclogitic rocks from the brossasco isasca complex dora maira massif italian western alps petrographical and mineral chemical data are given for the eclogites which occur in the garnet kyanite micaschists of the penninic dora maira massif between brossasco isasca and martiniana italian western alps and for a sodic whiteschist associated with the pyrope coesite whiteschists of martiniana the brossasco isasca bi eclogites are fine grained foliated and often mica rich rocks with a strong preferred orientation of omphacite crystals and white micas porphyroblasts of hornblende are common in some varieties whilst zoisite and kyanite occur occasionally in pale green varieties associated with leucocratic layers with quartz jadeite and garnet these features differentiate the bi eclogites from the eclogites that occur in other continental units of the western alps which all belong to type c garnet sodic pyroxene and glaucophane are the major minerals in the sodic whiteschist sodic pyroxene in the eclogites is an omphacite often close to jd50di50 with very little acmite and virtually no aliv and impure jadeite in the leucocratic layers and in the sodic whiteschist garnet is almandine with 20 30 mol for each of the pyrope and grossular components in the eclogites and a pyrope rich variety in the sodic whiteschist white mica is a variably substituted phengite and paragonite apparently only occurs as a replacement product of kyanite amphibole is hornblende in the eclogites but the most magnesian glaucophane yet described in the sodic whiteschist quartz pseudomorphs of coesite were found occasionally in a few pyroxenes and garnets the p t conditions during the vhp event are constrained in the eclogites by reactions which define a field ranging from 27 28 kbar to 35 kbar and from 680 to 750 c these temperatures are consistent with the results of garnet pyroxene and garnet phengite geothermometry which suggest that the eclogites may have equilibrated at around 700 c in the sodic whiteschist pressures ranging from 29 to 35 kbar can be deduced from the stability of the jadeite pyrope garnet glaucophane compatibility as in the eclogites water activity must have been low such conditions are close to the p t values estimated for the early alpine recrystallization of the pyrope coesite rock and like petrographical and mineralogical features set aside the bi eclogites from the other eclogites of the western alps instead indicating a close similarity to some of the eclogite bodies occurring in the adula nappe of the central alps an important corollary is that glaucophane stability at least in na and mg rich compositions and under very high pressures may extend up to 700 c in agreement with the ht stability limit suggested by experimental studies

the petrological significance of misorientations between grains misorientation analysis quantifies microstructural features in tectonites metamorphic and igneous rocks and allows hypotheses on their formation to be tested the misorientation between two lattices can be expressed by a rotation axis and rotation angle for lattices with symmetry it is conventional to take the minimum angle that enables one lattice to be rotated into the other for a group of lattice measurements two types of misorientation distribution can be calculated selecting random pairs of grains gives the random pair misorientation distribution selecting neighbouring pairs gives the neighbour pair misorientation distribution the forms of both distributions are visualised using histograms or cumulative frequency diagrams they are strongly influenced by any overall crystallographic preferred orientation and by intrinsic crystal symmetry in many rocks the random pair misorientation distribution and neighbour pair misorientation distribution are statistically significantly different quantified using the kolmogorov smirnov test differences between the random pair misorientation distribution and neighbour pair misorientation distribution imply that adjacent grains have physically interacted or are inherited from a precursor microstructure interactions include 1 reduction in surface energy by lattice alignment we show this may have occurred in garnet clusters in schist and olivine in a cumulate it is well known in metals and may be a common geological process 2 nucleation where those nuclei have influenced the orientation of adjacent nuclei 3 mechanical rotations of facetted grains in compacting crystal mushes so that faces become parallel 4 growth twinning inheritance includes 1 subgrain rotation recrystallisation in tectonites deforming by crystal plastic processes 2 mechanical and transformation related twinning 3 domainal microstructures e g where grains have formed from a few large original grains may give rise to spurious correlations when the orientation data cover more than one domain with this proviso misorientation analysis can be used to investigate many important microstructural processes

