The effect of dynamic recrystallization on olivine fabric and seismic anisotropy: Insight from a ductile shear zone, Oman ophiolite

Abstract

Subhorizontal mantle structures subparallel to the Moho are rotated into NW–SE subvertical orientations across a shear zone in a sinistral sense of shear within the northern Fizh mantle section of the Oman ophiolite. Dynamic recrystallization resulted in grain size reduction of olivine and the development of porphyroclastic texture. Mean olivine grain size stabilized at ∼0.7 mm within the shear zone center; this may reflect the steady-state grain size of dynamically recrystallized olivine, as determined by the deviatoric stress, which in this case was as low as 10 MPa. Crystal-preferred orientation (CPO) patterns of olivine are consistently [100]-fiber or partial fiber texture, indicating that olivine slip systems did not change during shearing. Dynamic recrystallization causes a weakening of olivine fabric intensity toward the shear zone center, but this weakening is counterbalanced by CPO strengthening due to dislocation glide. This process resulted in an abrupt decrease in seismic anisotropy at the center of the shear zone, in contrast to a gradual decrease in olivine fabric intensity and mean grain size. The measured seismic anisotropy patterns did not change in ways that would be significantly measurable by seismological observations. Despite the development of the shear zone, dispersion of both P- and S-waves in the shear zone may be of little effect with respect to the overall seismic anisotropy. This is not only because the shear zone occurs substantially in a narrow region but also because the seismic anisotropy is weaker in the shear zone than the high- T structure region. It suggests that a record of simple systematic seismic anisotropy observed in the upper mantle may indicate a simplified mantle flow structure, as localized structures may be obscured in the region of the observation.