Extreme plastic deformation and subsequent Pb loss in shocked xenotime from the Vredefort Dome, South Africa

ABSTRACT Accessory mineral U-Pb geochronometers are crucial tools for constraining the timing of deformation in a wide range of geological settings. Despite the growing recognition that intragrain age variations within deformed minerals can spatially correlate to zones of microstructural damage, the causal mechanisms of Pb loss are not always evident. Here, we report the first U-Pb data for shock-deformed xenotime, from a detrital grain collected at the Vredefort impact structure in South Africa. Orientation mapping revealed multiple shock features, including pervasive planar deformation bands (PDBs) that accommodate up to 40° of lattice misorientation by <100>{010} slip, and also an ~50-µm-wide intragrain shear zone that contains {112} deformation twin lamellae in two orientations. Twenty-nine in situ secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) U-Pb analyses from all microstructural domains yielded a well-defined discordia with upper-intercept age of 2953 ± 15 Ma (mean square of weighted deviates [MSWD] = 0.57, n = 29, 2σ), consistent with derivation from Kaapvaal craton bedrock. However, the 1754 ± 150 Ma lower concordia intercept age falls between the 2020 Ma Vredefort impact and ca. 1100 Ma Kibaran orogenesis and is not well explained by multiple Pb-loss episodes. The pattern and degree of Pb loss (discordance) correlate with increased [U] but do not correlate to microstructure (twin, PDB) or to crystallinity (band contrast) at the scale of SIMS analysis. Numerical modeling of the Pb-loss history using a concordia-discordia-comparison (CDC) test indicated that the lower concordia age is instead best explained by an alteration episode at ca. 1750 Ma, rather than a multiple Pb-loss history. In this example, the U-Pb system in deformed xenotime does not record a clear signature of impact age resetting; rather, the implied high dislocation density recorded by planar deformation bands and the presence of deformation twins facilitated subsequent Pb loss during a younger event that affected the Witwatersrand basin. Microstructural characterization of xenotime targeted for geochronology provides a new tool for recognizing evidence of deformation and can provide insight into complex age data from highly strained grains, and, as is the case in this study, elucidate previously unrecognized alteration events.

Tabun Khara Obo impact crater, Mongolia: Geophysics, geology, petrography, and geochemistry

ABSTRACT Tabun Khara Obo is the only currently known impact crater in Mongolia. The crater is centered at 44°07′50″N and 109°39′20″E in southeastern Mongolia. Tabun Khara Obo is a 1.3-km-diameter, simple bowl-shaped structure that is well visible in topography and clearly visible on remote-sensing images. The crater is located on a flat, elevated plateau composed of Carboniferous arc-related volcanic and volcanosedimentary rocks metamorphosed to upper amphibolite to greenschist facies (volcaniclastic sandstones, metagraywacke, quartz-feldspar–mica schist, and other schistose sedimentary rocks). Some geophysical data exist for the Tabun Khara Obo structure. The gravity data correlate well with topography. The −2.5–3 mGal anomaly is similar to that of other, similarly sized impact craters. A weak magnetic low over the crater area may be attributed to impact disruption of the regional trend. The Tabun Khara Obo crater is slightly oval in shape and is elongated perpendicular to the regional lithological and foliation trend in a northeasterly direction. This may be a result of crater modification, when rocks of the crater rim preferentially slumped along fracture planes parallel to the regional structural trend. Radial and tangential faults and fractures occur abundantly along the periphery of the crater. Breccias occur along the crater periphery as well, mostly in the E-NE parts of the structure. Monomict breccias form narrow (<1 m) lenses, and polymict breccias cover the outer flank of the eastern crater rim. While geophysical and morphological data are consistent with expectations for an impact crater, no diagnostic evidence for shock metamorphism, such as planar deformation features or shatter cones, was demonstrated by earlier authors. As it is commonly difficult to find convincing impact evidence at small craters, we carried out further geological and geophysical work in 2005–2007 and drilling in 2007–2008. Surface mapping and sampling did not reveal structural, mineralogical, or geochemical evidence for an impact origin. In 2008, we drilled into the center of the crater to a maximum depth of 206 m, with 135 m of core recovery. From the top, the core consists of 3 m of eolian sand, 137 m of lake deposits (mud, evaporites), 34 m of lake deposits (gypsum with carbonate and mud), 11 m of polymict breccia (with greenschist and gneiss clasts), and 19 m of monomict breccia (brecciated quartz-feldspar–mica schist). The breccias start at 174 m depth as polymict breccias with angular clasts of different lithologies and gradually change downward to breccias constituting the dominant lithology, until finally grading into monomict breccia. At the bottom of the borehole, we noted strongly brecciated quartz-feldspar schist. The breccia cement also changes over this interval from gypsum and carbonate cement to fine-grained clastic matrix. Some quartz grains from breccia samples from 192, 194.2, 196.4, 199.3, 201.6, and 204 m depth showed planar deformation features with impact-characteristic orientations. This discovery of unambiguous shock features in drill core samples confirms the impact origin of the Tabun Khara Obo crater. The age of the structure is not yet known. Currently, it is only poorly constrained to post-Cretaceous on stratigraphic grounds.

