Microstructural analysis of exhumed epidote-amphibolites and plate
interface rheology in warm subduction zones
Abstract
Epidote-amphibolites form along the plate interface during subduction
infancy, and are stable in warm, mature subduction zones that generate
slow earthquakes. Epidote-amphibolite rheology therefore likely
influences plate-scale processes facilitating plate boundary formation,
and grain-scale processes generating slip transients. We present optical
and electron microscopy of naturally-deformed epidote-amphibolites from
beneath the Oman ophiolite (~7–10 kbar, 400–550 °C) to
characterize their deformation behavior. Epidote-amphibolites are
fine-grained, strongly foliated and lineated, and exhibit polyphase
fabrics in which amphiboles (~10–50 μm) and epidotes
(~5–20 μm) are strain-accommodating phases. Two-point
correlation connectivity analysis demonstrates that amphiboles are
always well-connected, regardless of phase proportions/distributions.
Electron Backscatter Diffraction reveals strong amphibole
Crystallographic and Shape Preferred Orientations (CPOs and SPOs),
subgrain geometries indicating (hk0)[001] slip, and high average
Mean Orientation Spreads (MOS; ~6°), interpreted as
coupled rigid rotation and dislocation glide. Epidotes, in contrast,
record weak CPOs, low intragranular misorientations, moderate SPOs, and
low MOS (~0–2°), interpreted as deformation by
dissolution-precipitation creep. Depending on phase distributions,
epidote-amphibolite rheology can be approximated as interconnected weak
layers of amphibole dislocation glide, or a composite rheology of
plasticity and fluid-assisted/diffusion-accommodated creep. We estimate
strain rates from geologic and geochronological data (6 · 10-11 to 10-12
s-1), stress from quartz piezometry (11 – 45 MPa), and equivalent
viscosities of 1016 – 1018 Pa-s. On tectonic timescales, such low
viscosities are consistent with epidote-amphibolites serving as strain
localizing agents during subduction infancy. On seismic timescales,
coupled glide- and diffusion exemplify a strain-hardening deformation
state that could culminate in creep transients.