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Abstract To study the microstructural evolution of polymineralic rocks, we performed deformation experiments on two‐phase aggregates of olivine (Ol) + ferropericlase (Per) with periclase fractions (fPer) between 0.1 and 0.8. Additionally, single‐phase samples of both Ol and Per were deformed under the same experimental conditions to facilitate comparison of the microstructures in two‐phase and single‐phase materials. Each sample was deformed in torsion atT = 1523 K,P = 300 MPa at a constant strain rate up to a final shear strain of γ = 6 to 7. Microstructural developments, analyzed via electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), indicate differences in both grain size and crystalline texture between single‐ and two‐phase samples. During deformation, grain size approximately doubled in our single‐phase samples of Ol and Per but remained unchanged or decreased in two‐phase samples. Zener‐pinning relationships fit to the mean grain sizes in each phase for samples with 0.1 ≤ fPer≤ 0.5 and for those with 0.8 ≥ fPer ≥ 0.5 demonstrate that the grain size of the primary phase is controlled by phase‐boundary pinning. Crystallographic preferred orientations, determined for both phases from EBSD data, are significantly weaker in the two‐phase materials than in the single‐phase materials.
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Comparing in-situ and ex-situ stress measurements in polymineralic rocks
Constraints on the state of stress in the lithosphere are fundamental to understanding a breadth of geological phenomena. Paleo-stresses are generally estimated using microstructural elements for which there are experimentally calibrated relationships with applied stress, with an emphasis on recrystallised grain-size piezometers. However, it is often difficult to clearly distinguish newly recrystallised grains from the relict matrix. Furthermore, these grain-size piezometers are only applicable to rocks consisting of a single mineral. An alternative proxy for paleo-stress in polymineralic rocks is the average subgrain size. Unfortunately, estimates of subgrain size differ significantly among different measurement methods, and therefore, piezometers must be individually calibrated for the method used. Existing subgrain-size piezometers are based on calibrations using optical or transmission electron microscopy. We use electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), a common method of subgrain-boundary characterisation, to calibrate subgrain-size piezometers for both olivine and quartz. To test the application of our olivine subgrain-size piezometer to polymineralic rocks, we deformed synthetic mixtures of olivine and orthopyroxene. Experiments were conducted using a Deformation-DIA apparatus at beamline 6BM-B Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory. These experiments offer the unique possibility of simultaneously deforming the sample and measuring the average stresses within each phase using X-ray diffraction, before applying subgrain-size piezometry to the recovered samples. The results provide tests of (1) the manner in which stress is partitioned between phases, (2) whether the stresses measured in each phase by X-ray diffraction are comparable to those estimated by subgrain-size piezometry, and (3) whether stresses from subgrain piezometry can be used to estimate the macroscopic average applied stress. Stresses estimated from X-ray diffraction agree well with those made from subgrain-size piezometry in both monomineralic and polymineralic samples. In harzburgites, average stresses are similar in both phases and indicate that in this system, subgrain-size piezometric measurements from a single phase can be used to estimate the bulk stress.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1806791
- PAR ID:
- 10081897
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract To study the mechanical behavior of polymineralic rocks, we performed deformation experiments on two‐phase aggregates of olivine (Ol) + ferropericlase (Per) with periclase fractions (fPer) between 0.1 and 0.8. Each sample was deformed in torsion atT = 1523 K,P = 300 MPa at a constant strain rate to a final shear strain ofγ = 6 to 7. The stress‐strain data and calculated values of the stress exponent,n, indicate that Ol in our samples deformed by dislocation‐accommodated sliding along grain interfaces while Per deformed via dislocation creep. At shear strains ofγ < 1, the strengths of samples withfPer > 0.5 match model predictions for both phases deforming at the same stress, the lower‐strength bound for two‐phase materials, while the strengths of samples withfPer < 0.5 are greater than predicted by models for both phases deforming at the same strain rate, the upper‐strength bound. These observations suggest a transition from a weak‐phase supported to a strong‐phase supported regime with decreasingfPer. Aboveγ = 4, however, the strength of all two‐phase samples is greater than those predicted by either the uniform‐stress or the uniform‐strain rate bound. We hypothesize that the high strengths in the Ol + Per system are due to the presence of phase boundaries in two‐phase samples, for which deformation is rate limited by dislocation motion along interfacial boundaries. This observation contrasts with the mechanical behavior of samples consisting of Ol + pyroxene, which are weaker, possibly due to impurities at phase boundaries.more » « less
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