CHAPTER :FIVE

5. MECHANISM OF DEFORMATION

CONTENTS:
- Introduction
- Cataclastic Deformation (Micro-
fracturing, Cataclasis and Frictional
Sliding)
- Mechanical Twinning and Kinking
- Diffusive mass transfer (Creep
mechanisms)
- Recovery and Recrystallization
 5.1. Introduction
• The main concern in this chapter is the deformation mechanisms by which rocks
respond to stresses at microscopic or sub - microscopic levels.

• a basic understanding of these mechanisms is important and forms a foundation for

a good understanding of large scale structures (joints, faults, folds, cleavage,
lineation and shear zones).

• Geological structures can be large in size or small (microstructures/microfabric),

similarly deformation processes can be seen as large scale as well as small scale
operation in cm-scale or thin- section scale (mm scale) or crystal and at and atomic
scale (µm scale).

• Microstructures are studied through examination of small specimens using a

petrographic microscope or an ultra-high magnification transmission or scanning
electron microscope.
• Microstructural deformation are determined by Crystal defects. So, it is
important to look inside the crystal lattice before, during and after
deformation.
• Though classically the definition of crystal is- a homogenous solid formed
by a repeating 3D pattern (lattice) of atoms ions, or molecules and having
fixed distance between constituent parts.
• In simple word; crystal defects:- are Point defects having imperfections in
the structure of a crystal.
• Defects are places where an atom is missing or irregularly placed in the
lattice structure.
• Atoms around the point defects displaced from their equilibrium position,
which generates a local differential stress field in the neighborhood of
vacancy.
• Point defects play a role in diffusion of substitutional atoms and in other
processes /effects.
 Types of point defects
I. Vacancies (V) are places
where an atom is missing
in the lattice structure
II. Interstitial Atom:- where
the atoms in crystal placed
irregularly.
III. Substitutional Impurity:-
foreign atom replacing the
atom in the crystal.
IV. Interstitial impurity:-
foreign atom sitting in the
void of crystal.
Fig 5.2. the types of Point defects in
crystal lattice structure
Point defect movement occurs when the atoms jumps from its lattice site
into an adjacent vacant site at its neighborhood, and it fills the vacancy but
leaves behind another vacancy.

Fig 5.3. show the Point

defect movement with
its neighbor vacancy.

• Linear defect are commonly referred to as dislocations, which are lines

through the crystal along which crystallographic ordering is lost.

Fig 5.3. The linear

defect (Dislocations)
with parallel lines in
perpendicular plane.
 5.2. THE MAIN DEFORMATION MECHANISMS/PROCESSES

❖In General they are Three common types of deformation

mechanisms:
I. Cataclastic deformation (Cataclasis, Micro fracturing and
frictional sliding)
II. Intracrystalline plasticity (Mechanical twinning and kinking)
III. Diffusive mass transfer (Creep Mechanisms)

Fig 5.4. The deformation mechanism Map

under differential stress –temperature
curve
 Controlling Factors of Deformation Processes
❖ Each deformational mechanism seems to be favored by a particular range
of conditions of lithological controls and external factors.
A) Lithological controls such as;
➢ Mineralogy,
➢ Composition of the intergranular fluid,
➢ Grain size
➢ Lattice-preferred orientation,
➢ Porosity & Permeability

B) External controls such as;

➢ Temperature,
➢ Confining pressure,
➢ Differential stress, and
➢ Externally imposed strain rate
 5.2.1 Micro-fracturing, Cataclasis and Frictional Sliding
• At low temperature and either low or high pressure, and high strain rate,
rocks change their shape/form by brittle deformation, i.e. Micro-fracturing,
Cataclasis, and frictional sliding.
• It activated at shallow level of the Earth’s crust (upper crust).
Micro-fracturing
• is a processes at which Individual grains and crystals within a rock become
fractured and cracked at the microscopic and submicroscopic scales
• Usually occur in faults and fault zones.
• It involves
➢ Formation/initiation of micro-cracks due to:
➢ Propagation/growth of micro-cracks i.e. lengthening of the micro-crack
➢ Interconnection/linkage of micro-cracks (link up of a micro crack with another)
to form micro-fractures and fractures.
• In response to stress, microcracks form, propagate and link up with others
to form microfractures and fractures.
• The stress that causes micro- cracks may result from either tectonic, or
gravitational, and thermal loading.
 Cont.…

• Micro-Cracks in grains can subdivided

into three ways.
I. Intragranular cracks: micro-cracks are
within a grain. In addition, intragranular
cracks along a cleavage plane
are cleavage cracks.
II. Inter granular cracks: microcracks
are along the boundaries of two or more
grains.
III. Trans granular cracks: microcracks
are across the grains or are across the
grains from a grain boundary. They are the
most abundant in rock specimens in the
experiment.

