Abstract
At moderate temperature (T≈1/3 T Melt) recovery processes become very active in wet quartz and many subgrain boundaries (sgb's) are formed which still contain interesting information on the deformation mechanisms. In particular, the geometrical characteristics of a sgb (normal, rotation axis) depend upon the glide systems which have been activated.
Possible sgb's in quartz are studied from a theoretical point of view with the help of the Frank formula. The predictions are compared with observations by optical microscopy and by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) on naturally deformed quartz samples. Most of the predicted sgb's are effectively observed and there is an excellent agreement between theory and observation. This allows a rapid characterization of sgb's in tem to be performed by standard stereographic methods: only the directions of the dislocations and the plane of the sgb are determined; they are compared to a table deduced from geometrical considerations and the glide systems which have been activated during the deformation (at least the last stage of deformation) can be deduced. This method is very important for the case of quartz because the rapid irradiation of this material under the electron beam renders very difficult the characterization of the Burgers vectors of free dislocations.
A similar method can be developed for observations in optical microscopy when the crystallographic orientation of the studied thin sections can be determined.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Amelinckx, S., Dekeyser, W.: The structure and properties of grain boundaries. Solid State Phys. 8, 325–499 (1959)
Ardell, A.J., Christie, J.M.: Deformation structures in minerals. In: Electron microscopy in mineralogy, Wenk, H. (ed.). Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer 1976, pp. 374–403
Ardell, A.J., Christie, J.M., McCormick, J.W.: Dislocation images in quartz and the determination of Burgers vectors. Philos. Mag. 29, 1399–1411 (1974)
Ardell, A.J., Christie, J.M., Kirby, S.H., McCormick, J.W.: Electron microscopy of deformation structures in quartz. In: Developments in electron microscopy and analysis, Venables J. (ed.). London: Academic Press 1976, pp. 467–470
Ayensu, A., Ashbee, K.H.G.: The creep of quartz single crystals with a special reference to the mechanism by which water accomodates dislocation glide. Philos. Mag. 36, 713–723 (1977)
Ball, A., Glover, G.: Dislocation climb in quartz. Bull. Mineral. 102, 188–194 (1979)
Blacic, J.D.: Plastic deformation in quartz, the effect of water. Tectonophysics 27, 271–294 (1975)
Christie, J.M., Ardell, A.J.: Substructures of deformation lamellae in quartz. Geology 2, 405–408 (1974)
Frank, F.C.: On Miller-Bravais indices and four dimensional vectors. Acta Cryst. 18, 862–866 (1965)
Gandillot, J., Kraut, F.: Sur le quartz de St-Paul la Roche (Dordogne) à cassures rhombohédriques. C.R. Congr. Géol. Internat. Sect. III, fasc. III (Alger) (1953)
Hobbs, B.E., McLaren, A.C., Paterson, M.S.: Plasticity of single crystals of quartz. In: Flow and fracture of rocks, Vol. 16, Heard, H.C., Borg, I.Y., Carter, N.L., Raleigh, C.B. (eds.). Washington: Am. Geophys. Union 1972, pp. 25–53
Kirby, S.H.: The effects of α - β phase transformation on the creep properties of hydrolytically weakened synthetic quartz. Geophys. Res. Lett. 4, 97–100 (1977)
Kirby, S.H., McCormick, J.W.: Creep of hydrolytically weakened synthetic quatz crystals oriented to promote {2\(\bar 1\) \(\bar 1\)} 〈000〉 slip; a brief summary of work to date. Bull. Mineral. 102, 124–137 (1979)
McLaren, A.C., Retchford, J.A.: Tem study of the dislocations in plastically deformed synthetic quartz. Phys. Status Solidi 33, 657–668 (1969)
McLaren, A.C., Turner, R.G., Boland, J.N., Hobbs, B.E.: Dislocation structure of the deformation lamellae in synthetic quartz; a study by electron and optical microscope. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 29, 104–115 (1970)
Morrison-Smith, D.J.: Dislocation structures in synthetic quartz. In: Electron microscopy in mineralogy, Wenk, H. (ed.). Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer 1976, pp. 410–418
Morrison-Smith, D.J., Paterson, M.S., Hobbs, B.E.: A tem study of plastic deformation structures in single crystals of synthetic quartz. Tectonophysics 33, 43–79 (1976)
Nicolas, A., Poirier, J.P.: Crystalline plasticity and solid state flow in metamorphic rocks. New York: J. Wiley 1976, pp. 200–216
Paterson, M.S., Kekulawala, K.R.S.S.: The role of water in quartz deformation. Bull. Mineral. 102, 92–98 (1979)
Trepied, L.: Energie elastique des dislocations du quartz. J. Phys. Lett. 39, 433–436 (1978)
Trepied, L., Doukhan, J.C.: Dissociated a dislocations in quartz, influence on plastic deformation. Phys. Status Solidi A: 49, 713–724 (1978)
Twiss, R.J.: Some planar deformation features, slip systems and submicroscopic structures in synthetic quartz. J. Geol. 84, 701–724 (1976)
White, S.: The effects of polyphase deformation on the intracrystalline defect structures of quartz. Neues Jahrb. Mineral. Abh. 123, 219–236 (1975)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This paper is part of the thesis of L. Trépied
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Trépied, L., Doukhan, J.C. & Paquet, J. Subgrain boundaries in quartz theoretical analysis and microscopic observations. Phys. Chem. Minerals 5, 201–218 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00348570
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00348570