Talc and "talc"-bearing dehydrating serpentinite rheology within subduction zones
Abstract
Fluids released by subducting slabs hydrate peridotites within the mantle wedge and produce weak phyllosilicates in significant quantities (1). Depending on the original chemistry of peridotites and on the silica content of the fluids, either talc or the high-pressure (HP) variety of serpentine antigorite, or both, can form down to 180 km depth. A talc-like phase is also produced transiently during serpentine dehydration (2). The extent to which such weak materials at the slab-mantle wedge interface can influence the dynamics of subduction zones from human (seismicity - post-seismic ground deformations) to geological (convection) timescales is still unknown. Promising deformation experiments on antigorite have shown that its low strength makes it a potential actor for governing silent earthquakes that release elastic energy in subduction zones and for localizing deformation at the slab interface, thereby modifying the mantle wedge convection, heat fluxes and seismic anisotropy (3). The strength of talc at low pressure is also exceptionally low compared to other silicates (4) and at sub-surface conditions the weakness of talc is thought to govern deformation in major faults such as San Andreas (5). At low pressures (< 500 MPa), talc behaves cataclastically and hardly achieves distributed deformation (4). However, higher pressures should promote crystal plasticity i.e. different deformation mechanisms in talc. Investigating the rheology of talc, and talc-bearing assemblage during serpentine dehydration, at P-T conditions corresponding to subducting slabs, is necessary in order to better understand localization of deformation in the slab-mantle wedge interface as well as the nature of this interface. We conducted deformation experiments using the D-DIA (6) apparatus at GSE-CARS (APS sector 13), with in situ strain and stress measurements using synchrotron X-ray imaging and diffraction, respectively. Stress-strain data were obtained on talc at P-T conditions between 2 and 5 GPa, and T between 350 and 700C, at strain rates between 10-4 and 10-5 s-1. Dehydration of serpentine was conducted around 4 GPa and 10-5 s-1. The results will be presented together with their implications, in particular the influence of the talc-like phase within a dehydrating serpentine, and more generally for subduction zones dynamics. 1 Ulmer and Trommsdorff GSA spec. publ. (1999). 2 Perrillat et al EPSL (2005) 3 Hilairet et al Science (2007) 4 Escartin et al EPSL (2008) 5 Moore and Rymer Nature (2007) 6 Wang et al RSI (2003)
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2008
- Bibcode:
- 2008AGUFM.V31B2148H
- Keywords:
-
- 3902 Creep and deformation;
- 5120 Plasticity;
- diffusion;
- and creep;
- 7240 Subduction zones (1207;
- 1219;
- 1240);
- 8160 Rheology: general (1236;
- 8032);
- 8413 Subduction zone processes (1031;
- 3060;
- 3613;
- 8170)