Studies of the development of fabrics in some naturally deformed limestones

[摘要] The purpose of this investigation has been to study in detail the development of deformation fabrics in somenaturally deformed limestones, with a view of testing thegeological applicability of experimentally deduced originsof such fabrics in these materials. Flexurally foldedlimestones have been used to make comparisons between experiment and nature, by taking advantage of the approximately known character and variation of strain in these structures and using this information to deduce theoretically the deformation fabrics from place to place to compare with those actually observed in the structures. Two kinds of fabric problems are treated, ones dealing with gross changes in crystal orientation accompanying large strain, and those treating the origin of twinning lamellae in carbonate rocks in relation to applied stress, the so-called dynamic analysis. An extension of this analysis is made which allows quantitative information as to rock strain due to twinning (and translation gliding) to be obtained from thin sections.Current theoretical treatments used in predicting fabric changes with strain in marble are found inadequate for predicting fabric changes with strain in flexure folds.Exact derivations of these fabrics for folds have not beenmade. Instead, an implication of a more general theorytreating development of fabrics in metal aggregates is usedto derive approximately the changes in c-axis orientationswith large strain by analogy with fabrics obtained fromexperimental deformed Yule marble. Well defined fabricchanges with large strain involving both twinning andtranslation gliding in individual crystals have not beenobserved in the folds studied. Predicted results for the dynamic analysis of an aggregate with isotropic c-axis distribution are derived with special reference to one of the folds studied. The stress distribution in plane strain is calculated for the structure starting with an already partly folded unconfinedlayer of circular cross-section, and assuming it to beloaded elastically with simple compressive forces appliedin the limbs directed normal to the axial plane. Twinningdeformation in individual crystals is treated by assumingthat the law of maximum resolved shear stress determines anactive twin set in each grain. The results obtained arecompared favorably with those observed in a natural fold.Deformation fabrics from two small folds are given.The first fold occurs in a large anticlinorium in westernWashington County, Maryland, in thinly bedded limestonesand shales of the Silurian McKenzie Creek formation. Thesecond is a drag fold on the eastern limb of a north-trending anticline in Carboniferous limestones and shaleslocated in upper Darwin wash, Darwin Hills, Inyo County,California. In the Maryland fold, c-axis fabrics obtainedfrom the axial region show no preferred orientation due todeformation, but a dynamic analysis of the twinning lamellaeis in good agreement with that expected in theory. The dynamic analysis is shown to be sensitive in depictingsmall changes in twinning deformation throughout portionsof the body examined. The strains due to twinning arecompatible with bending in part of the structure. Morequantitative comparisons of the observed and expected deformation have shown that under a derived system of stressat the axial plane, twinning deformation in 80% of thegrains in the aggregate has followed the law of maximumresolved shear stress. The amount of twinning strain withinindividual crystals varies with their orientation in thestress field. The calculated visible (twinning) strains ofabout 0.01 are considerably less than the strains computedfrom the geometry of the fold of 0.25, and much of thisdiscrepancy may be due to fracturing (slip on planes parallel to bedding) during folding.In the fold from Darwnn wash, observed fabrics cannot be related simply to the megascopic deformation in the fold. Preferred orientations of c-axes are thought to be partly due to veining in t he rock. Fabric changes due to twinning are however qualitatively correlated with shortening in the fold perpendicular to the axial plane, and a shear similar to that necessitated by the relation of the drag fold to the major anticline with which it is associated. Calculated visible strains are considerably less than those approximately deduced from fold geometry, but can be partially correlated with the observed deformation in the structure. Analysis of the deformation in nonhomogeneously strained individual crystals of these aggregates (Appendix II) shows that in addition to e{0112} twinning, translation gliding has occurred on most types of glide planes deduced for calcite from laboratory experiments. Microscopically these rocks appear to have undergone large deformation, exhibiting local cataclastic texture, much twinning and warping of individual crystals. However, well defined formation fabrics due to large strain have not been observed in them.A second part of this investigation has dealt with the so-called nontwinned lamellae in calcite and dolomite. From these studies it has been concluded that such structureare extremely thin (a few microns) but otherwise normal twin lamellae parallel to e{0112} in calcite andf{0221} in dolomite, and are for this reason renamed microtwinned lamellae. In addition to interference colors,these lamellae exhibit four different types of interferencefringes. A new method is presented, which utilizes the optical properties of the twins, for obtaining theorientation of lamellae inclined at small angles to theplane of a thin section. The utility of this techniquelies in the fact that it may be used to eliminate thecentral "blind-spot" in twin lamellae fabric diagrams.Some measurements of twin thicknesses, made using the neworientation method, are given, together with calculationswhich show that only an average and not a cumulative opticalthickness for a stack of lamellae superposed in thin section may be obtained using the method.

[发布机构] University:California Institute of Technology;Department:Geological and Planetary Sciences

[关键词] Geology