Strain localization and weakening during eclogite-facies transformation in experimentally deformed plagioclase-pyroxene mixtures

• Main Authors: Soret, Mathieu, Stünitz, Holger, Précigout, Jacques, Lee, Amicia, Raimbourg, Hugues
• Other Authors: Institut des Sciences de la Terre d'Orléans - UMR7327 (ISTO), Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers en région Centre (OSUC), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Géodynamique - UMR7327, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers en région Centre (OSUC), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS), University of Tromsø (UiT)
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2022
• Subjects: [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]; [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences; Northern Norway
• Online Access: https://insu.hal.science/insu-03810455; https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-12327

International audience The rheology of mafic rocks buried at high to ultra-high-pressure conditions remains enigmatic. Minerals stable at these conditions are mechanically very strong (garnet, omphacite, glaucophane, zoisite, kyanite). In the laboratory, they show plastic deformation only at very high temperature (e.g. > 1000°C for pyroxene and garnet). Yet, viscous shear zones in mafic rocks metamorphosed at amphibolite and eclogite-facies conditions are commonly reported in fossil collisional and subduction zones. These shear zones localize and accommodate large amounts of strain by weakening of the host rocks. This weakening is interpreted as being induced by a transition from grain size insensitive to grain size sensitive creep, in particular with the activation of the dissolution-precipitation creep. However, the exact interplay between deformation, mineral reaction and fluid/mass transfer remains poorly-known.We have conducted a first series of deformation experiments at eclogite-facies conditions on a 2-phase aggregate representative of mafic rocks. Shear experiments were performed in a new generation of Griggs-type apparatus (Univ. Orléans) at 850°C, and 2.1 GPa with a shear strain rate of 10 6 s 1 . The starting material consists of mixed powders with < 100 μm sized grains of plagioclase and clinopyroxene from an undeformed sample of the Kågen Gabbro in Northern Norway. Experiments have been conducted with 'as is' (dried at 110°C) starting material and with 0.2% added water.The mechanical data indicate that the samples are first very strong with a peak differential stress at 1.4 GPa. Then, a significant weakening is observed with a stress decrease by 0.5 GPa. The high-strain sample is characterized by a strain gradient increasing toward the center of the shear zone. Metamorphic reactions occur throughout the sample, but the high-strain areas contain considerably more reaction products than the low-strain areas. The nucleation of new phases leads to a drastic grain size reduction and phase ...