Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology

, Volume 153, Issue 2, pp 159–175 | Cite as

Fast diffusion along mobile grain boundaries in calcite

  • Andrew McCaig
  • Stephen J. Covey-Crump
  • Walid Ben Ismaïl
  • Geoffrey E. Lloyd
Original Paper
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

Experimental measurements of grain boundary diffusion are usually conducted on static boundaries, despite the fact that grain boundaries deep in the Earth are frequently mobile. In order to explore the possible effect of boundary mobility on grain boundary diffusion rates we have measured the uptake of 44Ca from a layer of 44Ca-enriched calcite powder during the static recrystallization of a single crystal of calcite at 900°C. A region about 500 μm wide adjacent to the powder layer is heterogeneously enriched in 44Ca, and complex zoning patterns, including sharp steps in composition and continuous increases and decreases in 44Ca content, are developed. In metamorphic rocks, these would normally be interpreted in terms of changes in pressure or temperature, Rayleigh fractionation, or episodic fluid infiltration. These explanations cannot apply to our experiments, and instead the zoning patterns are interpreted as being due to variations in grain boundary migration rate. We have applied an analytical model which allows the product of grain boundary diffusion coefficient and grain boundary width (D GB δ) to be calculated from the grain boundary migration rate and the compositional gradient away from the powder layer. The value of D GB δ in the mobile grain boundaries is at least five orders of magnitude greater than the published value for static boundaries under the same conditions. In order to allow the scale of chemical equilibrium (and hence textural evolution) to be predicted under both experimental and geological conditions, we present quantitative diffusion-regime maps for static and mobile boundaries in calcite, using both published values and our new values for grain boundary diffusion in mobile boundaries. Enhanced diffusion in mobile boundaries has wide implications for the high temperature rheology of Earth materials, for geochronology, and for interpretations of the length- and time-scales of chemical mass-transport. Moreover, zones of anomalously high electrical conductivity in the crust and mantle could be regions undergoing recrystallization such as active shear zones, rather than regions of anomalous mineralogy, water- or melt-content as is generally suggested.

Keywords

Calcite Boundary Diffusion Boundary Migration Migration Velocity Powder Layer 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Notes

Acknowledgments

John Craven and Simone Käsemann are thanked for their assistance with ion probe analysis and interpretation, and Eric Condliffe for assisting with SEM analysis. Reviews by William Carlson and Timothy Grove helped to improve the manuscript, and we are grateful to the latter for suggesting the analysis of diffusion regimes. Saskia ten Grotenhuis is thanked for her comments on an earlier version of the paper. This work was supported by Royal Society Research Grant 21456 and by NERC ion probe grant IMP/162/0500. Part of it was carried out while SCC held a Royal Society University Research Fellowship

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 2006

Authors and Affiliations

  • Andrew McCaig
    • 1
  • Stephen J. Covey-Crump
    • 2
  • Walid Ben Ismaïl
    • 2
  • Geoffrey E. Lloyd
    • 1
  1. 1.Institute of Geophysics and Tectonics, School of Earth and EnvironmentUniversity of LeedsLeedsUK
  2. 2.School of Earth, Atmospheric, and Environmental SciencesUniversity of ManchesterManchesterUK

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