Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
We explore the relations between deformation, annealing, and melt percolation during rifting and the effect of these processes on seismic anisotropy by analyzing the microstructures and crystal preferred orientations (CPO) in a suite of mantle xenoliths from Mega, in the southern end of the Ethiopian rift. Previous geochemical studies on these xenoliths showed evidence for interactions with variable melt types and volumes during the rifting process. The peridotites have dominantly coarse-porphyroclastic microstructures, but coarse granular or partially recrystallized microstructures also occur. The olivine CPO, characterized by orthorhombic to fiber-[100] patterns and moderate intensities, the common occurrence of (100) tilt walls, and the predominance of <0vw> rotation axes accommodating low angle misorientations in olivine support deformation by dislocation creep with dominant activation of the [100](010) system. Annealing (static recrystallization) of variable intensity followed this deformation. Modal enrichment in pyroxenes in > 60% of the studied peridotites corroborates extensive, but spatially heterogeneous reactive melt percolation leading to refertilization of the lithospheric mantle beneath the southern Ethiopian rift. The common interstitial shapes of the pyroxenes and lack of correlation between the pyroxenes and the olivine CPOs in many samples suggest that part of the refertilization is post-kinematic. However, there is no simple relation between reactive melt percolation and annealing of the olivine deformation microstructure. Comparison with data from other xenolith localities points to changes in the metasomatic imprint in the lithospheric mantle along the East African rift system correlated with the evolution in the rift maturity. Seismic properties averaged over all samples show typical lithospheric mantle patterns with fast propagation of P- and polarization of the fast S-waves parallel to the lineation. The anisotropy is moderate (< 6% for P-waves and < 4% for S-waves), implying that aligned melt must contribute to the strong seismic anisotropy measured in the Main Ethiopian rift, north of Mega.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-01355918
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01355918
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2016.05.027

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
The Ronda peridotite massif in Southern Spain shows a well-defined 'recrystallization' front that separates a large-scale partial melting domain formed at the expense of the continental lithospheric mantle from a 'preserved' lithospheric domain. To investigate the processes allowing a transient lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary to propagate in the lithospheric mantle, we performed a joint petrostructural and geochemical study of an similar to 2.5 km(2) zone extending from the melting front to the mylonites that mark the western limit of the massif. This study emphasizes a feedback between heat transfer, melt percolation, and deformation in the lithospheric mantle. Petrographical observations and geochemical data show that heterogeneous reactive percolation of melts produced in the underlying partial melting domain led to refertilization of lithospheric peridotites up to 1.5 km ahead from the melting front, producing metre-scale layering of fertile and refractory mantle rocks. Within 800 m from the front, pre-existing garnet pyroxenite layers were partially molten and the resulting melts probably contributed to the refertilization process. Detailed structural mapping and analysis of the microstructures and crystal preferred orientations highlight the relations between reactive melt transport and deformation, and the control of the temperature gradient on both processes. Parallelism between the recrystallization front, compositional boundaries, and deformation structures, as well as variations in the deformation intensity of pyroxenes and spinels, suggest syn- to late-tectonic melt transport controlled by both the deformation and the thermal gradient. Variations in the strength of olivine crystal preferred orientations as a function of the modal and chemical composition of the spinel tectonites point to a higher contribution of diffusion to deformation in the most fertile rocks, corroborating the hypothesis that deformation occurred in presence of melt. Finally, the systematic dispersion of olivine [100] and orthopyroxene [001] axes in the foliation plane suggests a dominantly transpressive deformation regime.
ISSN: 0022-3530

hal-00420904
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00420904
DOI : 10.1093/petrology/egp032

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union
Résumé : International audience
This work presents seismic properties derived from a detailed microstructural study of supra-subduction mantle xenoliths extracted by the active Avacha volcano in the southern Kamchatka arc. These peridotites underwent low-stress deformation and syn- to late-kinematic reactive percolation of hydrous melts or fluids leading to local orthopyroxene enrichment and dispersion of the olivine CPO in the shallow mantle wedge. All samples show an axial [ 100] olivine CPO implying fast S-wave polarization parallel to the flow direction in the mantle. Orthopyroxene-enrichment by reactive fluids/melts percolation lowers the Vp/Vs ratio, but cannot explain the Vp/Vs ratios <1.7 mapped in the Japan and Andes forearc mantle. These low Vp/Vs ratios may however be explained by considering the intrinsic anisotropy of the peridotites.
ISSN: 0094-8276

hal-00512636
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00512636
DOI : 10.1029/2010GL043450

