PETROFABRIC ANALYSIS OF SAXONY GRANULITES BY OPTICAL AND X-RAY-DIFFRACTION METHODS

The regional development of distinct patterns of preferred orientation of quartz c-axes in the Saxony Granulites has been well documented in the literature. A suite of specimens representative of these fabrics has been examined both by optical universal stage, to determine quartz c-axis orientation, and by X-ray diffraction, to obtain orientation data from r, z, m and a. The data are combined to yield inverse pole figures of schistosity and lineation. The finite strain of the Saxony Granulites is thought to be essentially a flattening and there is no evidence that the deformation path is other than one of continuous flattening. Elongation in the plane of the schistosity is local and not extreme. Because of this apparently simple deformation picture, and because preliminary transmission electron microscopy reveals the presence of dislocation structures similar to those found in deformed metals, an attempt is made to interpret the quartz orientation in terms of dislocation slip mechanisms. There is some evidence that the activation of different mechanisms is perhaps primarily controlled by temperature. At least some of the patterns of preferred orientation of quartz were probably produced by deformation in the field of stability of α-quartz. © 1979.