Activities of olivine slip systems in the upper mantle

We investigated the effect of pressure (P) on olivine [1 0 0](0 0 1) and [0 0 1](1 0 0) dislocation slip systems by carrying out deformation experiments in the Deformation-DIA apparatus (D-DIA) on single crystals of Mg2SiO4 forsterite (Fo100) and San Carlos (SC) olivine (Fo89), at P ranging from 5.7 to 9.7 GPa, temperature T = 1473 and 1673 K, differential stress σ in the range 140–1500 MPa, and in water-poor conditions. Specimens were deformed in axisymmetry compression along the so-called [1 0 1]c crystallographic direction, which promotes the dual slip of [1 0 0] dislocations in (0 0 1) plane and [0 0 1] dislocations in (1 0 0) plane. Constant σ   and specimen strain rates (ε˙) were monitored in situ by synchrotron X-ray diffraction and radiography, respectively. Comparison of the obtained high-P rheological data with room-P data, previously reported by Darot and Gueguen (1981) for Fo100 and Bai et al. (1991) for SC olivine, allowed quantifying the activation volume V* in classical creep power laws. We obtain V* = 9.1 ± 1.6 cm3/mol for Fo100. For SC olivine, we obtain V* = 10.7 ± 5.0 cm3/mol taking into account the oxygen-fugacity uncertainty during the high-P runs. These results, combined with previous reports, provide complete sets of parameters for quantifying the activities of olivine dislocation slip systems. Extrapolation of the rheological laws obtained for SC olivine crystals to conditions representative of natural deformations show that [1 0 0](0 1 0) slip largely dominates deformation in the shallow upper mantle. At depths greater than ∼65 km along a 20-Ma oceanic geotherm or ∼155 km along a continental geotherm, the dual activity of [1 0 0](0 0 1) and [0 0 1](1 0 0) slips becomes comparable to that of [1 0 0](0 1 0) slip. At depths greater than ∼240 km, [0 0 1](0 1 0) slip becomes dominant over all other investigated slip systems. Such changes in olivine dislocation-slips relative activity provide a straightforward explanation for the seismic anisotropy contrast and attenuation with depth observed in the Earth’s upper mantle.

► Upper mantle thermal convection depends on olivine plasticity at high pressure.
► We investigate experimentally the effect of pressure on dry olivine crystal plasticity.
► Olivine dislocation slips activities are quantified along classical geotherms.
► Slips sensitivity to pressure along geotherms explains upper-mantle seismic anisotropy.
► Dislocation creep is likely an active deformation process in the deep upper mantle.