Low-Temperature Plasticity of Naturally Deformed Calcite Rocks

Abstract

Optical, cathodoluminescence and transmission electron microscope (TEM) analyses were conducted on four groups of calcite fault rocks, a cataclastic limestone, cataclastic coarse-grained marbles from two fault zones, and a fractured mylonite. These fault rocks show similar microstructural characteristics and give clues to similar processes of rock deformation. They are characterized by the structural contrast between macroscopic cataclastic (brittle) and microscopic mylonitic (ductile) microstructures. Intragranular deformation microstructures (i.e. deformation twins, kink bands and microfractures) are well preserved in the deformed grains in clasts or in primary rocks. The matrix materials are of extremely fine grains with diffusive features. Dislocation microstructures for co-existing brittle deformation and crystalline plasticity were revealed using TEM. Tangled dislocations are often preserved at the cores of highly deformed clasts, while dislocation walls form in the transitions to the fine-grained matrix materials and free dislocations, dislocation loops and dislocation dipoles are observed both in the deformed clasts and in the fine-grained matrix materials. Dynamic recrystallization grains from subgrain rotation recrystallization and subsequent grain boundary migration constitute the major parts of the matrix materials. Statistical measurements of densities of free dislocations, grain sizes of subgrains and dynamically recrystallized grains suggest an unsteady state of the rock deformation. Microstructural and cathodoluminescence analyses prove that fluid activity is one of the major parts of faulting processes. Low-temperature plasticity, and thereby induced co-existence of macroscopic brittle and microscopic ductile microstructures are attributed to hydrolytic weakening due to the involvement of fluid phases in deformation and subsequent variation of rock rheology. During hydrolytic weakening, fluid phases, e.g. water, enhance the rate of dislocation slip and climb, and increase the rate of recovery of strain-hardened rocks, which accommodates fracturing.