Chemical and physical responses to deformation in micaceous quartzites from the Tauern Window, Eastern Alps |
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| Authors: | J Selverstone J Hyatt |
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| Institution: | Department of Earth &Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131–1116, USA () |
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| Abstract: | Micaceous quartzites from a subvertical shear zone in the Tauern Window contain abundant quartz clasts derived from dismembered quartz‐tourmaline veins. Bulk plane strain deformation affected these rocks at amphibolite facies conditions. Shape changes suggest net shortening of the clasts by 11–64%, with a mean value of 35%. Quartz within the clasts accommodated this strain largely via dislocation creep processes. On the high‐stress flanks of the clasts, however, quartz was removed via solution mass transfer (pressure solution) processes; the resulting change in bulk composition allowed growth of porphyroblastic staurolite + chlorite ± kyanite on the clast flanks. Matrix SiO2 contents decrease from c. 83 wt% away from the clasts to 49–58% in the selvages on the clast flanks. The chemical changes are consistent with c. 70% volume loss in the high‐stress zones. Calculated shortening values within the clast flanks are similar to the volume‐loss estimates, and are greatly in excess of the shortening values calculated from the clasts themselves. Flow laws for dislocation creep versus pressure solution imply large strain‐rate gradients and/or differential stress gradients between the matrix and the clast selvages. In a rock containing a large proportion of semirigid clasts, weakening within the clast flanks could dominate rock rheology. In our samples, however, weakening within the selvages was self limiting: (1) growth of strong staurolite porphyroblasts in the selvages protected remaining quartz from dissolution; and (2) overall flattening of the quartz clasts probably decreased the resolved shear stress on the flanks to values near those of the matrix, which would have reduced the driving force for solution‐transfer creep. Extreme chemical changes nonetheless occurred over short distances. The necessity of maintaining strain compatibility may lead to significant localized dissolution in rocks containing rheologic heterogeneities, and overall weakening of the rocks may result. Solution‐transfer creep may be a major process whereby weakening and strain localization occur during deep‐crustal metamorphism of polymineralic rocks. |
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| Keywords: | chemical changes pressure solution quartzite rheology solution-transfer creep |
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