Figure: 5.5 Types of microcracks

 23

Fig 5.6. Shear microfractures that contain grain-fragments formed by cataclasis

of quartzite; fragments derived from wall- rock cemented together
Cataclasis
• Cataclasis means comminution, crushing, brecciation or grinding.
• It is the formation of pervasively fractured, brecciated, and pulverized rock
and crystal fragments.
• This process produces an aggregate of highly fractured grains and rock
fragments in a matrix of even smaller, crushed grains.
• Cataclasis results in a progressive decrease in grain size as a larger grains
are broken into smaller one.

Fig 5.7. shows that localized

cataclastic deformation
mechanism
 Cont.…
• To picture the process of cataclasis,
➢imagine what happens to corn passing between two old-fashioned mill
stones. The millstones slide past one another and, in the process,
transform the corn into cornmeal.
a b

c
Figure 5.8: Cataclastic rocks at various scales
of observation. (A) Outcrop of cataclastic
rock. (B) Scanning electron microscope
(SEM) image of fine-grained cataclastic rock.
(C) SEM close up of part of B
 Cont.…

• Cataclastic flow: crushed (fractured) rock aggregates by repeated

fracturing, frictional sliding and rigid body rotation of grains and
fragments can move/flow past one another by cataclastic flow.

• To picture cataclastic flow,

o Think of how the cornmeal that just produced by millstones, when

poured from one container just produced by millstones, behaves much
like a fluid, even though the individual grains certainly are solid.
 Frictional Sliding
• Frictional sliding refers to the movement on a
surface that takes place when shear stress
parallel to the surface exceeds the frictional
resistance to sliding.
• In rocks, the tiny fractures are called
microcracks and the pieces move past one
another by the process of frictional sliding i.e.
frictional sliding occur along micro-crack and
along grain boundaries
• Deformation by frictional grain-boundary
sliding involves the sliding of grains past each
other.
• Generally, micro fracturing, cataclasis, and
frictional sliding are brittle deformation Figure 5.9: Frictional Sliding
mechanisms that operate at the grain and
subgrain scales.
 5.2.2 Mechanical twining and kinking

Mechanical twinning
• Twinned crystals are comprised of two or more portions of the same
crystal species in contact with each other
• It is a deformation mechanism that produces a bending, rather than a
breaking, of crystalline lattices.
• During mechanical twinning, stress can produce mechanical bending of
the crystal lattice of some minerals (calcite, plagioclase), even at very low
temperatures.
• Mechanical twinning is therefore considered a plastic deformation
mechanism.
• The crystal lattice is bent (rotated) symmetrically about the twin plane, at
angles that are dependent on the mineral.
• A surface imperfection, the twin boundary, separates two regions of a
twinned crystal(fig.5.10).
 Cont.…

Figure 5. 10: Mechanical twinning • Twinning occurs when the crystal

lattice is bent rather than broken
Kinking:
• Kinking is a process of deformation like twinning, involves the
bending of a lattice, utilizing planes of weakness.

• It commonly takes place within a discrete band through a crystal in

which the amount of lattice rotation is not limited to a specified
angle as in mechanical twinning.

• Kink bands usually display a crystallographic orientation or angle

of extinction that is different from the rest of the mineral.

• They show up microscopically as extinction bands.

• Example, Micas and other platy silicate minerals are especially

prone to kinking, when shortened in a direction parallel to cleavage.
Fig.5.13. diagrammatic illustration of the processes of kink band formation in a single
crystalline material in stages of shortening 1,2, and 3 ( kink band formation) (Left). The Kink
folds in mica –rich portions of grewacks of the cantabrian Mountains (Northern Spain) (Right)
 5.2.3 Creep mechanisms or diffusive mass transfer
• Geological materials deformed under a constant stress for a long time
spans experience several types of rheological behaviors and several
strain rates. This type of the slow and progressive deformation for
steady loads for long periods of time is called creep.
• It is a time dependent deformation and occur at higher temperature
than at lower temperature.

Three type of creeps:-

• diffusion creep,
• dislocation creep, and
• dissolution creep.
 [Link]. Dissolution creep (Pressure-solution)
• When a body subjected to differential stress, grains can change shape by
selective dissolution, transport, and reprecipitation of material along grain
boundaries or pore fluids between grains. This process is called Dissolution
creep.
• The mineral is dissolved from sites of high compressive stress and the ions
are carried with the fluid to be precipitated at lower compressive stress
place to change the shape and size of crystals.
• Dissolution creep differs from the various types of diffusion creep in that it
involves transport of material through intergranular fluid
• Dissolution creep depends on three interconnected processes:
✓ Dissolution at the source.
✓ Migration of the dissolved material along some pathway.
✓ Reprecipitation or (Deposition).
Fig 5.14. The processes of dissolution creep. (Adapted from Nicolas (1987) and
Ramsay (1980b)
❖Dissolution may take place in either of the following ways:
• Preferential dissolution along boundaries of impinging grains
• Dissolution along stylolite,
• Dissolution along fractures & other surfaces of high porosity.
❖ Dissolution process (DP) is involves fluid assisted mass transfer
with distance:-
✓Short distances : from one side of the grain to another side
✓Long distance: stylolite, veins.
❖Dissolution creep (pressure solution) of material are dominant at
diagenetic to low-grade metamorphic conditions where fluids are
abundant and the deformation mechanisms favored at higher
temperatures,

