Mapping texture domains in quartzite microstructures

Abstract

The paper is concerned with the combined application of two methods for microstructure and texture analysis: (1) optical orientation and misorientation imaging and (2) autocorrelation function (ACF). Using two different samples, the usefulness of the methods and the quality of the results are discussed. One sample is a quartzite layer from the limb of a small scale fold in the Suretta Nappe (ValAvers, Switzerland) which was deformed under upper greenschist conditions, the other is a sample of Black Hills quartzite, experimentally sheared in dislocation creep. Using the method of computer-integrated polarization microscopy (CIP), c-axis orientation and misorientation images were prepared and pole figures were calculated from the azimuth and inclination images. Misorientation images were prepared and analyzed in a number of ways: (1) In as much as misorientation images constitute texture maps, they visualize the geometry and spatial distribution of texture domains; they show if the texture domains are spatially coherent, i.e., if the rock is domainal or not. (2) Thresholded misorientation images allow the calculation of the volume fraction of texture domains, which is a means of estimating the texture intensification independent of the shape of the pole figure skeleton. (3) From the ACF of thresholded misorientation images the average grain size and shape in those domains can be derived. (4) From the shape of the domains (if they exist as spatial entities), the strain or strain partitioning as well as the rheological contrast can be estimated. The paper seeks to demonstrate the importance of localized texture analysis. The aim is to discuss the quality of the results that can be obtained. The samples were chosen because one is domainal the other one is not. A full discussion of the geological implications of the results of the analysis is outside the scope of this contribution.