首页|Microstructures, Fabrics, and Seismic Properties of Mylonitic Amphibolites: Implications for Strain Localization in a Thickening Anisotropic Middle Crust of the North China Craton

Microstructures, Fabrics, and Seismic Properties of Mylonitic Amphibolites: Implications for Strain Localization in a Thickening Anisotropic Middle Crust of the North China Craton

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Strain localization processes in the continental crust generate faults and ductile shear zones over a broad range of scales affecting the long-term lithosphere deformation and the mechanical response of faults during the seismic cycle. Seismic anisotropy originated within the continental crust can be applied to deduce the kinematics and structures within orogens and is widely attributed to region-ally aligned minerals, e.g., hornblende. However, naturally deformed rocks commonly show various structural layers (e.g., strain localization layers). It is necessary to reveal how both varying amphibole contents and fabrics in the structural layers of strain localization impact seismic property and its inter-pretations in terms of deformation. We present microstructures, petrofabrics, and calculate seismic properties of deformed amphibolite with the microstructures ranging from mylonite to ultramylonite. The transition from mylonite to ultramylonite is accompanied by a slight decrease of amphibole grain size, a disintegration of amphibole and plagioclase aggregates, and amphibole aspect ratio increase (from 1.68 to 2.23), concomitant with the precipitation of feldspar and/or quartz between amphibole grains. The intensities of amphibole crystallographic preferred orientations (CPOs) show a progressively increasing trend from mylonitic layers to homogeneous ultramylonitic layers, as indicated by the JAm in-dex increasing from 1.9-4.0 for the mylonitic layers and 4.0-4.8 for the transition layer, to 5.1-6.9 for the ultramylonitic layers. The CPO patterns are nearly random for plagioclase and quartz. Polycrystalline amphibole aggregates in the amphibolitic mylonite deform by diffusion, mechanical rotation, and weak dislocation creep, and develop CPOs collectively. The polymineralic matrix (such as quartz and plagio-clase) of the mylonite and the ultramylonite deform dominantly by dissolution-precipitation, combined with weak dislocation creep. The mean P and S wave velocities are estimated to be 6.3 and 3.5 km/s, re-spectively, for three layers of the mylonitic amphibolite. The respective maximum P and S anisotropies are 1.5%-6.4% and 1.8%-4.5% for the mylonite layers of the mylonitic amphibolite, and 6.0%-6.9% and 4.5%-5.0% for the transition layers; but for the ultramylonite layers, these values increase signifi-cantly to 8.0%-9.1% and 5.1%-6.0%, respectively. Furthermore, increasing strain (strain localization) generates significant variations in the geometry of the seismic anisotropy. This effect, coupled with the geographical orientations of structures in the Hengshan-Wutai-Fuping complex terrains, can generate substantial variations in the orientation and magnitude of seismic anisotropy for the continental crust as measured by the existing North China Geoscience Transect. Thickened amphibolitic layers by extensive-ly folding or thrusting in the middle crust can explain the strong shear wave splitting and the tectonic boundary parallel fast shear wave polarization beneath the Hengshan-Wutai-Fuping complex terrains. Therefore, signals of seismic anisotropy varying with depth in the deforming conti-nent crust need not deduce depth-varying kinematics or/and tectonic decoupling.

amphibolitic mylonitemi-crostructurespetrofabricsseismic proper-tymiddle crustrheologytectonics

Siqi Liu、Bo Zhang、Jinjiang Zhang、Jian Zhang、Lei Guo、Tao Wang、Baoyou Hang、Xiaorong Li

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Key Laboratory of Orogenic Belts and Crustal Evolution, School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China

National Key Research and Development Program of ChinaNational Science Foundation of China

2021YFA071600142272245

2024

地球科学学刊(英文版)
中国地质大学

地球科学学刊(英文版)

CSTPCD
影响因子:0.724
ISSN:1674-487X
年,卷(期):2024.35(3)
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