❖ The effect of pressure solution is particularly clear in the

development of differentiated crenulation cleavage at low to
medium metamorphic grade.
 [Link] Diffusion creep:-
➢ The mechanisms by which vacancies or (and atoms) migrate or
jump ‘site by site’ through a mineral grain is diffusion.
➢ Diffusion Creep occurs at differential stresses well below the
rupture strength of the rock
• Diffusion involves the movement of atoms through the interior of
grains, along grain boundaries, and across pore fluids between
grains.
• It is thermally activated. Higher temperatures excite atoms and increase the
probability that an atom will migrate.
➢ It is much faster and much more efficient in a fluid, such as in fluids
along grain boundaries, where atoms can move freely.
➢ It occurs when temp. is high & at relatively low stresses.
• Because, diffusion through crystalline solid relies on the presence of
vacancies and other defects, diffusion is very sluggish in pure, undeformed
lattices and is more rapid in lattices with abundant impurities or
deformation- related imperfections.
• Diffusion is most effective in fine-grained rocks, where the distance that the
atoms must cover is relatively short.
• There are several ways of diffusion creep:-
I. Volume-diffusion Creep (VDC)
II. Grain-boundary Diffusion (GBD) Creep
I. Volume diffusion Creep
(Nabarro-Herring creep);
• At high temperature, diffusion within
mineral grains can be fast enough to
permit the minerals to change their
shape.
• Atoms and ions move away from sites
of high compressive stress toward sites
of lower compressive stress and
accumulate here, whereas vacancies
(i.e. unoccupied sites) migrate toward
sites of high compressive stress and
away from sites of lower compressive
stress.
• Volume diffusion creep is a slow Fig 5.16. Volume-diffusion creep. Atoms
migrate from surfaces with high compressive
mechanism that is most important only stress (σ1) and toward surfaces of lower
at low differential stresses and at compressive stress (σ3), whereas vacancies
temperatures so high that they (holes in crystal lattice i.e. missing atoms)
approach high that they approach the migrate in the opposite direction
melting temperature of the mineral.
II. Grain boundary Diffusion Creep
(coble creep)
• Minerals can also creep by diffusion
of materials along grain boundaries, a
process known as GBDC or coble
creep.
• As in the case of volume diffusion,
materials migrate from surface (sites)
of high compression stress and
accumulate on surface of low
compression stress.
• The rate of travel of atoms and
vacancies is faster along grain Figure 5.17: Atoms diffuse around the
boundaries than directly thought the grain boundary from surfaces of high
crystal. compressive stress to surfaces of lower
compressive stress
• It occurs at lower temperature than
volume-diffusion creep.
 [Link] Dislocation Creep
• A mineral grain in a rock can also change shape by dislocation creep.
• The shape change is achieved by a combination of very localized
temporary distortion of the crystal lattice and shearing of the lattice
along a favorable crystallographic shearing of the lattice along a
favorable crystallographic plane (the slip plane).
• a dislocation is the linear array of atoms that bounds an area in the
crystal that has slipped relative to the rest of the crystal.
• Dislocation in crystals form and propagate in several ways, depending
on the orientation of the dislocation relative to the direction of slip.
✓ Edge dislocations are oriented perpendicular to the direction of slip.
✓ Screw dislocations are oriented parallel to the direction of slip.
✓ Mixed dislocations are oriented oblique to the direction of slip.
Fig 5.17. The diagrammatic illustration of dislocation creep (A-D)
 Deformation Mechanism Maps
• The main purpose of these maps is to identify regions in stress
temperature or stress-grain-size space where different deformation
mechanisms dominate the rheology of materials.

• In addition, owing to the different microstructures associated with

different mechanisms, they can be used to estimate with different
mechanisms, they can be used to estimate deformation conditions
involved in natural tectonic events.

• Despite the present limitations there is no doubt that deformation

mechanism maps are a valuable aid to interpretation of rock
deformation and have provided a powerful first-base for an insight into
the rheological behaviour of rocks during tectonic events.
 Cont.…

Figure 5.18 Simplified deformation mechanisms map showing the general

conditionswhereeachdeformationmechanismdominaterelativetooneanother