Dilatant plasticity in high-strain experiments on calcite–muscovite aggregates

Torsion experiments were performed on synthetic aggregates of calcite with a 50% volume of muscovite. The tests were performed at 627–727 °C with a confining pressure of 300 MPa at constant shear strain rates of 3 × 10−5–3 × 10−4 s−1 on cylindrical samples with the starting foliation parallel and perpendicular to the cylinder axis. Both the foliation parallel and the foliation perpendicular experiments show similar stress–strain patterns, with an initial hardening stage followed by significant strain weakening (>60%) before a catastrophic rupture. Microstructural analysis shows that in low-strain experiments calcite grains are intensely twinned while muscovite grains appear slightly bent and kinked. Higher strains promote a segregation of the two phases with calcite forming thin layers of fine, dynamically recrystallized grains, which act as localized shear bands, while muscovite grains keep their original size and rotate assuming a strong shape preferred orientation. This strain localization of the calcite from an initially homogeneous rock produced catastrophic failure at moderate bulk shear strains (γ ∼ 3). Localization of the strain first involved ductile deformation to produce a new calcite layering with fine dynamically recrystallized grains along which cavities nucleated. The orientation and kinematics of the cavities are comparable to R1 Riedel structures. All experiments on calcite–muscovite mixtures resulted in heterogeneous strain. In these torsion experiments chemical changes and crystallization of new phases (anorthite and kalsilite) are observed at 627 °C. Whereas, samples hot pressed or deformed in compression at 670 °C did not show such reactions or any localization. The effect of stress-field geometry and pore pressure upon mineral reactions is discussed. It is concluded that deformation-induced heterogeneous phase distributions caused local strength differences initiating strain localization in the calcite–muscovite mixtures, eventually leading to plastic failure.