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Before attaining the mantle wedge, where they trigger partial melting, volatiles released from dehydration reactions in the slab have to migrate across a relatively cold (<750 degrees C), peridotite-layer above the incoming slab. In order to unravel the mechanisms allowing for this initial stage of fluid transport, we performed a detailed field and microstructural study of metamorphic prograde peridotites in the Cerro del Almirez ultramafic massif (Betic Cordillera, Spain), where evidences of one of the most important dehydration reactions in subduction zones, the high-pressure antigorite breakdown (P = 1.6-1.9 GPa and T approximate to 680 degrees C), can be mapped in the field. This reaction led to arborescent growth of centimeter-size olivine and orthopyroxene, producing a chlorite-harzburgite with a spinifex-like texture. Microstructural observations and crystal preferred (CPO) mapping show no evidences of solid-state deformation during the prograde growth of olivine and orthopyroxene at the expenses of antigorite. However, a few tens to a hundred meters away from the reaction front, the metamorphic texture is partially obliterated by grain-size reduction in roughly planar conjugate zones, a few mm to meters wide. Grain size reduction zones (GSRZ) are characterized by (1) sharp contacts with undeformed spinifex-like texture domains, (2) important reduction of the olivine grain size (60-250 mu m), (3) olivine color change from brownish to colorless, (4) decrease in the modal amount of orthopyroxene, and (5) at the mm- to cm-scale, irregular shapes and abrupt terminations. Field and microstructural observations exclude that relative displacement took place across these GSRZ. Changes in modal composition imply reactions with fluids undersaturated in silica. Analysis of olivine crystal-preferred orientations (CPO) in GSRZ shows patterns similar, but more dispersed, than those in neighboring spinifex-like domains. It also reveals mm- to cm-scale discrete domains with rather homogeneous crystallographic orientations suggesting inheritance from the preexisting spinifex-like olivines in the host peridotite. Misorientation angles between neighboring grains in the GSRZ show peaks at similar to 5-10 degrees and similar to 20 degrees, but rotations are not crystallographically controlled. Based on these observations, we rule out the formation of the GSRZ by dynamic recrystallization during dislocation creep and propose that they record brittle deformation (microcraking) of the spinifex-like chlorite-harzburgite, probably induced by hydrofracturing at high pressure and relative low temperature conditions (680-710 degrees C). High-pressure hydrofracturing can, thus, be invoked as an efficient mechanism for fluid flow across the cold top-slab mantle layer, hence allowing the slab-derived fluids to ingress in the wedge.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00534035
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00534035
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2010.06.029

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
This study reports petrostructural observations in the pargasite and phlogopite-bearing Finero peridotite massif (Italian Western Alps), which suggest that the pervasive foliation in this massif was formed by deformation concomitant with percolation of hydrous Si-rich melts: (1) diffuse contacts, but systematic parallelism between the pyroxenitic layers and the foliation of the peridotite (2) strong shape and crystal preferred orientations (SPO and CPO), but subhedral or interstitial shapes and weak intracrystalline deformation of the hydrous phases, (3) CPO, but interstitial shapes of the pyroxenes, (4) very coarse olivine grain sizes, which are correlated to the olivine abundance, and (5) elongated shapes, but weak intracrystalline deformation, and extremely weak and highly variable CPO of olivine. The pervasive deformation of the Finero peridotite occurred therefore under conditions that allowed coexistence of H2O–CO2-bearing melts, pargasite, and spinel, that is, temperatures of 980–1080 °C and pressures <2 GPa. The petrostructural observations suggest that the presence of hydrous melts results in accommodation of large amounts of deformation by stress-controlled dissolution–precipitation and advective transport of matter by the melts and in fast grain boundary migration in olivine. By consequence, it produces significant rheological weakening. Water contents in olivine are <4 ppm wt., implying limited contribution of hydration of olivine to weakening. In addition, the analysis of protomylonites composing the external domains of the shear zones that overprint the pervasive foliation indicates that the transition to melt-free conditions results in enhanced contribution of dislocation creep to the deformation. The associated increase of the peridotites' strength leads to onset of strain localization. The latter is not correlated to the local abundance in pargasite or phlogopite, implying that crystallization of amphiboles or phlogopite, even at concentrations of 25 vol.%, does not produce rheological weakening in the upper mantle.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-01667879
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01667879
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2017.08.015