titanium solubility in coexisting garnet and clinopyroxene at very high pressure the significance of exsolved rutile in garnet exsolution microstructures including ilmenite garnet in clinopyroxene and rutile in garnet are common in clinopyroxenite and eclogite from the sulu ultrahigh pressure uhp terrane in order to understand the phase relations and ti solubility in both garnet and clinopyroxene in a natural tio2 bearing system several experiments at 5 15 gpa 1000 1400 c were carried out using the multianvil high pressure apparatus the hujianlin ilmenite rich garnet clinopyroxenite showing exsolution microstructure was selected as starting material because it closely approaches a composition lying in the tio2 cao mgo feo al2o3 sio2 system except for minor melt in one experiment at 1400 c and 5 gpa other run products contain majoritic garnet clinopyroxene ilmenite or rutile and exhibit neoblastic texture with increasing pressure ti and ca mg and si contents of neoblastic garnet increase with decreasing al the principal coupled substitutions are ca2 ti4 2al3 and si4 mg2 2al3 responding to majorite component increase titanium solubility 0 8 4 5 wt as tio2 in garnet and grtti cpxti ratio have a pronounced positive correlation with pressure between 5 and 15 gpa on the other hand the coexisting clinopyroxene contains low ti 0 17 0 53 wt as tio2 and shows no significant pressure effect rutile exsolution in garnet is coupled to that of pyroxene exsolution both are exsolved from majoritic garnet on decompression therefore the amount of such exsolved lamellae is a potential indicator of high pressure metamorphism in exhumed rocks whereas the tio2 content of clinopyroxene coexisting with garnet is not sensitive to pressure change

the origin and longevity of flow stripes on antarctic ice streams flow stripes along the surface of rapidly moving ice streams are shown to be an expected reaction of a viscous medium flowing over an irregular bed whenever the velocity at the bed is large compared to shearing through the thickness the principal features of the process are as follows at high basal speeds the ice acts as a strongly selective band pass filter transmitting basal undulations on spatial scales of a few ice thicknesses very effectively to the surface the decay of the short scale features by diffusion is strongly retarded by horizontal stress gradients consequently localized disturbances at the bed produce topographic effects on the surface that are advected long distances downstream before decaying away this mechanism may explain many of the flow stripes on active ice streams moving by rapid basal motion

formation of garnet clusters during polyphase metamorphism pre alpine garnets of variscan age from metapelitic basement units in northern italy were strongly retrogressed at near surface conditions prior to alpine contact metamorphism the replacement by sheet silicates caused a significant volume increase during retrogression producing pervasive fracturing up to several hundreds of angular fragments formed from each crystal electron backscatter diffraction analysis documents a maximum misorientation of 22 of some fragments as a result of local rotation during fracturing new garnet growth is observed on the garnet fragments during contact metamorphic overprinting resulting in garnet clusters fragments can be identified due to calcium rich domains fragment orientations were inherited and only minor new nucleation occurred these garnets develop features typically associated with multiple nucleation models but here they reflect multiple metamorphic events we propose that clusters can be indicative of multiple metamorphic events which were separated by a period of intense retrograde alteration

35 ma old ultrahigh pressure metamorphism and evidence for very rapid exhumation in the dora maira massif western alps abstract ion microprobe shrimp data on zircons from various rock types of an ultrahigh pressure uhp metamorphic whiteschist type pyrope quartzite lens of the dora maira massif dmm consistently show domains giving a late eocene age of 35 4 1 0 ma which is taken as the age of uhp metamorphism these domains partially replace the older oscillatory zoning pattern of the zircons formed during primary magmatic crystallization at about 275 ma zircons of a metagranitic country rock next to the uhp metamorphic lens have these primary features best preserved all zircons measured also yield intermediate ages between 275 and 35 ma with a statistical concentration between 260 and 210 ma thus the uniformity of the initial zircon population both in the lens and the country rock evidences a common protolith that is a granite intruded during the late herynian while the intermediate ages are at least partly due to incomplete resetting of the zircons during uhp metamorphism those in the 260 210 ma range may be related to rifting episodes in the permotriassic the mg rich chemistry of the whiteschist lenses is due to local metasomatic alterations of the granite perhaps by fluids derived from evaporitic sediments dating as early as the permotriassic as well the more pervasive resetting of zircon ages during uhp metamorphism in the pyrope quartzite lenses is explained by the ubiquity of fluids and or melts produced during subduction by a series of dehydration reactions that occurred only in the more hydrous mg rich protoliths and not in their drier granitic neighborhood fission track ages determined partly on the same zircon samples yielding 29 9 1 4 ma mark the time when the uhpm unit had reached about 290 c at a shallow location within the crust thus exhumation over a vertical distance of about 120 km must have occurred within about 5 6 ma indicating an average uplift rate of about 20 24 km ma and an average cooling rate of about 85 100 c ma the radiometric data obtained do not lend any support to an eo alpine cretaceous subduction event so that deep subduction and immediately following exhumation all took place during early to mid tertiary time this scenario seems to apply to large portions of the western and central alps as well calling for drastic geodynamic reinterpretations of these parts of the alps

