loading page

Melt network reorientation and crystallographic preferred orientation development in sheared partially molten rocks
  • +1
  • Cassandra Seltzer,
  • Matěj Peč,
  • Mark E. Zimmerman,
  • David L Kohlstedt
Cassandra Seltzer
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

Author Profile
Matěj Peč
MIT EAPS
Author Profile
Mark E. Zimmerman
University of Minnesota
Author Profile
David L Kohlstedt
University of Minnesota
Author Profile

Abstract

As partially molten rocks deform, they develop melt preferred orientations, shape preferred orientations, and crystallographic preferred orientations (MPOs, SPOs and CPOs). We investigated the co-evolution of these preferred orientations in experimentally deformed partially molten rocks, then calculated the influence of MPO and CPO on seismic anisotropy. Olivine-basalt aggregates containing 2 to 4 wt% melt were deformed in general shear at a temperature of 1250°C under a confining pressure of 300 MPa at shear stresses of τ = 0 to 175 MPa to shear strains of γ = 0 to 2.3. Grain-scale melt pockets developed a MPO parallel to the maximum principal stress, s1, at γ < 0.4. At higher strains, the grain-scale MPO remained parallel to s1, but incipient, sample-scale melt bands formed at ~20° to s1. An initial SPO and CPO were induced during sample preparation, with [100] and [001] axes girdled perpendicular to the long axis of the sample. At the highest explored strain, a strong SPO was established, and the [100] axes of the CPO clustered nearly parallel to the shear plane. Our results demonstrate that grain-scale and sample-scale alignments of melt pockets are distinct. Furthermore, the melt and the solid microstructures evolve on different timescales: in planetary bodies, changes in the stress field will first drive a relatively rapid reorientation of the melt network, followed by a relatively slow realignment of the crystallographic axes. Rapid changes to seismic anisotropy in a deforming partially molten aggregate are thus caused by MPO rather than CPO.
31 Aug 2023Submitted to ESS Open Archive
11 Sep 2023Published in ESS Open Archive