Dynamic recrystallization during creep of single‐crystalline halite: An experimental study

Abstract

Single crystals of pure and impure halite have been dynamically recrystallized during compression creep at temperatures between 250° and 790°C and stresses between 1.5 and 120 bars. Recrystallization was found to occur by two different mechanisms: at lower temperatures and stresses the new grains result from the rotation of subgrains without grain boundary migration (rotation recrystallization), and at higher temperatures and stresses the final texture results from the migration of the high‐angle grain boundaries of the rotated subgrains. Migration recrystallization was shown to occur for critical stress and temperature conditions, allowing rapid grain boundary migration. A curve separates the two domains in the σ, T plane and moves to higher temperatures and stresses for crystals of higher impurity content; for natural crystals, only rotation recrystallization can occur. In each recrystallization regime the recrystallized grain size is uniquely related to the applied stress, thus yielding two different geopiezometers, which should not be applied indiscriminately to natural tectonites to determine lithospheric or mantle deviatoric stresses. The experimental results are interpreted by the Lücke et Stüwe theory for impurity‐controlled grain boundary migration.