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Quartz veins in the Eastern Tonale mylonite zone (Italian Alps) were deformed in strike-slip shear. Due to the synkinematic emplacement of the Adamello Pluton, a temperature gradient between 280°C and 700°C was effected across this fault zone. The resulting dynamic recrystallization microstructures are characteristic of bulging recrystallization, subgrain rotation recrystallization and grain boundary migration recrystallization. The transitions in recrystallization mechanisms are marked by discrete changes of grain size dependence on temperature. Differential stresses are calculated from the recrystallized grain size data using paleopiezometric relationships. Deformation temperatures are obtained from metamorphic reactions in the deformed host rock. Flow stresses and deformation temperatures are used to determine the strain rate of the Tonale mylonites through integration with several published flow laws yielding an average rate of approximately 10−14s−1 to 10−12s−1. The deformation conditions of the natural fault rocks are compared and correlated with three experimental dislocation creep regimes of quartz of Hirth & Tullis. Linking the microstructures of the naturally and experimentally deformed quartz rocks, a recrystallization mechanism map is presented. This map permits the derivation of temperature and strain rate for mylonitic fault rocks once the recrystallization mechanism is known.

In order to determine a recrystallized grain size piezometer for quartz, we deformed Black Hills quartzite in a molten salt assembly in a Griggs apparatus at 1.5 GPa, 800 to 1100°C, and strain rates between 2*10−7 and 2*10−4 s−1, conditions which include dislocation creep regimes 2 and 3 of Hirth and Tullis [1992]. Flow stresses ranged from 34 ± 16 to 268 ± 38 MPa with corresponding recrystallized grain sizes from 46 ± 15 to 3.2 ± 0.7 μm. The data are well fit by a single piezometer relation, D = 103.56±0.27 * σ−1.26 ±0.13, with no change in slope at the regime 2–3 transition and no effect of temperature or α/β stability field. Another experimental piezometer relation for regime 1 of Hirth and Tullis [1992] differs in slope, suggesting that different recrystallization mechanisms require different piezometer calibrations.

We have reanalyzed samples previously used for a quartz recrystallized grain size paleopiezometer, using electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). Recrystallized and relict grains are separated using their grain orientation spread, which acts as a measure of intragranular lattice distortion and a proxy for dislocation density. For EBSD maps made with a 1 μm step size, the piezometer relationship is D = 103.91 ± 0.41 ∙ σ−1.41 ± 0.21 (for root‐mean‐square mean diameter values). We also present a “sliding resolution” piezometer relationship, D = 104.22 ± 0.51 ∙ σ−1.59 ± 0.26, that combines 1 μm step size data at coarser grain sizes with 200 nm step size data at finer grain sizes. The sliding resolution piezometer more accurately estimates stress in fine‐grained (<10 μm) samples. The two calibrations give results within 10% of each other for recrystallized grain sizes between 10 μm and 100 μm. Both piezometers match the original light optical microscopy quartz piezometer within error.

Lake Ohrid, located on the Balkan Peninsula within the Dinaride-Albanide-Hellenide mountain belt, is a tectonically active graben within the South Balkan Extensional Regime (SBER). Interpretation of multichannel seismic cross sections and bathymetric data reveals that Lake Ohrid formed during two main phases of deformation: (1) a transtensional phase which opened a pull-apart basin, and (2) an extensional phase which led to the present geometry of Lake Ohrid. After the initial opening, a symmetrical graben formed during the Late Miocene, bounded by major normal faults on each side in a pull-apart type basin. The early-stage geometry of the basin has a typical rhomboidal shape restricted by two sets of major normal faults. Thick undisturbed sediments are present today at the site where the acoustic basement is deepest, illustrating that Lake Ohrid is a potential target for drilling a long and continuous sediment core for studying environmental changes within the Mediterranean region. Neotectonic activity since the Pliocene takes place along the roughly N-S-striking Eastern and Western Major Boundary Normal Faults that are partly exposed at the present lake floor. The tectono-sedimentary structure of the basin is divided into three main seismic units overlying the acoustic basement associated with fluvial deposits and lacustrine sediments. A seismic facies analysis reveals a prominent cyclic pattern of high-and low-amplitude reflectors. We correlate this facies cyclicity with vegetation changes within the surrounding area that are associated with glacial/ interglacial cycles. A clear correlation is possible back to ca. 450 kyrs. Extrapolation of average sedimentation rates for the above mentioned period results in age estimate of ca. 2 Myrs for the oldest sediments in Lake Ohrid.

[1] Deformation experiments on Black Hills quartzite with three different initial water contents (as-is, water-added, and vacuum-dried) were carried out in the dislocation creep regime in order to evaluate the effect of water on the recrystallized grain size/flow stress piezometer. Samples were deformed in axial compression at temperatures of 750°-1100°C, strain rates between 2 Â 10 À7 s À1 and 2 Â 10 À4 s À1 and strains up to 46% using a molten salt assembly in a Griggs apparatus. An increase of the initial water content at otherwise constant deformation conditions caused a decrease in flow stress, an effect known as hydrolytic weakening. The total water content of the starting material was analyzed by Karl Fischer titration (KFT) and Fourier transform infrared (IR) spectroscopy, and quenched samples were analyzed microstructurally and by IR. Changes in the dynamic recrystallization microstructure correlate with changes in flow stress, but there is no independent effect of temperature, strain rate or water content. IR absorption spectra of the deformed spectra indicate that different water contents were maintained in the three sample sets throughout the experiments. However, the amounts of water measured within the vacuum-dried ($260 ± 40 ppm H 2 O), the as-is ($340 ± 50 ppm H 2 O), and the water-added ($430 ± 110 ppm H 2 O) samples are significantly smaller than the initial content of the quartzite ($640 ± 50 ppm H 2 O). Water from the inclusions in the starting material adds to the free fluid phase along the grain boundaries, which probably controls the water fugacity and the flow strength, but this water is largely lost during IR sample preparation. Vacuum-dried as well as water-added samples have the same recrystallized grain size/flow stress relationship as the piezometer determined for as-is samples. No independent effect of water on the piezometric relationship has been detected.Citation: Stipp, M., J. Tullis, and H. Behrens (2006), Effect of water on the dislocation creep microstructure and flow stress of quartz and implications for the recrystallized grain size piezometer,

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