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Striped iron zoning of olivine induced by dislocation creep in deformed peridotites

Nature volume 414, pages 893–895 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Deformation of solid materials affects not only their microstructures, but also their microchemistries1,2,3,4,5. Although chemical unmixing of initially homogeneous multicomponent solids is known to occur during deformation by diffusion creep4,5, there has been no report on their chemical zoning due to deformation by dislocation creep, in either natural samples or laboratory experiments. Here we report striped iron zoning of olivine ((Mg,Fe)2SiO4) in deformed peridotites, where the iron concentration increases at subgrain boundaries composed of edge dislocations. We infer that this zoning is probably formed by alignment of edge dislocations dragging a so-called Cottrell ‘atmosphere’ of solute atoms3,6,7 (iron in this case) into subgrain boundaries during deformation of the olivine by dislocation creep. We have found that the iron zoning does not develop in laboratory experiments of high strain rates where dislocations move too fast to drag the Cottrell atmosphere. This phenomenon might have important implications for the generation of deep-focus earthquakes, as transformation of olivine to high-pressure phases preferentially occurs in high-iron regions, and therefore along subgrain boundaries which would be preferentially aligned in plastically deformed mantle peridotites.

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Figure 1: Optical micrograph in crossed polarized light, showing undulose extinction and kink bands (NNE–SSW direction) in olivine grains of an Uenzaru peridotite.
Figure 2: Microstructure and microchemistry of a strongly deformed olivine grain, indicating the relationship between undulose extinction and Fe zoning.
Figure 3: Fayalite (Fe2SiO4) components measured by ATEM across a subgrain boundary composed of edge dislocations.

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Acknowledgements

We thank K. Ozawa for critical reading of the manuscript, H. Ishisako for making thin sections, Y. Takahashi for his contribution to the XANES study at the KEK photon factory in Tsukuba, Japan, and N. Abe for supplying the specimens from the southern Alps. This study was supported by JSPS (J.A.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Planetary Systems Science, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, 739-8526, Japan

    J. Ando, Y. Shibata & Y. Okajima

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba, 263-8522, Japan

    K. Kanagawa

  3. OYO Corporation, 10-20 Hamasaki Avenue, Hyogo-ku, Kobe, 652-0807, Japan

    M. Furusho

  4. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Kobe University, Kobe, 657-8501, Japan

    N. Tomioka

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  1. J. Ando
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Correspondence to J. Ando.

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Ando, J., Shibata, Y., Okajima, Y. et al. Striped iron zoning of olivine induced by dislocation creep in deformed peridotites. Nature 414, 893–895 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/414893a

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