Texture development of recrystallised quartz polycrystals unravelled by orientation and misorientation characteristics

Abstract

The development of microstructures and textures (i.e. crystallographic preferred orientations) during recrystallisation of naturally deformed quartz polycrystals has been studied via electron diffraction techniques in the scanning electron microscope. In the investigated sample series of quartz-rich rocks originating from different deformation regimes, the microstructural and textural changes in quartz have been significantly influenced by dynamic recrystallisation. Based on microstructural observations paired with orientation and misorientation analyses down to the scale of grains and subgrains, criteria could be established which characterise the dominant recrystallisation process and its influence on texture development. It is shown that the texture development during dynamic recrystallisation is controlled by a differential activation of slip systems in grains of ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ orientations. The analyses provide further evidence that specific grain orientations are preferred during crystal plastic deformation, recrystallisation and grain growth. The influence of twinning after the Dauphiné law was also investigated. Observations of a progressive reduction in the population of Dauphiné-twin boundaries during recrystallisation and a penetrative deformation in both hosts and twins indicate a generation prior to deformation and recrystallisation. A mechanical origin for twinning and possible influence on texture development was therefore discarded.