Deformed polycrystalline rocks show various crystallographic textures reflecting their imposed deformation histories. However, the textures of ultrafine grains, which are in the submicrometer to ...nanometer order, may be overlooked depending on the analytical technique used. Thus, we report the first application of transmission Kikuchi diffraction (TKD), which is capable of high-spatial-resolution crystallographic texture analysis, to a fine-grained ultramylonitic peridotite sample in a scanning electron microscope. We successfully obtained TKD maps with an effective spatial resolution of ~ 80 nm and with highly reliable indexing using a conventional W-filament scanning electron microscope with a standard electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) system. Olivine grains, which were clearly visualized by TKD, were slightly elongated in a direction subparallel to the macroscopic lineation texture. Their shapes were nonuniform with serrated grain boundaries, strongly indicating that the sample has been deformed dominantly by dislocation activity, even though the grain size is in the order of several micrometers or smaller. The combined TKD–transmission electron microscope (TEM) analysis indicated that a slip-system transition from the 100 slip to the 001 slip might have occurred, although the crystals’ preferred orientation patterns were not completely overwritten. The transition might have been sufficiently affected by water infiltration, high differential stress, or both along the transform fault. Thus, TKD efficiently analyzed the crystallographic textures and characterized the subgrain boundaries of polycrystalline rocks consisting of submicrometer-order grains. Moreover, combining the EBSD, TKD, and TEM methods allowed us to perform multiscale analyses of the crystallographic textures of ultrafine-grained deformed rocks, seamlessly linking the millimeter- to nanometer-order scales.
The Fizh massif, Oman Ophiolite, contains a ductile shear zone at the Moho Transition Zone. The dunites in the shear zone are classified based on microstructures into coarse granular texture, ...medium-grained texture, mylonite, and ultramylonites toward a gabbro contact. The average grain size of olivine decreases toward the shear zone, which contains a zone of high strain (∼15 m wide). The proportion of hydrous minerals (amphibole and chlorite) in the shear zone show an increase toward the gabbro contact, suggesting that water infiltrated the shear zone from the gabbro contact. Equilibrium temperatures indicate a higher deformation temperature (∼900 °C) outside of the high strain zone compared with inside this zone (∼750 °C). Under these geochemical and temperature conditions, the temporal evolution of olivine crystal-preferred orientations (CPO) indicates the following continuous deformation scenario. First, deformation by dislocation creep under higher temperatures resulted in slip by D-type {0kl}100 and then weak E-type (001)100 slip. Next, deformation by dislocation creep under lower temperatures and higher stress conditions produced a C-type (100)001 CPO. Finally, superplastic deformation by grain boundary sliding resulted in a random CPO.
•Dunites in the shear zone show olivine fabric transition from D-type to E-type, C-type and random.•The olivine fabric transition resulted from water infiltration during shearing.•The high strain zone in the shear zone was dominated by superplastic flow.
Mafic and ultramafic clasts (mostly ~1–5 cm in size) were recovered from three different serpentinite mud volcanos in the Mariana forearc during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition ...366. Mafic clasts from drill sites distant from the trench bear lawsonite, Al-rich riebeckite, jadeitic pyroxene (~80 mol% jadeite), and aragonite as metamorphic minerals. In contrast, mafic clasts from drill sites closer to the trench are characterized by prehnite–pumpellyite-facies mineral associations and/or the presence of analcime and natrolite. An occurrence of antigorite-bearing ultramafic clasts becomes progressively more frequent with distance from the trench. One amphibolite clast from a mud volcano near the trench also has prehnite filling veins, and it also occurs as pseudomorphs after plagioclase. Amphibolite clasts at other mud volcanoes distant from the trench are partially overprinted by blueschist-facies minerals. The apparent metamorphic grades increase with distance from the trench; these metamorphic conditions represent the increasing depth from zeolite- to lawsonite–blueschist-facies conditions in a subduction zone. Considering the consistency of the low-temperature metamorphic grade of mafic and ultramafic clast mineralogy in each mud volcano, they likely reflect the thermal structure of the slab-mantle interface before the ascent. As a result, these clasts were brought up to the seafloor en masse by the serpentinite mudflow. The polymetamorphosed amphibolite clasts suggest cooling of the hot forearc-mantle at the initiation of Mariana subduction in the Eocene. The ultramafic clasts in the mud volcanoes distant from the trench frequently contain Ca amphibole and talc, which indicates hot mantle hydration by metasomatic fluids released from the slab at subduction initiation.
•Mafic and ultramafic clasts were recovered from Marina serpentinite mud volcanoes.•Metamorphic conditions increase with the distances of mud volcanoes from the trench.•Mineralogical changes reflect the cooling of forearc mantle at subduction initiation.
X-ray computed tomography (X-ray CT) has been widely used in the earth sciences, as it is non-destructive method for providing us the three-dimensional structures of rocks and sediments. Rock samples ...essentially possess various-scale structures, including millimeters to centimeter scales of layering and veins to micron-meter-scale mineral grains and porosities. As the limitations of the X-ray CT scanner, sample size and scanning time, it is not easy to extract information on multi-scale structures, even when hundreds meter scale core samples were obtained during drilling projects. As the first step to overcome such barriers on scale-resolution problems, we applied the super-resolution technique by sparse representation and dictionary-learning to X-ray CT images of rock core sample. By applications to serpentinized peridotite, which records the multi-stage water-rock interactions, we reveal that both grain-shapes, veins and background heterogeneities of high-resolution images can be reconstructed through super-resolution. We also show that the potential effectiveness of sparse super-resolution for feature extraction of complicated rock textures.
Aluminum-rich and Si-poor calcium amphibole ∼3.9 Al atoms per formula unit (apfu) and ∼5.5 Si apfu for 23 O occur in the quartz-bearing eclogites from the Donghai area, Sulu ultrahigh-pressure ...metamorphic belt, eastern China. Most of the aluminous amphibole phases are retrograde products from the exhumation and hydration stage and are texturally divided into a mantle phase around a porphyroblastic garnet and a crack-filling (vein) phase of a garnet. Less aluminous amphibole occurs as symplectite phase with plagioclase after omphacite. The formation process of the aluminous amphibole in the quartz-bearing samples is discussed on the basis of the analytical data by EPMA, FIB-TEM, and EBSD. The mantle amphibole occurs between garnet and symplectite or quartz. A set of plagioclase and aegirinediopside/argirine-hedenbergite thin monomineralic bands forms at the boundary between the mantle amphibole and matrix quartz. However, these monomineralic bands do not occur at the mantle amphibole-symplectite boundary. These textural differences indicate that the recrystallization of the aluminous amphibole around garnet was controlled by significant local reactions, and the size of equilibrate domains was probably several tens of micrometers or less. The mantle amphibole is composed of inner (garnet-side) and outer (matrix-side) zones. The inner zone is compositionally homogeneous, and its atomic Al/Si value is ∼0.63-0.66 and similar to that of garnet. Atomic Ca/Si value in the inner zone is also almost uniform and is generally identical to that of garnet. The outer zone exhibits a monotonic decrease in the Al/Si and Ca/Si values outward, and its composition at the outermost margin is similar to that of the symplectitic amphibole. The crack-filling amphibole has a composition similar to the inner zone of the mantle amphibole. The CPO pattern of the crack-filling amphibole is different from that of the adjacent mantle amphibole, showing that the crack-filling amphibole is cut by the mantle amphibole. The textural relationship between the mantle and crack-filling amphibole phases and their compositional characteristics imply that: (1) the mantle type is a slightly later stage product than the crack-filling type, and (2) the boundary between the inner and outer zones of the mantle aluminous amphibole probably corresponds to the initial surface of the porphyroblastic garnet. The inner zone is considered to have grown inward by simple substitution of garnet, using the tetrahedral and octahedral cations of the garnet as the basic framework. On the other hand, most of the outer zone of the mantle-type amphibole grew outward in the matrix from the initial surface of the garnet porphyroblast. The mantle amphibole shows a CPO similar to that of amphibole in the adjacent symplectite domain, suggesting that these two types of amphibole formed almost simultaneously, sharing crystallographic orientation with each other. The formation of crack-filling aluminous amphibole was probably promoted by the hydraulic microfracturing process at an early stage of exhumation and hydration. The mantle and symplectitic amphibole phases formation was promoted by the subsequent infiltration of metamorphic fluid. The aluminous amphibole in the SiO2 phase-bearing eclogites probably recrystallized with the formation of a localized SiO2-undersaturated reaction domain because of rapid exhumation and subsequent rapid cooling of the Sulu UHP metamorphic belt.
Geophysical surveys of the oceanic crust indicate that hydrothermal circulation universally occurs in seismic layer 2, which results in a low seismic velocity and high VP/VS due to the occurrence of ...cracks. However, the anomalously low VP/VS observed at the layer 2/3 transition cannot be explained by the crack model, because the effective medium theory predicts an increase in VP/VS due to crack development. In this study, we present the first evidence that shows the low VP/VS in the oceanic crust is caused by epidotization due to upward fluid flow in hydrothermal systems. Simultaneous measurements of elastic wave velocity and porosity of epidosites collected by the Oman Drilling Project show that quartz precipitation and spheroidal pores results in low VP/VS, in contrast to diabases that contain thin cracks. The presence of spheroidal pores in epidosites is supported by CT imaging, and is consistent with predictions from the effective medium model.
Plain Language Summary
The low velocity and high VP/VS structure in the upper oceanic crust (“seismic layer 2”) is generally associated with the development of fluid‐filled thin cracks. However, the anomalously low VP/VS ratios that have been observed in the layer 2/3 transition cannot be explained by the classical thin crack model. We provide the first direct evidence of low VP/VS ratios in epidotized rocks that are associated with the occurrence of spheroidal pores and quartz precipitation. Our theoretical calculations show that both the crack geometry and alteration minerals are required to explain the anomalously low VP/VS ratios in the transition zone. Knowledge of these unique physical properties of epidotized rocks will facilitate the detection of fluid upwelling zones in the oceanic crust, which are possibly linked to the hydrothermal ore resources.
Key Points
Epidosites are characterized by low VP/VS due to the presence of spheroidal pores
Low VP/VS anomaly in the layer 2/3 transition can be explained by alterations and pore development during epidotization
The unique characteristics of epidosites may be useful to detect the fluid upwelling zones in the oceanic crust
Microstructures and olivine crystal fabrics were studied in amphibole-bearing peridotite samples obtained from the Marion Fracture Zone of the Southwest Indian Ridge by dredge D19 of the 1984 PROTEA ...Expedition Leg 5 cruise of the RV Melville. The peridotites show various textures ranging from extremely fine-grained well-layered ultramylonites to heterogeneously strained tectonites. Electron back-scatter diffraction analyses revealed that olivine crystal-preferred orientations (CPOs), which are developed primarily in coarse granular peridotites in the mantle, become weaker with an increasing degree of grain-size reduction from coarser to finer grains, for both porphyroclastic and matrix olivine grains. However, two well-layered ultramylonites are characterized by bimodal CPOs of (010)001 (B type) and (001)100 (E type) or a strong maximum of 010 normal to the foliation and girdle patterns of both 100 and 001 on the foliation plane (i.e., an axial 010 pattern or AG type). Moreover, spinel grains within these well-layered ultramylonites have not only been broken down to form olivine and amphibole by hydrous reactions, but have also been fractured and their fragments pulled apart in the fine-grained matrix. These features indicate that shear deformation occurred as increasing stress under hydrous conditions during the final stage of deformation, which enabled the local occurrence of low-temperature plastic deformation, resulting in the development of a CPO and a foliation within the ultramylonites.
•Various textures occur along with various olivine CPOs within amphibole-bearing peridotites.•Two well-layered ultramylonites have bimodal olivine CPOs despite of their fine grain sizes.•Low-temperature plasticity could induce bimodal olivine CPOs within the ultramylonites
Recent geophysical surveys indicate that hydration (serpentinization) of oceanic mantle is related to outer-rise faulting prior to subduction. The serpentinization of oceanic mantle influences the ...generation of intermediate-depth earthquakes and subduction water flux, thereby promoting arc volcanism. Since the chemical reactions that produce serpentinite are geologically rapid at low temperatures, the flux of water delivery to the reaction front appears to control the lateral extent of serpentinization. In this study, we measured the permeability of low-temperature serpentinites composed of lizardite and chrysotile, and calculated the lateral extent of serpentinization along an outer-rise fault based on Darcy's law. The experimental results indicate that serpentinization extends to a region several hundred meters wide in the direction normal to the outer-rise fault in the uppermost oceanic mantle. We calculated the global water flux carried by serpentinized oceanic mantle ranging from 1.7 × 10
to 2.4 × 10
kg/year, which is comparable or even higher than the water flux of hydrated oceanic crust.