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
We performed forward modelling of seismic anisotropy beneath a migrating strike-slip plate boundary to: (1) test if such a geodynamic context might explain teleseismic shear wave splitting data in the vicinity of the central part of the San Andreas Fault and (2) constrain the power of such data to unravel vertical and lateral variations in deformation patterns in the upper mantle. The modelling involves five steps: (1) thermomechanical modelling, using a finite-element code, of the deformation field, (2) viscoplastic self-consistent modelling of the resulting olivine and pyroxene crystal preferred orientations, (3) calculation of the elasticity tensors for different domains of the finite elements (FEs) model, (4) forward modelling of seismic wave propagation through the model using ray theory, finite-frequency theory and a full-wave approach and (5) performing splitting measurements on the synthetic seismograms. SKS splitting data in central California are best fitted by a model with a hotter geotherm within 60 km of the plate boundary accounting for the opening of an asthenospheric window due to the northward migration of the Mendocino Triple Junction. The westward motion of the plate boundary cannot however explain the rotation of fast polarization directions east of the San Andreas Fault in central California. Comparison between modelled and measured individual shear wave splitting also implies that the homogeneity of the two-layer models accounting for the observations in the vicinity of the San Andreas Fault indicates a sharp transition between lithospheric and asthenospheric deformations beneath this plate boundary. The ability of different synthetic approaches to localize horizontally and vertically the plate boundary-related deformation differs significantly. Splitting in ray theory synthetics closely follow variations in olivine crystallographic preferred orientations in the model. In contrast, splitting analysis on full-wave synthetics, which should be more representative of actual long-period SKS waves, results in smooth apparent lateral variations of anisotropy; the exact location and width of the plate boundary may only be retrieved by comparing fast-polarization profiles obtained using a multichannel analysis on waves with different periods.
ISSN: 0956-540X

hal-01236150
http://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01236150
http://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01236150/document
http://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01236150/file/Bonnin_San_Andreas_modelling_GJI2012.pdf
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2012.05650.x

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer Verlag/ASM International
Résumé : The use of zinc sheets has largely increased in the last years, fundamentally because of new tendencies in architecture and, at the same time, due to its excellent properties, as corrosion resistance under aggressive climatic conditions, malleability, recyclability, and surface finishing aspect. In the present work, the X-ray diffraction technique is used to characterize the crystallographic texture evolution of a strongly anisotropic Zn20 zinc sheet (Zn-Cu-Ti) subjected to uniaxial tension, plane strain, and equibiaxial tension, for specimens cut at 0, 45, and 90 deg with respect to the rolling direction. The crystallographic texture evolution is evaluated by means of pole figures, orientation distribution function, and Kearns factors. For all tested strain paths, deformation produces a decrease in the intensity of the crystallographic textures, due to a dispersion of the orientations of the different axes around the initial maxima.
ISSN: 1073-5623

hal-01583268
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01583268
DOI : 10.1007/s11661-017-4069-y

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
To constrain the relations between deformation and metasomatism in the subcratonic lithospheric mantle, we have analyzed the microstructures and crystal preferred orientations in 50 mantle xenoliths from the Kaapvaal craton. Water contents in olivine and pyroxenes were measured in 14 samples equilibrated at different depths. Coarse-granular microstructures recording deformation by dislocation creep followed by annealing predominate. Mylonitic (sheared) peridotites with partially or totally recrystallized microstructures are however common below 140 km. Refractory compositions predominate, but multiple metasomatic events resulted in orthopyroxene enrichment or secondary crystallization of clinopyroxene and phlogopite. Coherent orthopyroxene and olivine CPO in most coarse-grained peridotites implies in pre- to syn-kinematic orthopyroxene enrichment or epitaxial growth on primary orthopyroxene. Undeformed, interstitial orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, and phlogopite with random orientations in coarse-grained peridotites record post-kinematic modal metasomatic events. Deformation of these phases in the sheared peridotites implies that mylonitization results from a later event, which affected locally the deep cratonic lithosphere. Olivine CPO recording dominant [100] glide predominate at all depths. Only two samples, equilibrated at ~ 3.3 GPa show olivine [001] and orthopyroxene [001] axes subparallel, suggesting dominant [001] glide. Water contents in olivine are maximum (150 wt. ppm H2O) in peridotites equilibrated at ~ 160 km depth. Peridotites equilibrated below 180 km depth are, in contrast, almost dry. Lack of correlation between olivine mg# and water content indicates that the high water contents in olivine record re-hydration after the extensive partial melting, which produced the cratonic root. The vertical variation in water contents in olivine observed in the Kaapvaal peridotites may result from hydrogen addition or loss during extraction by the kimberlites. Comparison with magnetotelluric electrical conductivity data suggests, however, that the observed vertical variation of water contents in olivine may be representative of the present-day state of the Kaapvaal mantle, implying that extensive metasomatism resulted in hydration of the cratonic mantle at intermediate depths. The annealed microstructures of Kaapvaal peridotites indicate however that this metasomatism was not followed by remobilization of the cratonic root.
ISSN: 0024-4937

hal-00750328
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00750328
DOI : 10.1016/j.lithos.2012.05.001

