Insights into a dextral transtensional shear zone in NW Anatolia, Turkey: Preliminary results from the three dimensional strain and kinematic analyses of the Marmara Granitoid.

<p>Marmara Granitoid (MG) is an E-W trending sill-like magmatic body exposed in the center of the Marmara Island, NW Anatolia, Turkey. MG is lower Eocene in age and was concordantly emplaced into metamorphic basement rocks of Saraylar Marble and Erdek Complex. It is represented by a deformed granodiorite which widely displays protomylonitic-mylonitic textures with prominent foliation and lineation. Foliation planes display a mean dip direction-angle of 335/29 and mineral stretching lineations show mean trend-plunge of 286/34. Mica-fishes, rotated porphyroclasts and micro-faults are commonly observed and serve as shear gauges pointing out to a dextral movement. Mineral deformation thermometers such as myrmekite development, chessboard extinction, grain boundary migration (GBM), sub-grain rotation recrystallization (SGR), and bulging recrystallization (BLG) in quartz crystals indicate that solid-state deformation of the MG has experienced a high-temperature ductile deformation and superimposed ductile to brittle deformation.</p><p>Three-dimensional strain ellipsoid measurements are investigated on the MG in order to determine the relative amounts of pure shear and simple shear deformation and the mean kinematic vorticity number (W<sub>m</sub>). The image processing of quartz grains is used as strain markers to obtain the three-dimensional best-fit ellipsoids. The results show that, Lode’s ratio (ν) of the samples change between -0.010 and -0.650 and Flinn’s k-values range from 1.026 to 11.157 indicating to a general constrictional (prolate) deformation. The calculated kinematic vorticity numbers change between 0.429 and 0.958 which show that shear deformation of MG is mostly dominated by simple shear. All of these micro and meso structural properties and three-dimensional strain and kinematic analyses collectively suggest that MG has experienced a dextral transtensional deformation.</p>

Transtensional Flanking Structures

<p><span><span>Flanking structures are deflections of an existing planar fabric (e.g., foliation) alongside a cross-cutting element (e.g., a vein) that can develop in a wide range of rock types, ranging from eclogites to unconsolidated sediments, and also glacier ice, which deforms in temperate glaciers dominantly by dislocation creep and can be considered as a monomineralic metamorphic rock analogue. The finite geometry of flanking structures depends on several factors, such as initial orientation of the cross-cutting element (CE) relative to the shear zone boundary and the kinematic vorticity of the shear zone flow. However, nearly all published examples of flanking structures are interpreted to have formed either under simple shear or transpressional general shear, although in theory flanking structures should also form under transtensional general shear. Here we describe the geometry and development of transtensional flanking structures in glacial ice of the Pasterze, Austria’s largest alpine valley glacier. Mapping was carried out with the aid of high-resolution drone photography and the structures’ attitudes were determined using traditional field techniques. The studied flanking structures develop in an area situated on the orographic right side of the glacier tongue and downstream of a transverse crevasse field. The CEs are closed crevasses containing granular ice and rotate clockwise (when viewed from above), consistent with the large-scale flow field of the glacier. The penetrative foliation, which is regionally parallel to the glacier’s flow direction, is locally deflected alongside the CEs, forming a- (antithetic) and s-type (synthetic) flanking structures. The variability of the cross-cutting elements’ orientation systematically decreases downstream as they rotate into a stable position. We compare the mapped flanking structures with model results of a semi-analytical modified Eshelby solutions for a frictionless CE embedded in an isotropic linear viscous matrix. The model results demonstrate that a variety of a- and s-type flanking structures form under transtensional shear flow for a broad range</span></span><span><span> of </span></span><span><span>kinematic vorticity numbers and initial orientations of the CE but also show that shear bands do not form a stable structure. On the other hand, s-type flanking folds may be diagnostic for transtension because they form stable structures (but still accumulate displacement) when the CE has been rotated parallel to the fabric attractor, which is oblique to the shear zone boundary under transtension. Because of the abundance of shear bands and the lack of s-type flanking structures in natural rocks we speculate that transtensional ductile shear zones rarely occur in nature.</span></span></p><p> </p>

