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Abstract Seismic anisotropy arises in the upper mantle due to the alignment of olivine crystal lattices and is often used to interpret mantle flow direction. Experiments on the evolution of olivine crystal‐preferred orientation (CPO) have found that the texture that develops is dependent on many factors, including water content, differential stress, preexisting CPO, and deformation kinematics. To evaluate the role of these factors in naturally deformed samples, we present microstructural transects across three shear zones in the Josephine Peridotite. Samples from these shear zones exhibit a mixture of A‐type textures, which have been associated with dry conditions and primary activation of the olivine [100](010) slip system, and of E‐type textures, which have been associated with wetter conditions and primary activation of the [100](001) slip system. CPOs with characteristics of both A‐type and E‐type textures are also present. CPO type does not evolve systematically as a function of either strain or water content. We used a micromechanical model to evaluate the roles of preexisting texture and kinematics on olivine CPO evolution. We find that the preexisting texture controls CPO evolution at strains up to 5 during simple shear. Kinematics involving a combination of simple shear and pure shear can explain the olivine CPOs at higher strain. Hence, preexisting CPOs and deformation kinematics should be considered in the interpretation of CPOs measured in naturally deformed rocks and of large‐scale patterns in upper‐mantle seismic anisotropy.
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Alpine Fault‐Related Microstructures and Anisotropy of the Mantle Beneath the Southern Alps, New Zealand
Abstract Mantle xenoliths from the Southern Alps, New Zealand, provide insight into the origin of mantle seismic anisotropy related to the Australian‐Pacific plate boundary. Most xenoliths from within 100 km lateral distance of the Alpine Fault are coarse grained, but a small number are finer grained protomylonites. The protomylonites contain connected networks of fine grains with a different crystallographic preferred orientation (CPO) to coarse porphyroclasts in the same xenolith, suggesting that protomylonites and coarse‐grained samples record different deformation kinematics. The CPOs of fine grains in protomylonites have monoclinic symmetry, with the 2‐fold rotation axis normal to a plane that contains olivine [010] and orthopyroxene [100] maxima, suggesting that the protomylonite deformation involved significant simple shear. Some coarse‐grained samples contain unconnected lenses and layers of fine grains with the same CPO as the coarse grains. Microstructures suggest that these fine grains formed by subgrain rotation recrystallization and that protomylonites may represent an up‐strain progression of this microstructure, where the connectivity of fine grains has allowed them to localize shear and develop a new Alpine Fault CPO. The samples tell us about the state of the mantle at 25 Ma, in the early history of the plate boundary. If this suite of samples is representative of the mantle beneath the Alpine Fault in the present day, then we can interpret the complex seismic anisotropy patterns in the lithospheric mantle as representative of blocks containing variably rotated older CPOs juxtaposed by narrow shear zones associated with Alpine Fault deformation.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1951142
- PAR ID:
- 10379426
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth
- Volume:
- 127
- Issue:
- 11
- ISSN:
- 2169-9313
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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