0000000000403172

AUTHOR

Nicolas P. Walte

Disequilibrium melt distribution during static recrystallisation

Melt migration and segregation, and the rheology of partially molten rocks in the upper mantle and lower crust, strongly depend on the grain-scale distribution of the melt. Current theory for monomineralic aggregates predicts a perfectly regular melt framework, but high-temperature experiments with rock-forming minerals + melt show considerable deviations from this predicted geometry. Disequilibrium features, such as fully wetted grain boundaries and large melt patches, have been described; these were mainly attributed to surface-energy anisotropy of the minerals. We present static analogue experiments with norcamphor + ethanol that allow continuous in situ observation of the evolving liqui…

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Deformation of melt-bearing systems—insight from in situ grain-scale analogue experiments

Abstract The deformation behaviour of partially molten rocks was investigated using in situ analogue experiments with norcamphor+ethanol, as well as partially molten KNO 3 +LiNO 3 . Three general deformation regimes could be distinguished during bulk pure shear deformation. In regime I, above ca. 8–10 vol.% liquid (melt) fraction ( ϕ bulk ), deformation is by compaction, distributed granular flow, and grain boundary sliding (GBS). At ϕ bulk ϕ bulk (regime III), grains form a coherent framework that deforms by grain boundary migration accommodated dislocation creep, associated with efficient segregation of remaining liquid. The transition liquid fraction between regimes I and II ( ϕ LT ) dep…

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The petrology of two distinct granulite types in the Hengshan Mts, China, and tectonic implications

Abstract The Archean to Proterozoic Hengshan Complex (North China Craton), comprises tonalitic and granodioritic gneisses with subordinate mafic lenses, pegmatites and granites. Amphibolite facies assemblages predominate, although granulite-facies relics are widespread, and greenschist-facies retrogression occurs in km-wide shear zones. Mafic lenses, locally abundant, occur as strongly deformed amphibolite (hornblende+plagioclase) boudins or sheets. In contrast to previously published models we find two series of mafic rocks with distinctly different granulite-facies evolutions. In the north of the Complex, relict high-pressure mafic granulites are garnet+clinopyroxene-bearing rocks with a …

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