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Geodetic data support a short-term continental deformation localized in faults bounding lithospheric blocks. Whether major "faults" observed at the surface affect the lithospheric mantle and, if so, how strain is distributed are major issues for understanding the mechanical behavior of lithospheric plates. A variety of evidence, from direct observations of deformed peridotites in orogenic massifs, ophiolites, and mantle xenoliths to seismic reflectors and seismic anisotropy beneath major fault zones, consistently supports prolongation of major faults into the lithospheric mantle. This review highlights that many aspects of the lithospheric mantle deformation remain however poorly understood. Coupling between deformation in frictional faults in the uppermost crust and localized shearing in the ductile crust and mantle is required to explain the post-seismic deformation, but mantle viscosities deduced from geodetic data and extrapolated from laboratory experiments are only reconciled if temperatures in the shallow lithospheric mantle are high (> 800 °C at the Moho). Seismic anisotropy, especially shear wave splitting, provides strong evidence for coherent deformation over domains several tens of km wide in the lithospheric mantle beneath major transcurrent faults. Yet it cannot detect narrow strain localization zones or shallowly dipping faults. Seismic profiling images shallow-dipping seismic reflectors in the lithospheric mantle interpreted as the continuation of normal or, less frequently, inverse faults in the mantle. However the nature of these reflectors is poorly understood. There is a large discrepancy between the scale at which deformation processes are studied (a few kilometers, at most, due to the limited size of continuous mantle exposures at the Earth's surface) and the scale inferred for strain localization in the mantle from geophysical observations (tens of kilometers). Combining data on deformation microstructures and crystal preferred orientations in naturally deformed peridotites and seismologic observations allows nevertheless discussing strain localization processes that may play a role on the development of mantle shear zones.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-00750314
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00750314
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2012.06.006

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
We report concentrations of hydrogen (H) in upper mantle minerals of peridotites (olivine and pyroxenes) transported by alnöitic lavas, which erupted on the southwestern border of the Ontong Java Plateau (Malaita, Solomon Islands, West Pacific). Unpolarized FTIR analyses show that olivine, orthopyroxene, and diopside contain 2–32 ppm, 162–362 ppm and 159–459 ppm wt H2O, respectively. In the studied lherzolites, garnets are anhydrous. The concentration of hydrogen within individual olivine and pyroxene grains is almost homogeneous, indicating no evidence of dehydration or hydration by ionic diffusion. In the lherzolite, the concentration of hydrogen in olivine tends to increase weakly with depth (based on geothermobarometry), consistent with the increase of water solubility with increasing water fugacity as a function of pressure, but concentrations remain well below water-saturation values determined experimentally. The highest concentration of H in olivine (32 ppm wt H2O) is, however, found in refractory spinel harzburgites, which equilibrated at depths of 85 km., while deeper specimens as the high-temperature spinel harzburgites, and some of the garnet lherzolites, contain less hydrogen in olivine. Olivines from pyroxene- or pargasite-rich peridotites have also lower hydrogen concentrations. We interpret the high hydrogen concentrations in olivine from the refractory spinel harzburgites as due to (1) simultaneous hydration and metasomatism of the lithospheric mantle by a water-rich silicate melt/fluid, during which hydrogen follows MREE and where spinel harzburgite have experienced ‘stealth’ metasomatism, and/or (2) to a late ‘fleeting’ hydrogen metasomatism, which would hydrate the rock after this first ‘stealth’ metasomatism event. In the second case, the composition of the ‘fleeting’ percolating fluid (small volume fraction of very evolved fluids, with high volatiles concentration and transient properties) is likely to be linked to the decrease of the plume activity and resulting in the downwelling of the lithosphere asthenosphere boundary. The difference in hydrogen concentration between harzburgites and lherzolites could be linked to variation in trace elements in olivine induced by the first ‘stealth’ metasomatism alone or associated to the late ‘fleeting’ hydrogen metasomatism, triggered by the lack of secondary crystallization of clinopyroxenes in the harzburgite. To conclude, H concentrations in upper mantle minerals may thus be correlated to metasomatic events, with the later yielding variation of the mineral assemblage and trace element composition that constitute the peridotites.
ISSN: 0024-4937

hal-01143385
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01143385
DOI : 10.1016/j.lithos.2014.11.005

