Diaplectic quartz glass and SiO2 melt experimentally generated at only 5 GPa shock pressure in porous sandstone: Laboratory observations and meso-scale numerical modeling

Abstract

A combination of shock recovery experiments and numerical modeling of shock deformation in the low pressure range from 2.5 to 17.5 GPa in dry, porous Seeberger sandstone provides new, significant insights with respect to the heterogeneous nature of shock distribution in such important, upper crustal material, for which to date no pressure-calibrated scheme for shock metamorphism exists. We found that pores are already completely closed at 2.5 GPa shock pressure. Whole quartz grains or parts of them are transformed to diaplectic quartz glass and/or SiO2 melt starting already at 5 GPa, whereas these effects are not observed below shock pressures of 30–35 and ∼45 GPa, respectively, in shock experiments with quartz single crystals. The appearance of diaplectic glass or melt is not restricted to the zone directly below the impacted surface but is related to the occurrence of pores in a much broader zone. The combined amount of these phases increases distinctly with increasing shock pressure from 0.03 vol.% at 5 GPa to ∼80 vol.% at 17.5 GPa. In accordance with a previous shock classification for silica phases in naturally shocked Coconino sandstone from Meteor Crater that was based on varied slopes of the Coconino sandstone Hugoniot curve, our observations allow us to construct a shock pressure classification for porous sandstone consistent with shock stages 1b–4 of the progressive shock metamorphism classification of Kieffer (1971).Numerical modeling at the meso-scale provides the explanation for the discrepancy of shock deformation in porous material and single-crystal quartz, in keeping with our experimental results. It confirms that pore space is completely collapsed at low nominal pressure and demonstrates that pore space collapse results in localized pressure amplification that can exceed 4 times the initial pressure. This provides an explanation for the formation of diaplectic quartz glass and lechatelierite as observed in the low-shock-pressure experiments. The numerical models predict an amount of SiO2 melt similar to that observed in the shock experiments. This also shows that numerical models are essential to provide information beyond experimental capabilities.