Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Tectonics and Structure
Analysis Of Water Concentration Formed Within Deformed Synthetic Quartz Crystals, Andrew Steward
Analysis Of Water Concentration Formed Within Deformed Synthetic Quartz Crystals, Andrew Steward
Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects
Analyzing the strength of synthetic quartz is essential to understanding the strength of natural milky quartz, which likely controls the strength of Earth’s continental crust. Synthetic quartz is sometimes used for deformation experiments because it has a homogenous water distribution unlike natural milky quartz. The purpose of this study is to determine if annealing synthetic quartz at T = 600°C will convert the water in synthetic quartz to free water, like milky quartz, but with little water loss. Following two annealing experiments at Texas A&M University, I performed four annealing experiments to measure the water content of five synthetic quartz …
The Effects Of Heterogeneities And Syn-Deformational Partial Melting On Rock Strength Evolution And Melt Migration, Nicole Wagner
The Effects Of Heterogeneities And Syn-Deformational Partial Melting On Rock Strength Evolution And Melt Migration, Nicole Wagner
Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects
In nature, the segregation of granitic melts at the source may be controlled by fabric and compositional heterogeneities in the source rock, such as foliation and lineation. To investigate the influence of foliation/lineation orientation and composition on rock strength and melt interconnectivity, I performed a series of experiments on cores of a fine-grained gneiss (Gneiss Minuti) and a fine-grained muscovite-bearing quartzite (Moine Thrust quartzite). These rocks were cored at six primary orientations parallel, 45 degrees, and perpendicular to the foliation and lineation and were deformed at a constant temperature of 900°C, pressure of ~2 GPa, and strain rate of ~10-6/s …