Phase boundary mobility in naturally deformed, high-grade quartzofeldspathic rocks: evidence for diffusional creep

Abstract

Grain shape fabrics and optical microstructures of some quartzofeldspathic rocks deformed under upper amphibolite facies conditions in the southwestern Grenville Province, Ontario, Canada, suggest that quartz and feldspar have accommodated intracrystalline plastic strains by both diffusional and dislocation creep. In these rocks, quartz and feldspar form polycrystalline domains separated by gently curved and locally cuspate phase boundaries whose morphology is similar in certain respects to the phase boundary morphology of rocks annealed experimentally under hydrostatic stress conditions. In the naturally deformed rocks, however, phase boundary cusps consistently point along the foliation and parallel to the mineral fibre lineation (i.e. in directions of inferred finite extension) which implies that phase boundary motion and cusp formation occurred during deformation. Optical microstructures in feldspar and crystallographic preferred orientations in quartz are consistent with the accommodation of some intracrystalline plastic strains by dislocation creep. However, the morphology of quartz-feldspar phase boundaries cannot be explained by either dislocation creep or static annealing alone. We propose that phase boundary motion resulted from a diffusion-assisted process involving dissolution at foliation-parallel quartz-feldspar phase boundaries, mass transfer over length scales of the order of feldspar domain size (≈200 μm or greater) and precipitation at quartz-feldspar phase boundary cusps. This study extends the range of natural deformation conditions under which diffusional creep has been identified in quartzofeldspathic rocks. It also has important implications for the natural rheological behavior of the mid- and lower-continental crust.