Crystallographic preferred orientation and deformation of deep Earth minerals

This thesis aims to provide further insight into crystallographic preferred orientation (CPO) and deformation mechanisms active at high pressure. Preferred orientation of iron-rich magnesiowustite (Mg,Fe)O, a major mantle mineral phase, stishovite (SiO2), the high pressure polymorph of quartz that is likely present in the lower crust and mantle, and in NaMgF3 + NaCl, an analog system to lower mantle minerals MgSiO3 + MgO, have been examined with synchrotron X-ray diffraction while at high pressure in either a diamond anvil cell or a multianvil press.;Magnesiowustite, (Mg0.08Fe0.88)O, and wustite, Fe0.94O, were compressed up to 37 GPa at ambient temperature in diamond anvil cells (DAC) at the Advanced Light Source (ALS). X-ray diffraction patterns were taken in situ in radial geometry in order to study the evolution of CPO through the cubic-to-rhombohedral phase transition. Under uniaxial stress in the DAC, cubic texture developed (i.e. {100} c planes aligned perpendicular to the compression direction). Variant selection of preferred orientation was observed immediately following the transition to the rhombohedral phase. Upon decompression in the DAC, FeO reverted back to cubic symmetry and the cubic texture reappeared, demonstrating that the transition is reversible and has texture memory.;The crystal structure of the high pressure SiO2 polymorph stishovite has been studied in detail, but little is known about texture development during deformation, which provides information for understanding subduction of quartz-bearing crustal rocks into the mantle. Radial DAC experiments were done at the ALS and the Advanced Photon Source (APS) while collecting X-ray diffraction patterns in radial geometry to examine in situ development of CPO. Starting pressure in the sample chamber was still in the quartz stability field, and compression of quartz produced a weak texture, likely due to Dauphine twinning. Following compression of quartz into the stishovite stability field, near 13--16 GPa, the sample was laser heated to activate kinetics and transition to stishovite. Stishovite nucleated with (001) planes preferentially aligned perpendicular to compression. Increased preferred orientation during further compression up to 38 GPa is attributed to slip. Slip systems responsible were inferred from visco-plastic self-consistent modeling and are most likely basal and pyramidal slip at experimental conditions.;Geodynamic models predict large strains due to convection in the mantle, and polycrystal plasticity simulations suggest strong preferred orientation. However, these models ignore interaction among phases, which is important for the lower mantle, estimated to be composed of ∼25% soft magnesiowustite (Mg,Fe)O and ∼70% harder Mg-perovskite (MgSiO3). How much preferred orientation develops as a result of large strains in the lower mantle depends on the volume percent ratios and arrangement of the two phases. If grains of the softer phase, MgO, become interconnected, they may act as a lubricant between grains of the harder phase, thereby absorbing most of the deformation. Alternatively, the soft phase may sit in pockets in between harder MgSiO 3 grains, and thus not be interconnected, leaving MgSiO3 to bear the load. In the former case, MgO will control the deformation, and in the later, MgSiO3, and the development of CPO in these two cases may greatly differ.;To study CPO development in a two-phase system, deformation experiments were performed in the deformation-DIA (D-DIA, DIA being shortening of "diamond") at the APS while collecting X-ray diffraction patterns in situ. While the D-DIA offers more control over deformation conditions and temperature and can deform larger samples, resulting in better counting statistics than for DAC samples, it cannot reach pressures beyond 12 GPa or temperatures higher than 2000 K. Thus neighborite (NaMgF3) and halite (NaCl), which have the same structures and relative strengths as mantle minerals silicate-magnesium pervoskite (MgSiO3) and periclase (MgO) but deform more easily, were chosen as analogs. Information on grain structure and distribution before and after deformation was collected using X-ray microtomography, both at the APS and the ALS.;Results from D-DIA experiments show that when present in as little as 15%, the soft phase absorbs much of the deformation, greatly reducing CPO of the harder phase. Conversely, CPO in NaCl is highest for the sample with highest NaCl content. In addition, microtomography data shows that soft NaCl is largely connected and surrounds the harder grains of NaMgF3. Deformation of NaMgF3 and NaCl was simulated with both a self-consistent polycrystal plasticity model and with another polycrystal plasticity model which uses fast Fourier transform that takes into account interactions among grains and is better suited to study deformation in two-phase materials. Implications for the lower mantle are discussed. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).