Interrogating the Effects of Hydrogen on the Behavior of Planar Deformation Bands in Austenitic Stainless Steel

The effects of internal hydrogen on the deformation microstructures of 304L austenitic stainless steel have been characterized using electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD), transmission Kikuchi diffraction (TKD), high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (HRSTEM), and nanoprobe diffraction. Samples, both thermally precharged with hydrogen and without thermal precharging, were subjected to tensile deformation of 5 and 20 pct true strain followed by multiple microscopic interrogations. Internal hydrogen produced widespread stacking faults within the as-forged initially unstrained material. While planar deformation bands developed with tensile strain in both the hydrogen-precharged and non-precharged material, the character of these bands changed with the presence of internal hydrogen. As shown by nanobeam diffraction and HRSTEM observations, in the absence of internal hydrogen, the bands were predominantly composed of twins, whereas for samples deformed in the presence of internal hydrogen, ε-martensite became more pronounced and the density of deformation bands increased. For the 20 pct strain condition, α′-martensite was observed at the intersection of ε-martensite bands in hydrogen-precharged samples, whereas in non-precharged samples α′-martensite was only observed along grain boundaries. We hypothesize that the increased prevalence of α′-martensite is a secondary effect of increased ε-martensite and deformation band density due to internal hydrogen and is not a signature of internal hydrogen itself.

Three-Dimensional Reconstruction of Planar Deformation Features from Single Electron Micrographs

Dislocations are crystal defects responsible for plastic deformation, and understanding their behavior is key to the design of materials with better properties. Electron microscopy has been widely used to characterize dislocations, but the resulting images are only two-dimensional projections of the real defects. The current work introduces a framework to determine the sample and crystal orientations from micrographs with planar deformation features (twins, stacking faults, and slip bands) in three or four non-coplanar slip systems of an fcc material. This is then extended into a methodology for the three-dimensional reconstruction of dislocations lying on planes with a known orientation that can be easily coupled with a standard Burgers vector analysis, as proved here in a nickel-based superalloy. This technique can only be used in materials that show specific deformation conditions, but it is faster than other alternatives as it relies on the manual tracing of dislocations in a single micrograph.

The Influence of the Hardening Curve Profile on the Drawing Force of a Bar

The effect of the hardening curve profile of a workpiece material on the drawing force of the bar under the conditions of planar deformation is studied. Dependencies for determining the stress in the crimping part of the dies were obtained taking into account the profile and parameters of the hardening curve. A comparison of these dependencies with known formulas for the calculation of drawing stresses is provided. It is shown that for the exponent of the hardening curve n ≤1 and taking into account contact friction, the use of the arithmetic mean yield point value leads to a decrease in the calculated drawing stress value. The difference in the results of the calculation increases with a decrease in the exponent n and an increase in the friction coefficient, reaching 20% ​​or more at n≤0.35.