Progressive deformation partitioning and recrystallization of olivine in the lithospheric mantle

Intense serpentinization within the Machinoyama ultramafic body, eastern-most part of the Yakuno ophiolite in the Paleozoic Maizuru belt, SW Japan, resulted in the development of block-in-matrix structure in the brittle regime, possibly associated with exhumation along a fault. Various microstructures are heterogeneously distributed throughout peridotite blocks in a serpentinite matrix. The microstructures are classified into four domains according to olivine grain size: coarse (1.0–1.5 mm), medium (0.5–1.0 mm), small (0.2–0.5 mm), and fine-grained (0.01 mm). Even in a single peridotite block, the medium-, small- and fine-grained domains occur at various scales. In particular, the fine-grained domain occurs in thin zones that cut across the other domains. These observations suggest that deformation in the peridotites before the serpentinization was partitioned into anastomosing zones during progressive inhomogeneous non-coaxial shear, resulting in the simultaneous development of a range of microstructures from the coarse-grained domain to the small-grained domain. Olivine crystal-preferred orientations tend to be weaker with decreasing olivine grain size, indicating a change in deformation mechanism from dislocation creep to grain-size-sensitive creep. Moreover, the fine-grained domains contain much more second phase than the small-grained domain even in the same sample, suggesting the role of the second phases on strain localization during dynamic recrystallization of olivine.

► Various microstructures are heterogeneously distributed within peridotite blocks.
► Olivine crystal-preferred orientations tend to be weaker with decreasing olivine grain sizes.
► Deformation partitioning associated with ductile shearing occurs at various scales.