KINEMATIC SIGNIFICANCE OF MYLONITIC FOLIATION (METAMORPHIC).

Abstract

Geometric analyses of three mylonite zones, including two metamorphic-core-complex SC-mylonite zones, show that the mylonitic foliation surfaces (S-surfaces) are consistently discordant to the margins of the shear zones. Finite-strain analyses show that the foliation surfaces in each zone are consistently oriented parallel to the XY-plane of the finite strain ellipsoid. The shear bands within the mylonites (C-surfaces, C'-surfaces, extensional crenulations, and shear-band cleavages) are uniformly oriented subparallel to the margins of the shear zones. The finite lengths and discontinuous natures of the shear bands require that the displacement along them be accommodated by the S-surfaces at the tips of the shear bands. Thus the S-surface elongations and orientations represent the total bulk rock strain, rather than some minimum measure of inter-C-surface strain. General stress and strain considerations indicate that the shear bands are planes of maximum shear stress, and that they are not only simple-shear slip planes. This interpretation implies that in simple-shear deformation, a single, irrotational set of shear bands will develop parallel to the shear-zone boundaries. In deformations involving significant components of coaxial strain, however, shear bands may develop in other orientations or in conjugate sets and rotate with progressive deformation.