Deformation at the frictional-viscous transition: Evidence for cycles of fluid-assisted embrittlement and ductile deformation in the granitoid crust

Abstract

Mid-crustal deformation is classically characterized by the transition from ductile to brittle deformation defining the frictional-to-viscous transition (FVT). Here we investigate an exhumed continental mid-crustal basement section in order to envisage the relationship between ductile and brittle deformation at the FVT. Our detailed study from km- to micro-scale shows that, under greenschist metamorphic conditions, deformation is accommodated by a dense network of highly-localized ductile shear zones. In the investigated case it is not quartz which defines the overall ductile deformation behavior but the viscous granular deformation in shear zones with an ultrafine-grained polymineralic matrix consisting of quartz, feldspar, sheet silicates and epidote. During viscous granular flow mass transfer processes under the presence of fluids promote a chemo-mechanical mixing, resulting in grain size reduction and reaction softening. Coeval with this ductile deformation, fluid-assisted embrittlement occurs, as indicated by biotite-coated fractures, cataclasites and injection of non-cohesive polymineralic gouge material into secondary fractures inside the host rock. The embrittlement during predominant ductile deformation occurs in cycles, i.e. prolonged periods of slow viscous granular flow are interrupted by rapid brittle deformation. We interpret this fluid–assisted cyclic embrittlement evidenced by injection of the fluidized material into off-fault fractures as an alternative equivalent to pseudotachylites and as a microstructural indicator for paleo-seismic activity. With exhumation and associated cooling, localized deformation persists in the ultrafine-grained polymineralic shear zones but progressively transitions to cataclastic flow and finally to pressure-dependent frictional flow; always showing cycles of slow interseismic flow and fast seismic injection events. Overall, in the granitic crust of the Aar-massif, brittle and ductile deformation coexist up to deformation temperatures of minimum 450°C, indicating that the FVT has to be placed in a rather wide range from 8km up to >18–20km in the granitoid crust.