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD AGU and the Geochemical Society
Résumé : International audience
Analysis of the microstructures in the km-scale mantle shear zone that separates the northern and the central parts of the Lanzo peridotite massif provides evidence of an evolution in time and space of deformation processes accommodating shearing in the shallow mantle within an extensional setting. This shear zone displays an asymmetric distribution of deformation facies. From south to north, gradual reorientation of the foliation of coarse porphyroclastic plagioclase-bearing peridotites is followed by development of protomylonites, mylonites, and mm-scale ultramylonite bands. A sharp grain size gradient marks the northern boundary. Early deformation under near-solidus conditions in the south is recorded by preservation of weakly deformed interstitial plagioclase and almost random clinopyroxene and plagioclase crystal orientations. Feedback between deformation and melt transport probably led to melt focusing and strain weakening in the shear zone. Overprint of melt-rock reaction microstructures by solid-state deformation and decrease in recrystallized grain size in the protomylonites and mylonites indicate continued deformation under decreasing temperature. Less enriched peridotite compositions and absence of ultramafic dykes or widespread melt-impregnation microstructures north of the shear zone and clinopyroxene and amphibole enrichment in the mylonites and ultramylonites suggest that the shear zone acted as both a thermal barrier and a high-permeability channel for late crystallizing fluids. These observations, together with chemical data indicating faster cooling of central Lanzo relative to the northern body, corroborate that this shear zone is a mantle detachment fault. All deformation facies have crystal preferred orientations consistent with deformation by dislocation creep with dominant activation of the (010)[100] and (100)[001] systems in olivine and orthopyroxene, respectively. Dynamic recrystallization produces dispersion of olivine CPO but not a change of dominant deformation mechanism. Evidence for activation of grain boundary sliding is limited to mm-scale ultramylonite bands, where solid-state reactions produced very fine grained polymineralic aggregates. Except for these latest stages of deformation, strain localization does not result from the microstructural evolution; the grain size decrease is a consequence of the need to deform a rock volume whose strength continuously increases because of decreasing temperature conditions. Strain localization in the intermediate levels thus essentially results from the more localizing behavior of both the deep, partially molten, and shallow parts of this extensional shear zone distribution.
ISSN: 1525-2027

hal-00644844
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00644844
DOI : 10.1029/2011GC003627

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
We report microstructural evidence for fluid-assisted ductile strain localization in a ≤ 50 m-wide mylonitic–ultramylonitic shear zone in the Ronda Peridotite massif, Southern Spain. Strain localization occurred at relatively low pressure (< 0.8 GPa) and moderate temperature (750–1000 °C). Initial deformation by dislocation creep resulted in formation of mylonites. Focusing of aqueous fluids in the shear zone favored the activation of dissolution–precipitation creep, resulting in further strain localization. This process is recorded by two generations of ultramylonitic bands composed of fine-grained, well-mixed olivine–orthopyroxene aggregates. Microstructural observations in the ultramylonites suggest alternating dissolution and precipitation of olivine and orthopyroxene, which may be explained by local changes in silica molality of the percolating fluid (disequilibrium and mass transfer at scales > mm). In the mylonites, olivine shows a crystal preferred orientation (CPO) coherent with dominant (001)[100] glide, probably due to the presence of interstitial fluids during deformation. In the ultramylonites, olivine CPO is weak to very weak, consistently with a decreasing contribution of dislocation creep to deformation. In contrast, fine-grained orthopyroxene in both mylonites and ultramylonites displays a clear CPO characterized by a [001] maximum normal to the foliation, which is not consistent with dislocation glide in any known slip system for orthopyroxene. We interpret this CPO as formed by oriented crystallization during dissolution–precipitation. In the present study, dissolution–precipitation creep predominates only in small-scale ultramylonite bands due to limited fluid availability and localized dynamic permeability. However, this process may be important in intermediate temperature domains of subduction zones, where it may lead to a feedback between strain localization and fluid transport.
ISSN: 0024-4937

hal-01395122
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01395122
DOI : 10.1016/j.lithos.2016.07.038

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : Spinel peridotite xenoliths from Persani Mountains, Southeastern Carpathians, Romania, were submitted to deformation by dislocation creep accompanied by dynamic recrystallization under variable stress and temperature conditions. Predominance of low-angle boundaries parallel to (100) with well-defined [Ovw] rotation axes in olivine indicates that subgrain rotation is the main recrystallization mechanism and that dislocation glide occurs mainly in [100]{0k1} systems. Analysis of olivine crystal preferred orientations highlights that recrystallization results in dispersion of the orientations of recrystallized grains relatively to the parent grains. This dispersion may be quantified by a dimension-less dispersion factor defined as the ratio of the random component of the [100] axis distributions between the recrystallized grains and porphyroclasts. This factor is largely independent from the overall fabric strength, the number of grains analyzed, and the recrystallized grain size. The olivine CPO strength and anisotropy at the rock scale, quantified by J-index, are largely controlled by the volume of recrystallized grains, which depends on finite strain. Comparison of olivine CPO in coarse- and fine-grained porphyroclastic peridotites shows that deviatoric stress and temperature conditions play nevertheless a role on the CPO evolution during recrystallization; selective grain growth, which is favored at high temperature and low stresses, does counteract the dispersion produced by the nucleation processes.
ISSN: 0191-8141

hal-00669963
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00669963
DOI : 10.1016/j.jsg.2011.09.010

