Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T03:18:10.991Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Experimental simulation of the formation of fibrous veins by localised dissolution-precipitation creep

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

Paul D. Bons  and
Mark W. Jessell
Paul D. Bons
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3168, Australia
Mark W. Jessell
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3168, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Fibrous veins are generally interpreted in terms of the crack-seal mechanism. Several aspects of fibrous veins (fibrous structure, curved fibres, symmetry of antitaxial veins) are however better explained by vein formation without fracturing. Mass transfer to such veins would be by diffusional transport rather than by fluid flow through the veins. Deformation by dissolution-precipitation creep can provide the driving force for the necessary mass transfer. Veins form when mass transfer is heterogeneous and precipitation is localised.

Experiments were performed which enforced a chemical potential gradient, acting as the driving force for diffusional mass transfer. These experiments resulted in fibrous growths in aggregates of soluble salts (NaCl and KCl) saturated with brine. The experimental results support the theory that fibrous veins may form without fracturing and that rather than providing evidence for major fluid pathways, fibrous veins may instead represent localised precipitation during diffusional material transfer.

Keywords

fibrous veinsdissolution-precipitation creepmass transferdeformation
Type
Petrology
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 61 , Issue 404 , February 1997 , pp. 53 - 63
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Carter, N.L. and Hansen, F.D. (1983) Creep of rocksalt. Tectonophysics, 92, 275–334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, S.F. (1987) Antitaxial crack-seal vein microstructures and their relationship to displacement paths. J. Struct. Geol., 9, 779-87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, S.F. and Etheridge, M.A. (1983) Crack-seal fibre growth mechanisms and their significance in the development of oriented layer silicate microstructures. Tectonophysics, 92, 147-70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Durney, D.W. (1976) Pressure-solution and crystallization deformation. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A., 283, 229-40.Google Scholar
Durney, D.W. and Ramsay, J.G. (1973) Incremental strains measured by syntectonic crystal growths. In Gravity and Tectonics, (de Jong, K.A. and Scholten, R., eds), John Wiley and Sons, New York, 67–96.Google Scholar
Elvers, B., Hawkins, S. and Schulz, G., Eds. (1991) Ullman's Encyclopedia ()f Industrial Chemistry. VCH Verlaggesellschaft, 5th ed.Google Scholar
Engelder, T. (1993) Stress Regimes in the Lithosphere. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 457 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, D.M. and Brantley, S.L. (1992) Models of quartz overgrowth and vein formation: deformation and episodic fluid flow in an ancient subduction zone. J. Geophys. Res., 97, B13, 20043–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gratier, J.-P. (1993) Le fluage des roches par dissolution-cristallisation sous contrainte, dans la croûte supérieure. Bull. Soc. géol. France, 164, No. 2, 267-87.Google Scholar
Hubbert, M.K. and Rubey, W.W. (1959) Role of fluid pressure in mechanics of over-thrust faulting, Part 1, Mechanics of fluid-filled porous solids and its application to overthrust faulting. Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., 70, 115-66.Google Scholar
Lehner, F.K. (1990) Thermodynamics of rock deformation by pressure solution. In Deformation Processes in Minerals, Ceramics and Rocks, (Barber, D.J. and Meredith, P.G., eds), Unwin Hyman, London, 296–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, T. and Means, W.D. (1995) Experimental antitaxial growth of fibrous crystals. I: Technique, fiber character, and implications. Geol. Soc. Amer. abstracts. Google Scholar
Means, W.D. and Li, T. (1995) Experimental antitaxial growth of fibrous crystals. II: Internal structures. Geol. Soc. Amer. abstracts. Google Scholar
Meere, P.A. (1995) High and low density flUids in a quartz vein from the Irish Variscides. J. Struct. Geol., 17, 435-46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Hara, K. and Haak, A. (1992) A fluid inclusion study of fluid pressure and salinity variations in the footwall of the Rector Branch thrust, North Carolina, U.S.A.. J. Struct. Geol., 14, 579-89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ortoleva, P., Merino, E., Chadam, J. and Moore, C.H. (1987) Geochemical self-organisation 1: feedback mechanisms and modelling approach. Amer. J. Sci., 287, 979–1002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramsay, J.F. and Huber, M.I. (1983) The Techniques of Modern Structural Geology, Volume 1: Strain Analysis. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Ramsay, J.G. (1980) The crack-seal mechanism of rock deformation. Nature, 284, 135-9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robin, P.-Y. (1979) Theory of metamorphic segregation and related processes. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 43, 1587-600.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutter, E.H. (1976) The kinetics of rock deformation by pressure solution. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A., 283, 203-19.Google Scholar
Spiers, C.J., Schutjens, P.M.T.M., Brzesowsky, R.H., Peach, C.J., Liezenberg, J.L. and Zwart, H.J. (1990) Experimental determination of constitutive parameters governing creep of rocksalt by pressure solution. In Deformation Mechanisms, Rheology and Tectonics, (Knipe, R.J. and Rutter, E.H., eds) Geol. Soc. (London) Spec. Publ., 54, 215-28.Google Scholar
Treagus, S.H. (1983) A theory of strain variation through contrasting layers, and its bearing on cleavage refraction. J. Struct. Geol., 5, 351-68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Treagus, S.H. (1988) Strain refraction in layered systems. J. Struct. Geol., 10, 517-27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Urai, J.L., Williams, P.F. and Roermund, H.L.M.V. (1991) Kinematics of crystal growth in syntectonic fibrous veins. J. Struct. Geol., 13, 823-36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, P.F. and Urai, J.L. (1987) Curved vein fibres: an alternative explanation. Tectonophysics, 158, 311-33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar