J. Tullis

Dislocation generation, slip systems, and dynamic recrystallization in experimentally deformed plagioclase single crystals

Abstract Three samples of gem quality plagioclase crystals of An60 were experimentally deformed at 900 °C, 1 GPa confining pressure and strain rates of 7.5–8.7×10−7 s−1. The starting material is effectively dislocation-free so that all observed defects were introduced during the experiments. Two samples were shortened normal to one of the principal slip planes (010), corresponding to a “hard” orientation, and one sample was deformed with a Schmid factor of 0.45 for the principal slip system [001](010), corresponding to a “soft” orientation. Several slip systems were activated in the “soft” sample: dislocations of the [001](010) and 〈110〉(001) system are about equally abundant, whereas 〈110〉{111} and [101] in (131) to (242) are less common. In the “soft” sample plastic deformation is pervasive and deformation bands are abundant. In the “hard” samples the plastic deformation is concentrated in rims along the sample boundaries. Deformation bands and shear fractures are common. Twinning occurs in close association with fracturing, and the processes are clearly interrelated. Glissile dislocations of all observed slip systems are associated with fractures and deformation bands indicating that deformation bands and fractures are important sites of dislocation generation. Grain boundaries of tiny, defect-free grains in healed fracture zones have migrated subsequent to fracturing. These grains represent former fragments of the fracture process and may act as nuclei for new grains during dynamic recrystallization. Nucleation via small fragments can explain a non-host-controlled orientation of recrystallized grains in plagioclase and possibly in other silicate materials which have been plastically deformed near the semi-brittle to plastic transition.

DEFORMATION MICROSTRUCTURES OF BARRE GRANITE: AN OPTICAL, SEM AND TEM STUDY

Abstract New scanning electron microscope techniques have been developed for characterizing ductile deformation microstructures in felsic rocks. In addition, the thermomechanical history of the macroscopically undeformed Barre granite (Vermont, U.S.A.) has been reconstructed based on examination of deformation microstructures using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The microstructures reveal three distinct events: 1. (1) a low-stress, high-temperature event that produced subgrains in feldspars, and subgrains and recrystallized grains in quartz; 2. (2) a high-stress, low-temperature event that produced a high dislocation density in quartz and feldspars; and 3. (3) a lowest-temperature event that produced cracks, oriented primarily along cleavage planes in feldspars, and parallel to the macroscopic rift in quartz. The first two events are believed to reflect various stages in the intrusion and cooling history of the pluton, and the last may be related to the last stages of cooling, or to later tectonism.

Recrystallization and grain growth in rocks and minerals

Misorientation analysis, using EBSD data sets, has enabled us to constrain better recrystallization mechanisms in rocks and minerals. Observed microstructures are not explicable in terms of recovery, boundary bulging and migration alone. We have to invoke either a nucleation process (physics unknown) or grain rotations that are not related to grain or boundary crystallography. Such rotations can occur by diffusion accommodated grain boundary sliding and this mechanism explains best the microstructure and texture of recrystallized grains in some rocks.