Deformation Mechanisms of Antigorite Serpentinite at Subduction Zone Conditions Determined from Experimentally and Naturally Deformed Rocks

Abstract:

The rheology of serpentinite, and particularly that of antigorite-bearing rocks, is of prime importance for understanding subduction zone proceses, including decoupling between the downwelling slab and the overriding plate, exhumation of high-pressure rocks, fluids pathways and, more generally, mantle wedge dynamics. We present results from deformation-DIA experiments on antigorite serpentinite performed under conditions relevant of subduction zones (1-3.5 GPa ; 400-650°C). We complemented our study with a sample deformed in a Griggs-type apparatus at 1 GPa and 400°C (Chernak and Hirth, EPSL, 2010), and with natural samples from Cuba and the Alps deformed under blueschist/eclogitic conditions. Our observations on experimental samples of antigorite deformed within its stability field show that deformation is dominated by cataclastic flow; we can only document a minor contribution of plastic deformation. In naturally deformed samples, deformation-related plastic structures largely dominate strain accommodation, but we also document a minor contribution of brittle deformation. When dehydration occurs in experiments, plasticity increases, and is coupled to local embrittlement attributed to hydraulic fracturating due to the migration of dehydration fluids. Our results thus show that semibrittle deformation operates within and above the stability field of antigorite. We also document that the corrugated structure of antigorite has a control on the strain accommodation mechanisms under subduction conditions, with preferred inter and intra-cracking along (001) and gliding along both a and b. Deformation dominated by brittle processes, as observed in experiments, may occur during deformation at elevated (seismic?) strain rates, while plastic deformation, as observed in naturally deformed rocks, may correspond instead to low strain rates instead (aseismic creep?). We also discuss the role of antigorite rheology and mode of deformation on fluid transport.