Laboratory investigation of mechanisms for phase mixing in olivine + ferropericlase aggregates

To investigate the role of grain boundary pinning and the mechanisms by which phase mixing occurs during deformation of polymineralic rocks, we conducted high-strain torsion experiments on samples consisting of olivine plus 30 vol% ferropericlase. Experiments were performed in a gas-medium deformation apparatus at 1524 K and 300 MPa. Samples were deformed to outer radius shear strains of up toγ (R ) = 14.1. The value of the stress exponent and the small grain sizes of our samples indicate that our two-phase material deformed by dislocation-accommodated grain boundary sliding. In samples deformed to 1 < γ  < 7, elongated clusters of ferropericlase grains form thin layers in the olivine matrix, and small grains of ferropericlase appear at olivine grain boundaries and three- and four-grain junctions. Byγ  ≈ 14, a well-distributed mixture of small ferropericlase grains among the olivine grains developed. Microstructures exhibit similarities to both mechanical and chemical models proposed to describe the processes leading to phase mixing. Our results provide evidence for grain size reduction during phase mixing that results in a grain size significantly smaller than the value predicted by the single-phase recrystallization piezometer for olivine. Thus, phase mixing provides a mechanism for the persistent weakening of rocks that is important for developing and maintaining shear zones necessary for plate tectonics.This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Earth dynamics and the development of plate tectonics'.