Viscous and frictional strength of the lithospheric mantle: Microstructural characterization of experimentally deformed polycrystalline Olivine

Convection in Earth’s mantle is the major driving force behind the movement of tectonic plates. While the lower parts of the upper mantle deform in a ductile way, the plates themselves are rheologically more rigid than the asthenosphere beneath. To understand how convection yields tectonic plates, it is vital to quantify the viscous and frictional strength of the lithospheric mantle. Yet to date, the rheology of the uppermost mantle just below the Mohorovicic discontinuity is still poorly understood. Furthermore, the early stages of visco-plastic deformation at intermediate temperatures (600 – 1000 °C) relevant of the lithospheric mantle are not well documented or quantified. To provide accurate mechanical values for the lithospheric mantle, we need mechanical data but also a characterization of the associated microstructure to understand the deformation mechanisms at play during permanent deformation of olivine-rich rocks. In this thesis, I have performed deformation experiments in axial compression using a Paterson press (at Geosciences Montpellier, University of Montpellier, France) at high pressure and temperature (300 MPa, 1000 – 1200 °C) and in torsion using a low to high velocity rotary shear frictional testing machine (Rock Mechanics Laboratory, Durham University, UK) at room pressure and temperatures. The recovered samples were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, electron backscatter diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. After an introduction chapter where the state-of-the-art is detailed, and a chapter focusing on experimental and analytical methods used during scientific projects, the thesis is organized as three subsequent chapters, each of them corresponding to three scientific articles: one is published (1) Stress evolution and associated microstructure during transient creep of olivine at 1000-1200 °C (Phys. Earth Planet. Int., doi: 10.1016/j.pepi.2018.03.002.); and the two others are in preparation, (2) Disclination density in polycrystalline olivine experimentally deformed at 1000 °C and 1200 °C; and (3) Shear deformation of nano- and micro-crystalline olivine at seismic slip rates. Chapter III has shown that the observed mechanical hardening can not come from a simple increase in dislocation density (e.g., entanglement) and that other mechanisms must be at play to compensate for the limitations of dislocation slip. For the first time, in chapter IV the densities of geometrically necessary dislocations (GND, translational defects) and disclinations (rotational defects) are quantified on a series of rocks deformed at different temperatures, finite strains and stress levels. No correlation has been identified between disclination density and stress, strain or GND. The role of the disclinations will therefore be limited to migration at grain boundaries, which may be sufficient to unblock dislocations in the polycrystalline olivine aggregate. In chapter V, torsion experiments confirmed the negligible effect of grain size (olivine from 0.07 to 70 μm) on the drastic decrease of the coefficient of friction, but the characterization of the samples did permit to shed light on the main mechanism of deformation. Thanks to an experimental approach and up-to-date material characterization, this thesis permitted better characterization of the brittle-ductile transition of a fine-grained dunite-type rock subjected to permanent deformation at uppermost mantle temperatures.