Structure Sensitivity and Elastic Anisotropy within Peridotites

Abstract

Peridotites derived from the uppermost mantle consist dominantly of olivine and subsequently of pyroxene, spinel, garnet, and plagioclase. Crystal-plastic flow of mantle rocks results in various types of structure within peridotite being developed to varying degrees, depending upon the structure sensitivity of the different mineral phases. Plastic deformation leads to the simultaneous development of shape-preferred orientations and crystal-preferred orientations. A shape-preferred orientation is the expression of the average orientation of flattening (foliation) and elongation (lineation) directions, as defined by the orientations of individual grains. A crystal-preferred orientation (CPO) is the expression of crystallographic orientations of grains within the rock, as developed via dislocation creep and recrystallization. During intense homogeneous plastic deformation of a peridotite composed of minerals with a dominant slip system, the preferred orientation of the slip plane and slip direction tends to coincide with the plane of plastic flow and the flow direction, respectively. Recently, a new olivine CPO classification (A, B, C, D, and E types) has been proposed by Karato and co-workers to illustrate the roles of stress and water content as controlling factors of olivine slip systems. An additional CPO type (AG) has also been proposed in recognition of its common occurrence in nature. Given that olivine and the other constituent minerals in peridotites contain intrinsic elastic anisotropies, the development of CPO within peridotite during plastic deformation gives rise to seismic anisotropy in the upper mantle. Thus, the anisotropic properties of mantle rocks derived from the upper 100 km of the mantle, such as Ichinomegata peridotite xenoliths from the northeast Japan arc, have been calculated and applied with the aim of understanding the seismic anisotropy of the Earth's mantle.