Iron‐rich olivine is mechanically weaker than olivine of mantle composition, ca. Fo90, and thus is more amenable to study under a wide range of laboratory conditions. To investigate the effects of iron content on deformation‐produced crystallographic preferred orientation (CPO) and grain size, we analyzed the microstructures of olivine samples with compositions of Fo70, Fo50, and Fo0that were deformed in torsion under either anhydrous or hydrous conditions at 300 MPa. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) observations reveal a transition in CPO from D‐type fabric, induced by dislocation glide on both the (010)[100] and the (001)[100] slip systems, at low strains, to A‐type fabric, caused by dislocation glide on the (010)[100] slip system, at high strains for all of our samples, independent of iron content and hydrous/anhydrous conditions. A similar evolution of fabric with increasing strain is also reported to occur for Fo90. Radial seismic anisotropy increases with increasing strain, reaching a maximum value of ∼1.15 at a shear strain of ∼3.5 for each sample, demonstrating that the seismic anisotropy of naturally deformed olivine‐rich rocks can be well approximated by that of iron‐rich olivine. Based on EBSD observations, we derived a piezometer for which recrystallized grain size decreases inversely with stress to the ∼1.2 power. Also, recrystallized grain size increases with increasing iron content. Our experimental results contribute to understanding the microstructural evolution in the mantle of not only Earth but also Mars, where the iron content in olivine is higher.
Synthesized polycrystalline samples composed of enstatite and olivine with different volumetric ratios were deformed in compression under anhydrous conditions in a Paterson gas‐medium apparatus at 1150–1300°C, an oxygen fugacity buffered at Ni/NiO, and confining pressures of 300 or 450 MPa (protoenstatite or orthoenstatite fields). Mechanical data suggest a transition from diffusion to dislocation creep with increasing differential stress for all compositions. Microstructural analyses by optical and scanning electron microscopy reveal well‐mixed aggregates and homogeneous deformation. Crystallographic preferred orientations measured by electron backscatter diffraction are consistent with activation of the slip systems (010)[100] and (010)[001] for olivine and (100)[001] and (010)[001] for enstatite, as expected at these conditions. Nonlinear least‐squares fitting to the full data set from each experiment allowed the determination of dislocation creep flow laws for the different mixtures. The stress exponent is 3.5 for all compositions, and the apparent activation energies increase slightly as a function of enstatite volume fraction. Within the limits of experimental uncertainties, all two‐phase aggregates have strengths that lie between the uniform strain rate (Taylor) and the uniform stress (Sachs) bounds calculated using the dislocation creep flow laws for olivine and enstatite. Calculation of the Taylor and Sachs bounds at strain rate and temperature conditions expected in nature (but not extrapolating in pressure) indicates that using the dislocation creep flow law for monomineralic olivine aggregates provides a good estimate of the viscosity of olivine‐orthopyroxene rocks deforming by dislocation creep in the deeper lithosphere and asthenosphere.
more » « less- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10497297
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth
- Volume:
- 129
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 2169-9313
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract Relationships between the recrystallized grain size and stress are investigated for experimentally deformed water‐added quartz aggregates. For stresses ≥100 MPa there is a variation in the measured recrystallized grain size for a given stress. This variation correlates with a change in the
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