Decorated dislocations in naturally deformed olivine with C-type fabric: A case study in the Lüliangshan garnet peridotite from the North Qaidam ultrahigh-pressure belt, NW China

Abstract

This paper presents a detailed case study of decorated dislocations of olivine with C-type fabric in the Lüliangshan garnet peridotite from the North Qaidam ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic belt in NW China. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) measurements reveal a weak C-type fabric in olivine, i.e., the crystallographic [100] axes form a weak point maximum subnormal to the foliation while the [001] axes form a girdle in the foliation plane with a weak point maximum subparallel to the lineation. Oriented hydrous mineral of sodic amphibole and pyroxene were found in porphyroclastic garnet indicating considerable water content in the parental majoritic garnet at high pressure conditions. However, the water content of olivine and garnet is below the detection limit (less than a few ppm wt. H2O) of the instrument (a Nicolet 6700 FTIR with Continuum FTIR Microscope). Two distinctive deformation features of decorated olivine grains were recognized: (1) linear morphologies of many dislocations with long straight segments parallel to the [001] orientation, which are likely screw dislocations with b = [001]; (2) olivine grains with planar dislocation, subgrain boundaries or undulose extinction are scarce in thin sections under optical microscopy. The dislocation structures and densities in olivine are heterogeneous at multi-scales. The mean 3D dislocation density and the estimated differential stress based on the dislocation density piezometer are 0.4–0.8 × 10−12 m−2 and 65–108 MPa, respectively. Decorated dislocations and EBSD analyses suggest the most likely dominant activation slip systems with b = [001]. Considering that most C-type fabric of olivine are reported from UHP garnet peridotites, we emphasize the important effects of high pressure and relatively low temperature on the formation of the C-type fabric in olivine.