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
Correlations between major and minor transition elements in tectonically emplaced orogenic peridotites have been ascribed to variable degrees of melt extraction and melt–rock reaction processes, leading to depletion or refertilization. To elucidate how such processes are recorded in the subcontinental lithospheric mantle, we processed a large geochemical dataset for peridotites from the four tectono-metamorphic domains of the Beni Bousera orogenic massif (Rif Belt, northern Morocco). Our study reveals that variations in bulk-rock major and minor elements, Mg-number and modal mineralogy of lherzolites, as well as their clinopyroxene trace element compositions, are inconsistent with simple partial melting and mainly resulted from different reactions between melts and depleted peridotites. Up to 30% melting at < 3 GPa and cryptic metasomatism can account for the geochemical variations of most harzburgites. In Grt–Sp mylonites, melting and melt–rock reactions are masked by tectonic mixing with garnet pyroxenites and subsolidus re-equilibration. In the rest of the massif, lherzolites were mostly produced by refertilization of a refractory protolith (Mg-number ∼ 91, Ol ∼ 70%, Cpx/Opx = 0·4) via two distinct near-solidus, melt–rock reactions: (1) clinopyroxene and orthopyroxene precipitation and olivine consumption at melt/rock ratios <0·75 and variable mass ratio between crystallized minerals and infiltrated melt (R), which are recorded fairly homogeneously throughout the massif; (2) dissolution of orthopyroxene and precipitation of clinopyroxene and olivine at melt/rock ratios ≤1 and R = 0·2–0·3, which affected mainly the Ariègite–Seiland and Seiland domains. The distribution of secondary lherzolites in the massif suggests that the first refertilization reaction occurred prior to the differentiation of the Beni Bousera mantle section into petro-structural zones, whereas the second reaction was associated with the development of the tectono-metamorphic domains. Our data support a secondary, refertilization-related origin for most lherzolites in orogenic peridotite massifs.
ISSN: 0022-3530

hal-01526901
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01526901
DOI : 10.1093/petrology/egx003

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The subcontinental lithospheric mantle evolves through time due to tectonic events and processes as static recrystallization and melt percolation. To constrain the extent of these processes in the South Patagonian subcontinental mantle lithosphere we performed a microstructural and Electron Backscattered Diffraction (EBSD) study of a suite of 35 peridotite xenoliths brought to the surface by Plio-Pleistocene alkaline volcanic rocks from Gobernador Gregores and Pali Aike. All samples show a well-developed olivine and pyroxene crystallographic preferred orientation (CPO), consistent with deformation by dislocation creep with dominant activation of [100]{0kl} in olivine. The coarse granular or tabular textures and the low density of intracrystalline deformation features indicate that deformation was followed by annealing under static conditions. The xenoliths also show microstructural evidence of multiple episodes of reactive melt percolation. Neither annealing nor melt percolation erased the olivine CPO, which has [010]-fiber, [100]-fiber and orthorhombic patterns in Pali Aike xenoliths and essentially [010]-fiber and orthorhombic patterns in Gobernador Gregores xenoliths. Seismic properties calculated based on the CPO and modal compositions are, however, rather homogeneous, with fast S-wave polarization and P-wave propagation parallel to the [100] olivine axis. The variation in the olivine CPO solely changes the minimum S-wave birefringence direction, which is normal to the foliation for axial-[010] olivine CPO. Average samples for the two localities, obtained by adding up the individual samples CPO data in a common reference frame, show, however, a 'normal' upper mantle anisotropy with a maximum S-wave birrenfringence of ca. 5% at high angle to the both the maximum [010] and [100] axes concentrations, that is in the foliation, but normal to the lineation, and a minimum birefringence at low angle to the [100] maximum, that is parallel to the lineation.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-01053500
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01053500
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2014.02.017

