Microstructural evolution in a mylonitic quartz simple shear zone: the significant roles of dauphine twinning and misorientation

Abstract

AbstractSEM/EBSD-based orientation and misorientation analyses are described for a lower amphibolite facies simple shear zone (Torridon, NW Scotland). It is shown that as well as conventional crystal-slip processes (i.e. basal-a, prism-a, rhomb-a and negative second order rhomb-a slip), dauphine twinning also plays a role in both microstructural and petrofabric evolution. Twinning assists in the initial grain size comminution processes, including dynamic recrystallization, from originally coarse wall rock grains to a typical mylonitic microstructure in the centre of the shear zone. Subsequently, twinning helps to accommodate high shear strains in the mylonite whilst maintaining a stable microstructure and constant ‘single crystal’ petrofabric. The role of dauphine twinning appears to be to allow efficient switching between relatively ‘soft’ and relatively ‘hard’ slip directions that possibly exploit a distinction between negative and positive crystal forms. Misorientation analysis emphasizes the relationships between crystal-slip systems and grain boundary network, including dauphine twin planes, and suggests that the mylonitic microstructure contains preferred orientations of both tilt and twist boundaries that help to explain shear zone microstructural evolution and stability.