sequential porphyroblast growth and crenulation cleavage development during progressive deformation abstract six stages of crenulation cleavage development during a single deformation event d2 can be recognised in both matrix and porphyroblast inclusion trails in the robertson river formation n e australia these stages progress from undeformed to crenulation and differentiated crenulation of s1 through development of differentiated crenulation cleavage s2 and differentiated schistosity s2 to homogeneous foliation s2 these rocks underwent prograde metamorphism during d2 and chloritoid garnet staurolite andalusite and sillimanite isograds have been mapped most rocks are rich in porphyroblasts which commonly contain well defined inclusion trails the geometry of these trails varies from one mineral type to the next depending on the timing of porphyroblast growth relative to the stage of crenulation cleavage development in the schistose matrix the deformation history involved progressive bulk inhomogeneous shortening and the strain is very heterogeneous on all scales partly as a consequence of this hence each of the six stages of crenulation cleavage development formed locally at various times during d2 therefore if a porphyroblast grew late in the deformation it could overgrow all stages of crenulation cleavage development including the very early ones the temperature increased during metamorphism in any one locality and consequently some porphyroblasts overgrew others that were unstable in the new conditions preserving them from destruction hence the precise timing of mineralogical reactions deduced from isograds and mineral chemistry relative to the stages in schistosity development can also be determined in the andalusite zone the sequence of porphyroblasts in decreasing order of age is biotite garnet biotite staurolite andalusite dissolution of garnet occurred during growth of staurolite and especially andalusite and dissolution of staurolite accompanied andalusite growth

formation of garnet polycrystals during metamorphic crystallization garnet polycrystals may form throughout the metamorphic history of a rock starting at the earliest stages of garnet growth when closely spaced nuclei coalesce in mica schist from townshend dam vt electron back scattered diffraction ebsd analysis shows that garnet polycrystals possess two or more distinct lattice orientations separated by high angle boundaries 28 61 the minimum rotational displacements required to bring these lattice orientations into concordance with each other are commonly normal to the same low energy planes that occur as crystal faces of euhedral garnet there is no evidence for intracrystalline deformation and the polycrystals therefore probably represent individual garnet crystals that coalesced during growth the boundaries cross cut growth zoning and inclusion trails of the polycrystals indicating that early formed polycrystals once coalesced behave chemically and physically as single crystals statistical analysis of a 3d high resolution x ray computed tomographic data set of a large sample 912 cm3 of a townshend dam schist combined with microprobe and ebsd analyses of garnet are consistent with a high degree of clustering at all stages of garnet growth the formation and prevalence of polycrystals implies that garnet nuclei impinged on each other and coalesced and that coalescence was a common feature throughout garnet growth in the rock

longitudinal variations in glacial flow theory and test using data from the byrd station strain network antarctica application de la theorie de budd 1970 des effets du lit sur les variations d ecoulement du glacier aux observations de la calotte de glace a la station byrd on utilise une rheologie visqueuse lineaire et on resout une equation biharmonique des variations des efforts et des vitesses de deformation les conditions aux limites comportent une topographie du fond avec ondulations glissements et cisaillements

