How does shear zone nucleate? An example from the Suretta nappe (Swiss Eastern Alps)

In order to address the question of the processes involved during shear zone nucleation, we present a petro-structural analysis of millimetre-scale shear zones within the Roffna rhyolite (Suretta nappe, Eastern central Alps). Field and microscopic evidences show that ductile deformation is localized along discrete fractures that represent the initial stage of shear zone nucleation. During incipient brittle deformation, a syn-kinematic metamorphic assemblage of white mica + biotite + epidote + quartz precipitated at ca. 8.5 ± 1 kbar and 480 ± 50 °C that represent the metamorphic peak conditions of the nappe stacking in the continental accretionary wedge during Tertiary Alpine subduction. The…