The uppermost mantle in back arc regions is the site of complex interactions between partial melting, melt percolation, and fluid migration. To constrain these interactions and evaluate their ...consequences on geochemical cycles, we carried out an in situ trace element and water study of a suite of spinel peridotite xenoliths from two regions of the Japan back arc system, Ichinomegata (NE Japan) and Oki-Dogo (SW Japan), using LA-ICPMS and FTIR spectrometry, respectively. This study provides the first full dataset of trace element and hydrogen compositions in peridotites including analyses of all their main constitutive silicate minerals: olivine, orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene. The Ichinomegata peridotites sample a LREE-depleted refractory mantle (Mg# olivine=0.90; Cr# spinel=0.07–0.23; Yb clinopyroxene=7.8–13.3×C1-chondrite, and La/Yb clinopyroxene=0.003–0.086×C1-chondrite), characterized by Th-U positive anomalies and constant values of Nb/Ta. The composition of the studied Ichinomegata samples is consistent with that of an oceanic mantle lithosphere affected by cryptic metasomatic interactions with hydrous/aqueous fluids (crypto-hydrous metasomatism). In contrast, the Oki-Dogo peridotites have low Mg# olivine (0.86–0.93) and a broad range of compositions with clinopyroxene showing “spoon-shaped” to flat, and LREE-enriched patterns. They are also characterized by their homogeneous compositions in the most incompatible LILE (e.g., Rb clinopyroxene=0.01–0.05×primitive mantle) and HFSE (e.g., Nb clinopyroxene=0.01–2.16×primitive mantle). This characteristic is interpreted as resulting from various degrees of melting and extensive melt-rock interactions. FTIR spectroscopy shows that olivine in both Ichinomegata and Oki-Dogo samples has low water contents ranging from 2 to 7ppm wt. H2O. In contrast, the water contents of pyroxenes from Ichinomegata peridotites (113–271ppm wt. H2O for orthopyroxene, and 292–347ppm wt. H2O for clinopyroxene) are significantly higher than in Oki-Dogo peridotites (9–35ppm wt. H2O for orthopyroxene, and 15–98ppm wt. H2O for clinopyroxene). This indicates a relationship between melt-rock interaction and water concentrations in pyroxenes. Our study suggests that the water content of the Japan mantle wedge is controlled by the late melt/fluid/rock interactions evidenced by trace element geochemistry: a mechanism triggered by magma-rock interactions may have acted as an efficient dehydrating process in the Oki-Dogo region while the Ichinomegata mantle water content is controlled by slab-derived crypto-hydrous metasomatism.
Ultramylonites are among the most extreme fault rocks that commonly occur in the mid-crustal brittle–plastic transition and are mainly characterized by intensely sheared fine-grained microstructures ...and well-mixed mineral phases. Although the deformation mechanism of ultramylonites is key to understanding the rheological behavior of the mid-crustal shear zone, their microstructural development is still controversial owing to their intensely fine-grained textures. To investigate the possible crustal deformation mechanisms, we studied 13 mylonites obtained from the Kashio shear zone along the Median Tectonic Line that is the largest strike-slip fault in Japan. In particular, we investigated various mixed quartz–plagioclase layers developed within tonalitic mylonite, which are representative of the common mean grain size and crystal fabric of quartz among the studied samples. A high-quality phase-orientation map obtained by electron backscattered diffraction showed not only a wide range of quartz–plagioclase mixing (10%–80% in quartz modal composition) but also revealed a correlation between grain size reduction and crystal fabric weakening in quartz, indicating a change in the deformation mechanism from dislocation creep to grain-size-sensitive creep in the mixed quartz-plagioclase layers. In contrast, plagioclase showed an almost consistent fine grain size and weak to random crystal fabrics regardless of modal composition, indicating that grain size-sensitive creep is dominant. Combined with laboratory-determined flow laws, our results show that the Kashio shear zone could have developed under deformation mechanisms in which the viscosities of quartz and plagioclase are nearly comparable, effectively within 1017–1019 Pa·s, thereby possibly enabling extensive shearing along the Median Tectonic Line.
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