microstructural chemical and textural records during growth of snowball garnet the growth history of two populations of snowball garnet from the lukmanier pass area central swiss alps was examined through a detailed analysis of three dimensional geometry chemical zoning and crystallographic orientation the first population collected in the hinge of a chevron type fold shows an apparent rotation of 360 the first 270 are characterized by spiral shaped inclusion trails gradual and concentric mn zoning and a single crystallographic orientation whereas in the last 90 crenulated inclusion trails and secondary mn maxima centred on distinct crystallographic garnet domains are observed microstructural geochemical and textural data indicate a radical change in growth regime between the two growth sequences in the first 270 growth occurred under rotational non coaxial flow whereas in the last 90 garnet grew under a non rotational shortening regime the second population collected in the limb of the same chevron type fold structure is characterized by a spiral geometry that does not exceed 270 of apparent rotation these garnet microstructures do not record any evidence for a modification of the stress field during garnet growth concentric mn zoning as well as a single crystallographic orientation are observed for the entire spiral electron backscatter diffraction data indicate that nearly all central domains in the snowball garnet are characterized by one 001 axis oriented sub parallel to the symmetry axis and by another 001 axis oriented sub parallel to the orientation of the internal foliation these features suggest that the crystallographic orientation across the garnet spiral is not random and that a relation exists among the symmetry axis the internal foliation and the crystallographic orientation

an evaluation of spatial correlation functions in textural analysis of metamorphic rocks spatial correlation functions which quantify spatial relationships among porphyroblasts over a range of length scales can be used in combination with other techniques of quantitative textural analysis to constrain crystallization mechanisms in metamorphic rocks the utility reliability and robustness of these functions however depend critically upon correct methods of calculation and application to geological samples application of the l function pair correlation function and mark correlation function stoyan and stoyan 1994 to artificial arrangements of crystals yields results consistent with their predetermined ordering and clustering qualities these results serve as a foundation for the interpretation of more complex simulated and natural crystal arrays analysis of artificial and simulated crystal arrays in which ordering signals are obscured in various ways displacing crystals in an ordered array by increasing amounts reducing the number of crystals and increasing the sample s aspect ratio demonstrates that these scale dependent functions are robust indicators of effects diagnostic of certain crystallization mechanisms even in complex circumstances the effects of clustering of nucleation sites however can strongly obscure any underlying signal that might reveal crystallization mechanisms the l function and the pair correlation function are sensitive to short range ordering of crystals which may reflect suppression of nucleation in the vicinity of growing porphyroblasts the mark correlation function is sensitive to size isolation correlations which may reflect retardation of growth among crystals competing for nutrients interpretation of these functions however requires careful attention to proper calculation of monte carlo simulations which are used to identify values of the functions that constitute a null hypothesis region for comparison to samples with unknown ordering and clustering characteristics to yield functional values commensurate with those calculated for a particular natural rock specimen each simulation must match as closely as possible several critical features of the natural rock including the set of crystal radii limitations on the observability of crystals and the shape and size of the bounding surface of the sample crystallization mechanisms in seven previously studied garnetiferous rocks from three localities carlson et al 1995 denison and carlson 1997 have been reassessed using both scale dependent correlation functions and single valued spatial statistics both evaluated by comparison to rigorously computed null hypothesis regions the results confirm previous inferences that the nucleation and growth rates of the garnet porphyroblasts in these specimens were governed by rates of diffusion through the intergranular medium

when epitaxy controls garnet growth within a mica schist from the coesite bearing brossasco isasca unit western alps microstructural analysis shows that alpine garnet grains are aligned with the crenulated foliation garnet crystallographic orientation was analysed with electron backscatter diffraction ebsd the obtained crystallographic dispersion patterns and distribution patterns of misorientation axes suggest a strong parallelism of 110 garnet planes with a 56 w dipping foliation the data are interpreted as evidence for an epitaxial growth of garnet upon 001 biotite planes sometime during and or after dispersion of the biotite garnet crystals from their initially foliation parallel orientation by rotation about the alpine crenulation axis this interpretation is based on the comparison of the measured ebsd data with i theoretical dispersion trajectories of garnet crystallographic data ii numerically modelled pole figures and iii numerically modelled misorientation axis distribution patterns our data suggest that epitaxial growth of garnet upon biotite is allowed by distortion of the pseudohexagonal basal oxygen ring structure on 001 biotite surfaces and that distortion is driven by introduction of missing ions our data further suggest that the spatial distribution of precursor phases influences the distribution patterns of garnet within mica schists