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The control of deformation partitioning and strain localization on porphyroblast behaviour in rocks and experiments

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Abstract

Multiple generations of sub-vertical and sub-horizontal foliations preserved as inclusion trails in garnet in mylonitic rocks from the hanging wall of the Main Central Thrust in the Himalayas indicate that these porphyroblasts did not rotate during thrusting. This result is predicated by (i) a consistent succession of 5 changes in FIA trend (foliation inflection/intersection axes in porphyroblasts) for samples where the orientation changes from porphyroblast cores to rims; (ii) sub-vertical and sub-horizontal foliations occur as inclusion trails around each of the 5 FIAs in the succession, which would not be the case if the garnet porphyroblasts rotated during subsequent phases of deformation as tectonism continued; (iii) a change in inclusion trail asymmetry immediately prior to the commencement of mylonitzation indicates top to the south thrusting only if the porphyroblasts had not rotated as they grew; (iv) the latter asymmetry matches truncated crenulation relics preserved within the mylonitic matrix foliation that indicate top to the south thrusting as the latter foliation formed. Partitioning of deformation into shortening and shearing components stops rotation of porphyroblasts during their growth and during following periods of ductile tectonism. This can be replicated via computer modelling by duplicating the crenulation-hinge-like coaxial environment in which porphyroblasts nucleate and grow before the strain intensifies. This was done using Drucker-Prager constitutive models with temperature-dependent strain softening behaviour and resulted in no porphyroblast rotation when followed by non-coaxial deformation no matter how intense. Furthermore, strain localization in the model containing competent objects of variable size, shape and orientation, produced no rotation during deformation involving components of shortening and shearing. These approaches to modelling mechanically resolve the sub-vertical/sub-horizontal foliations defined by inclusion trails and consistent FIA trend successions obtained from the Main Central Thrust rocks as well as in orogens elsewhere.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geoscience, College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, 4811, Australia

    Timothy H. Bell & Ioan V. Sanislav

  2. Geological Survey of Western Australia, PO Box 1664, Kalgoorlie, WA, 6433, Australia

    Jyotindra Sapkota

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  1. Timothy H. Bell
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Correspondence to Ioan V. Sanislav.

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Bell, T.H., Sanislav, I.V. & Sapkota, J. The control of deformation partitioning and strain localization on porphyroblast behaviour in rocks and experiments. Geosci J 22, 65–77 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12303-017-0030-8

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