Structural setting of a transpressive shear zone: insights from geological mapping, quartz petrofabric and kinematic vorticity analysis in NE Sardinia (Italy)

The Posada–Asinara Line is a crustal-scale transpressive shear zone affecting the Variscan basement in northern Sardinia during Late Carboniferous time. We investigated a structural transect of the Posada–Asinara Line (Baronie) with the aid of geological mapping and structural analysis. N-verging F2 isoclinal folds with associated mylonitic foliation (S2) are the main deformation features developed during the Posada–Asinara Line activity (D2). The mineral assemblages and microstructures suggest that the Posada–Asinara Line was affected by a retrograde metamorphic path. This is also confirmed by quartz microstructures, where subgrain rotation recrystallization superimposes on grain boundary migration recrystallization. Crystallographic preferred orientation data, obtained using electron backscatter diffraction, allowed analysis of quartz slip systems and estimation of the deformation temperature, vorticity of flow and rheological parameters (flow stress and strain rate) during the Posada–Asinara Line activity. Quartz deformation temperatures of 400 ± 50 °C have been estimated along a transect perpendicular to the Posada–Asinara Line, in agreement with the syn-kinematic post-metamorphic peak mineral assemblages and the late microstructures of quartz. The D2 phase can be subdivided in two events: an early D2early phase, related to the metamorphic peak and low kinematic vorticity (pure shear dominated), and a late D2late phase characterized by a lower metamorphic grade and an increased kinematic vorticity (simple shear dominated). Palaeopiezometry and strain rate estimates associated with the D2late deformation event showed an intensity gradient increasing towards the core of the shear zone. The D2early deformation developed under peak temperature conditions, while the D2late event was active at shallower structural levels.

Vortex Identification across Different Scales

Vortex identification in atmospheric data remains a challenge. One reason is the general presence of shear throughout the atmosphere that interferes with traditional vortex identification methods based on geopotential height or vorticity. Alternatively, kinematic methods can avoid some of the drawbacks of the traditional methods since they compare the rotational and deformational flow parts. In this work, we apply the kinematic vorticity number method ( W k -method) to atmospheric datasets ranging from the synoptic to the convective scales. The W k -method is tested for winter storm Kyrill, a high-impact extratropical cyclone that affected Germany in January 2007. This case is especially challenging for vortex identification methods since it produced a complex wind occurrence associated with a derecho along a narrow cold-frontal rain band and an area of high winds close to the low pressure center. The W k -method is able to identify vortices in differently-resolved datasets and at different height levels in a consistent manner. Additionally, it is able to determine and visualize the storm characteristics. As a result, we discovered that the total positive circulation of the vortices associated with Kyrill remains of similar order across different data sets though the vorticity magnitude of the most intense vortices increases with increasing resolution.

Quantitative finite strain analysis of the quartz mylonites within the Three Pagodas shear zone, western Thailand

The NW–trending Three Pagodas shear zone exposes a high–grade metamorphic complex named Thabsila gneiss in the Kanchanaburi region, western Thailand. The quartz mylonites within this strike–slip zone were selected for strain analysis. 2–dimensional strain analysis indicates that the averaged strain ratio (Rs) for the lower greenschist facies increment of XZ– plane is Rs = 1.60–1.97 by using the Fry’s method. Kinematic vorticity analysis of the quartz mylonites in the shear zone showed that the mean kinematic vorticity number of this increment is Wk = 0.75–0.99 with an average at 0.90 ±0.07. The results implied that the quartz mylonites within the Three Pagodas shear zone have a dominant simple shear component of about 72% with a small pure shear component. A sinistral shear sense is indicated by kinematic indicators from macro– to micro–scale. We conclude that the Three Pagodas shear zone deformed in the process of sinstral shear–dominated transpression, which is similar to the Mae Ping shear zone in the north.