Articles | Volume 5, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/se-5-1319-2014
https://doi.org/10.5194/se-5-1319-2014
Research article
 | 
16 Dec 2014
Research article |  | 16 Dec 2014

Microscale strain partitioning? Differential quartz crystallographic fabric development in Phyllite, Hindu Kush, Northwestern Pakistan

K. P. Larson, J. L. Lamming, and S. Faisal

Abstract. Spatially referenced quartz c axis fabrics demonstrate the preservation of multiple, distinct fabrics in a specimen collected from northwestern Pakistan. The overall fabric yielded by the specimen is dominated by a single population of quartz grains, while the fabric signatures of two other unique, spatially distinct populations are overwhelmed. It is these minor fabrics, however, that provide information on temperature of deformation (403 ± 50 °C), differential stress (8.6 + 2.6/−1.5 MPa to 15.0 +3.8/−2.5 MPa), strain rate (10−16 s−1 to 10−15 s−1), and strain partitioning recorded by the specimen.

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Short summary
This study demonstrates the importance of spatial resolution and registration in specimens analysed for crystallographic fabric analyses. In the specimen examined, the bulk crystallographic orientation was dominated by one fabric. Yet it was two secondary, spatially distinct fabrics that yielded potentially important information on deformation temperature, paleopiezometry, and strain rate.