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Prediction of ice mass flow and associated dynamics is pivotal at a time of climate change. Ice flow is dominantly accommodated by the motion of crystal defects – the dislocations. In the specific case of ice, their observation is not always accessible by means of the classical tools such as X-ray diffraction or transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Part of the dislocation population, the geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs) can nevertheless be constrained using crystal orientation measurements via electron backscattering diffraction (EBSD) associated with appropriate analyses based on the Nye (1950) approach. The present study uses the Weighted Burgers Vectors, a reduced formulation of the Nye theory that enables the characterization of GNDs. Applied to ice, this method documents, for the first time, the presence of dislocations with non-basal or Burgers vectors. These or dislocations represent up to of the GNDs observed in laboratory-deformed ice samples. Our findings offer a more complex and comprehensive picture of the key plasticity processes responsible for polycrystalline ice creep and provide better constraints on the constitutive mechanical laws implemented in ice sheet flow models used to predict the response of Earth ice masses to climate change.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-01685565
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01685565
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2017.06.020

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
The mantle above a subducting slab is the site of complex interactions between deformation, partial melting, fluid migration and magma transport. To constrain these interactions and their effects on olivine deformation, we analyze microstructures, crystal preferred orientations, and water contents of peridotite xenoliths entrained by andesites of the Avacha volcano, southern Kamchatka arc. These xenoliths are refractory spinel harzburgites that have coarse-grained microstructures with widely spaced subgrain boundaries and sinuous grain boundaries in olivine, consistent with deformation by dislocation creep under low deviatoric stress (< 13 MPa) and with a significant contribution from diffusional processes. Analysis of crystal preferred orientations (CPO) indicates dominant activation of high-temperature, low-stress {0kl}[100] slip systems in olivine and of(100)[001] in orthopyroxene. In most samples, coarse opx crystals, elongated parallel to the lineation, enclose small olivine grains in crystallographic continuity with neighbouring crystals, indicating crystallization of orthopyroxene at the expense of olivine as a result of reactive percolation of Si-rich fluids coeval with the high-temperature deformation. Secondary crystallization of interstitial orthopyroxene led locally to development of opx-rich lenses parallel to the foliation, characterized by a decrease in olivine grain size and dispersion of the olivine CPO without changing the dominant slip systems. Half of the samples also show acicular orthopyroxene aggregates with which is associated a fine-grained matrix composed of rounded strain-free olivine, orthopyroxene, spinel, and rare amphibole crystals. This matrix occurs pervasively along grain boundaries or forms millimeter-scale irregular lenses and anastomosing veinlets that crosscut the coarse crystals and their ductile deformation structures. Both acicular orthopyroxene and the fine-grained matrix are interpreted as resulting from reactive transport of H2O-rich fluids under static conditions, probably in the lithospheric mantle. Infrared analyses show that olivine contains 1-8 center dot 6 ppm by weight of water. These low water contents are similar to those observed in spinel peridotites from other subduction zones and probably record both the low solubility of water in olivine at low pressure and dehydration during exhumation of the xenoliths. Water contents in orthopyroxene are highly variable (25-506 ppm H2O), probably recording spatially heterogeneous interaction with fluids or melts and compositional disequilibrium in the studied samples. Change in the dominant percolation mechanism from porous flow to fracturing suggests cooling, consistent with the low temperatures estimated from pyroxene thermometry (< 800-900 degrees C). The Avacha xenoliths therefore record pervasive deformation of a region of the mantle under asthenospheric conditions, followed by its accretion to the base of the lithosphere, probably as a result of cooling of the mantle wedge. Percolation of Si-rich fluids or hydrous melts is recorded at all stages; this probably enhanced diffusion and lowered deviatoric stresses during ductile deformation, but did not change the dominant slip direction in olivine from [100] to [001].
ISSN: 0022-3530

hal-00456053
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00456053
DOI : 10.1093/petrology/egp085

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Seismic anisotropy is a ubiquitous feature of the subcontinental mantle. This can be inferred both from direct seismic observations of shear wave splitting from teleseismic shear waves, as well as the petrofabric analyses of mantle nodules from kimberlite pipes. The anisotropy is principally due to the strain-induced lattice preferred orientation (LPO) of olivine. The combined use of these mantle samples, deformation experiments on olivine, and numerical modeling of LPO, provides a critical framework for making inferences about mantle deformation from observed seismic anisotropy. In most cases there is a close correspondence between mantle deformation derived from seismic observations of anisotropy, and crustal deformation, from the Archean to the present. This implies that the mantle plays a major, if not dominant role in continental deformation. No clear evidence is found for a continental asthenospheric decoupling zone, suggesting that continents are probably coupled to general mantle circulation.
Mantle Petrology: Field Observations and high Pressure experimentations: a Tribute to Francis R. (Joe) Boyd

hal-01391514
http://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01391514
http://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01391514/document
http://hal.univ-reunion.fr/hal-01391514/file/Silver_et_al_BoydVolume 1999_hal.pdf

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
Mantle-derived xenoliths hosted by melilitite lavas from In Teria (Ahaggar, SE Algeria) include garnet and spinel peridotites, pyroxenite and phlogopite megacrysts. The spinel and garnet peridotites record an early deformation event, which formed porphyroclastic microstructures and olivine crystal preferred orientations, followed by static infiltration of hydrous alkaline melts. This metasomatic stage (stage 1) is characterized by the crystallization of phlogopite in the garnet and spinel peridotites, amphibole in the spinel peridotites and clinopyroxene in the garnet peridotite, which record chemical equilibration with an alkaline silicate melt. These early events were largely overprinted by carbonatitic metasomatism (stage 2), which is observed only in the spinel peridotites. Spinel peridotite major and trace element compositions, as well as the compositions of newly formed minerals, are characteristic of interaction with carbonate melt, associated with strong enrichment in incompatible trace elements in clinopyroxene. This second stage was followed by crystallization of pyroxenites (stage 3) in vein conduits, probably segregated from alkaline melts. We propose a scenario in which the different metasomatic imprints record successive stages of interaction between lithospheric mantle and sublithospheric melts throughout the Cenozoic. In Sr–Nd isotope space, the host melilitites and several xenoliths are clustered and plot close to the HIMU mantle end-member. However, some peridotite xenoliths are shifted towards more radiogenic 87Sr/86Sr values. In 207Pb/204Pb–206Pb/204Pb and 208Pb/204Pb–06Pb/204Pb space the In Teria samples define a relatively large domain characterized by high 206Pb/204Pb and 208Pb/204Pb, consistent with a contribution of an HIMU component, considered to represent a sublithospheric signature. The highest 87Sr/86Sr values are comparable with those ascribed to the EM1 mantle end-member, representing the signature of the lower continental lithosphere, and are probably inherited from the pre-metasomatic lithospheric mantle beneath In Teria. Numerical modelling of porous percolation of melt of sublithospheric origin through an EM1-like lithospheric mantle protolith reproduces the In Teria peridotite compositions, using moderately sub-chondritic Sr/Nd values for the peridotite (e.g. In Teria garnet peridotite) and moderately super-chondritic Sr/Nd values in the melt (approximately ocean island basalt values). A few spinel peridotites require a component characterized by a 143Nd/144Nd signature higher than both the EM1 end-member and the local Ahaggar basalts; the 208Pb/204Pb compositions of several samples point to a component with a depleted mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) mantle (DMM) signature. Thus the lithospheric mantle beneath In Teria probably did not have a uniform EM1 signature before the onset of metasomatism; it included a DMM peridotite component as well as some peridotites with elevated 143Nd/144Nd values recording long-term LREE depletion.
ISSN: 0022-3530

hal-01356781
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01356781
DOI : 10.1093/petrology/egw009

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Interactions between deformation and melt percolation yield important consequences for the evolution of the mantle lithosphere, controlling its composition and mechanical behavior. In the Lherz massif (Pyrenees, France), the analysis of structural relationships between harzburgites, lherzolites and pyroxenites and of the crystal-preferred orientations (CPO) of olivine and pyroxenes highlights a strong feedback between percolation of basaltic melts and deformation under near-solidus conditions at the lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary. Elongated harzburgite bodies up to tens of meters wide, which are the remnants of an old lithospheric mantle, preserve a constant foliation. This foliation is locally outlined by cm-scale flattened websteritic lenses. At the contact with the enclosing lherzolites, the harzburgite foliation is crosscut by the lherzolites foliation and by cm-wide websterite bands parallel to the contact. Strain intensity in the lherzolites increases with distance to the harzburgites. Based on these observations, we propose that reactive percolation was synchronous to the deformation and propose that variations in instantaneous melt fraction, due to pyroxenes and spinel crystallization during reactive melt transport, guided strain localization. Accordingly, the observed decrease in olivine CPO intensity and change in CPO patterns from harzburgites to distal lherzolites are interpreted as recording changes in the relative contribution of dislocation glide and diffusion processes, which is ruled by a balance between the instantaneous melt fraction and the local strain rate. We also propose that the pervasive websteritic layering in the refertilized lherzolites may result from deformation-assisted melt segregation in a system with decreasing permeability due to refertilization reactions. Finally, we discuss the possible timing and geodynamical context of the refertilization episode.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00411724
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411724
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2008.07.053